Wir sind das Volk! was the slogan of East German liberation--We are the people and cannot be ignored!. It changed slightly to Wir sind ein Volk--We are one people, when Germany reunified.
An exhibition on Alexanderplatz in Berlin commemorates and documents those historical events. I was there in August to see it, at this square whose architecture to this day heralds the dawn of a new age, this modernist utopia that was the shopping window of socialist East Germany. Large metal panels are suspended above the square carrying the words that signify the values and hopes of that era. From most perspectives, just behind the panels, are suspended the brand and shop names that represent the vision for society 20 years on. Freedom has been transformed to consumer choices. We are what we buy. Our right to buy, to spend, to build our lifestyle identities from the building blocks on the shelves is framed by the high aspirations of the past--dignity, freedom, democracy, upright citizens, human rights, the battle for power, wir sind das volk, for our children...
Berlin is rapidly dividing into wealthy and deprived boroughs. Private schools are formed, dividing children according to their parents' wealth. Their freedom, their dignity will fundamentally differ from those who will have to count their money to shop at Aldi's. For a brief period, we seemed to be "ein Volk"--one people, but it no longer looks like we will be
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