From solidarity to democracy: from Berlin to Tehran?

Celebrating the anniversary of the 1989 democratic revolutions should not blind us to democracy’s vulnerability, says a leading dissident of the time. The anti-democratic backlash and authoritarian resurgence should serve to remind us that there is no inevitable forward march of history towards freedom and democracy, Adam Michnik insists:

Democracy is a daily plebiscite. Every day we decide whether we want to live in democracy or we don’t want to. Whether we will defend it or we won’t defend it.

He believes the West should actively support Iran’s Green movement protesting against the “Islamo-Maoist Ahmadinejad,” he says. The repression of pro-democratic activists suggests that “the ayatollahs must feel the breath of history on their backs.”

George Packer agrees that “perhaps the closest contemporary analogy to the fall of Communism is the democratic movement” challenging Iran’s Islamic Republic.

“It has deep social and intellectual roots, a growing mass following, and an enemy state with a hollowed-out ideology,” he notes. But there’s one critical difference. Namely, “unlike the East German soldiers and the Stasi agents, the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij militia are ready to kill.”

Over at the CIPE blog, Jean Rogers offers her personal reminiscence of the depressingly grey and dingy Communist East Germany before the wall fell.

If you’re not already fed up to the back teeth with analyses and reminiscences of 1989, the indispensable Arts & Letters Daily provides a great round-up:

1989 changed everything, says Timothy Garton Ash … The Soviet Union, observes Josef Joffe, was the first empire ever to die in its bed … A tyranny set in stone, writes Roger Kimball … It was never a foregone conclusion, Anne Applebaum insists … Berlin was the centerpiece of the Cold War, Fred Kaplan reminds us … The end of the only world I ever knew, says Stefan Theil … Gorbachev only wanted to the door an inch or two, writes George Jonas, but the wind caught it … First U.S. envoy to united Germany was Robert Kimmit … Communism took power away from the people, says Boris Johnson, but they took it back … A Polish view from Adam Michnik … Realists wrongly thought only war could defeat the Soviet Union, says James Carroll … Communism had to die, says Rupert Cornwall … The Wall showed Kennedy’s weakness, says Donald Kagan … It was Reagan’s dovish side that did it, argues Peter Beinert … the world changed, says Victor Sebestyen, on that wonderful night in Berlin … I promised the Warsaw Pact countries not to intervene in their affairs, says Mikhail Gorbachev … The world turns, but it should not forget, writes Conrad Black … Communism was a dark comedy for Guy Sorman … The will of the people, says James Baker is the final arbiter … Gorbachev’s reforms, like those of some Tsars, came too late, says Mitchell Cohen … It’s good Gorbachev was weak, says Lech Walesa … A grotesque tyranny, says Doug Bandow … The GDR made citizens into prisoners, writes Henry Kissinger … The Left wanted to pretend nothing had happened, writes John Vinocur … For Robert Fulford Communism was a great con game … The Wall can still be felt, like a phantom limb, says Michael R. Meyer … Reagan’s speech was crucial, argues James Mann … Intellectual walls remain, says Roger Scruton … One of history’s finest moments, says Matt Welch … Punk Rock helped tear down the Wall, says Tim Mohr … Where is Russia today? asks Jonathan Brent … The spoils of victory did not go to the U.S., argues Andrew Rawnsley, so much as to Europe …