Date: November 9th, 2009

IFLRY Statement

On the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

 

Exactly twenty years ago, on a Friday evening of the 9th of November, the world witnessed a liberation of people who were kept in bondage for twenty eight years by the empty promises of prosperity and development of a government built on the false virtues of communist ideals.

The magnificent downfall of the wall that divided the state of Germany into east and west- democracy and communism- was cheered, embraced and celebrated by the German people and the rest of world’s democracies.

We witnessed a grand reunion of peoples as we had never seen before. From then on, the German people have become the solid testament of democracy, liberty and peace.

The Berlin Wall with all its might and brutality was shattered into pieces. Its fall bears a poignant picture of a democracy in triumph, and a battle that ceased to exist- the Cold War.

Today as we celebrate this momentous occasion, let us dutifully reflect on the contribution of the fall of the Berlin Wall in bringing about liberty. Let us share its message of hope for people who are continuously deprived of freedom and fundamental human rights, and to those battered by any kinds of conflicts especially in vulnerable places of the world. Finally, let us join hands once again to fulfill the ideals the fall of the Berlin Wall willed to us - to further reverberate around the world its legacy of unity, peace, freedom and democracy.      

The International Federation of Liberal Youth salutes every freedom fighter, political dissident, and prisoner of conscience who are struggling against their own Berlin Wall, may it be in the form of an authoritarian regime or anything that curtails freedom and restricts human rights.

Every liberal in the world is a heir of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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The International Federation of Liberal Youth (est. 1947) is a global organization representing more than 3 million young liberals, democrats and social-liberals in all continents.

For more information regarding this statement, please contact IFLRY Vice Presidents Jan-Argy Tolentino (
janargy@iflry.org) or Frederik Ferie (frederik@iflry.org).

For more information regarding IFLRY, please contact the IFLRY Office (
office@iflry.org).

IFLRY Member Organizations can make use of this statement for their own media purposes.