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![]() src="http://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs039/110069
6476798/img/1284.jpg"eDiplomacy and the
Berlin
Wall
A new online exhibition shares experiences of
American diplomats serving in Germany during the
Cold War.
Monday, November 9th, 2009 marked the 20th
anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Memorializing the quest for freedom from Communist
oppression, the U.S. Diplomacy Center, Bureau of
Public Affairs, has launched the online exhibition Voices of U.S. Diplomacy and the Berlin
Wall, offering a moving account of American
Diplomats' involvement in the Cold War.
With a much different tool set than is available today,
Diplomats from around the world worked to tear down
walls of oppression. The exhibition states, "U.S.
radio, broadcasting live news segments, warned
listeners who might want to escape. Allied protest
against the Wall was delayed more than 48 hours,
due in part to President Kennedy's reluctance to
provoke confrontation."
What if the Internet existed and East and West
Germans were able to communicate online, and not
just to each other, but to the rest of the world? What if
Twitter was around to spread the word on the
construction of the barrier underway during the night,
when workers divided Berlin on August 13, 1961?
Social networking is vigorously redefining diplomacy.
Diplomacy is defined as a means to find mutually
acceptable solutions to a common challenge, one set
of tools being the phrasing of statements in a non-
confrontational, or polite manner. The door for online
civic engagement is open and the availability of
interactive communications technology is forging
ahead.
John F. Kennedy visited a plaza, later named for him
after his death, in 1963 and said these words: "Ich bin
ein Berliner." "I am a Berliner." In the past, the voice of
diplomacy
has come from our governments and our
leaders. Today, with the use of the Internet and
new technologies, citizens are empowered voices
each making the call for freedom and equality louder.
Today, We are Berliners.
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