The fall of the Berlin Wall is a reminder that change is possible: Angela Merkel

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https://news.vice.com/article/we-can-change-things-for-the-better-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-25-years-later?utm_source=vicenewstwitter

Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, said Sunday that the fall of the Berlin Wall is a reminder that change is possible, especially for countries in Europe and the Middle East that are currently mired in conflict.

Speaking on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall — which was originally erected to block residents of communist East Berlin from fleeing to the West — Merkel hailed the demolition of the structure as a signal that "dreams can come true."

"We can change things for the better," she said. "This is the message for… Ukraine, Iraq and other places where human rights are threatened… Nothing has to stay as it is."

The Wall's fall on November 10, 1989 is widely regarded as the symbolic end of the Cold War. Thousands of people attended a tearing-down ceremony, chipping and tearing at the 96-mile, graffiti-coated strip of concrete and cheering jubilantly as segments fell away.

Today, the fall of the Wall has lost none of it's significance, with an estimated 1 million people descending on Berlin this weekend to participate in three days of celebrations marking the quarter-century anniversary of its fall.

83-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev, the former USSR leader credited with engendering reconciliation with the West and ending the Cold War, made a portentous speech Saturday, saying that renewed tensions between the West and Russia over events in Ukraine now threatens to send the world plunging back into a Cold War.

"Bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East against the backdrop of a breakdown in dialogue between the major powers is of enormous concern... The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it's already begun."