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It’s [not] a free planet
“It’s a free country.” In an age of anxiety you don’t hear people say it so much. And you certainly won’t hear anyone say “It’s a free planet”. For some people it’s getting less free all the time. The retreat in planetary freedom is measured in the rise of terms such as “border security” and the real and virtual fences are going up on the borders of the world. The barriers going up not just at the borders – within countries and beyond them mechanisms to keep ‘them’ out are being reinforced all the time. The highest and most impassable barrier is the wall being built in our minds, so that it becomes more and more difficult…
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The Berlin Wall and Barack Obama
In recent days Germans and those affected by the Cold War are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is an anniversary worth celebrating. A chasm between the politics of the west and the communist world dissolved and people that had been kept apart for 40 years were suddenly able to come together. The process has not always been easy and far from perfect, particularly in respect of poverty. Nonetheless walls came down: literally and metaphorically. The White House press release on 6 November leading up to the event says little beyond congratulations: On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the fall…
