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Barack Obama tells Berlin audience: ‘We can’t hide behind a wall’ Obama tells adoring crowd in Berlin: ‘We can’t hide behind a wall’
(about 3 hours later)
The former US president, Barack Obama, has made a call for international engagement as he told an audience of tens of thousands in Berlin that “we can’t hide behind a wall.” Barack Obama received a hero’s welcome when he reunited with Angela Merkel for the first time since leaving office, calling on the audience to engage in democracy and telling the tens of thousands in Berlin: “We can’t hide behind a wall.”
Obama was discussing democracy and global responsibility with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, as the country marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It was Obama’s first speaking event in Europe since leaving the White House in January. Speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate, which was once cut off by the Berlin Wall, the former US president was greeted with cries of “Barack, Barack” as he urged the 70,000-strong crowd to “push back against those trends that would violate human rights or suppress democracy or restrict individual freedoms” and to “fight against those who divide us”.
At the 18th-century monument in Berlin that has also heard celebrated speeches from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, Obama and Merkel took questions about shaping democracy from a teacher, an actor, a social worker and a student. He said he was heartbroken by the suicide bombing in Manchester on Monday, which killed 22 people. Calling the world a “very complicated place”, he said: “We can see the terrible violence that took place just recently in Manchester. It is a reminder that there is a great danger of terrorism and people who would do great harm to others just because they’re different.
After lauding Merkel as someone who had done “outstanding work,” Obama launched a defence of his own presidency and the values of liberal democracy championed by both leaders. “How heartbroken we are by the loss of life, and we grieve with the families.”
Citing the rise of nationalism and xenophobia in parts of the world, Obama told the crowd that “we have to push back against those trends that would violate human rights or suppress democracy or restrict individual freedoms.” Obama called Merkel “one of my favourite partners throughout my presidency”. He said she had done “tremendous work” and he staunchly defended her refugee policy, which has come in for much criticism.
In questions to both leaders on the refugee crisis, Obama said nation states had a duty to help people in need but also to make clear to their own populations the interconnected nature of the world. In an angry confrontation with the chair of the Protestant church in Germany, Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Merkel was asked why many refugees who arrived in the influx of around 900,000 in 2015 were now being sent home. Bedford-Strohm said he had received hundreds of letters from people who, having sponsored refugees, helping them with everything from learning German to finding a job or a place in school or university, were devastated to be told they now had to leave.
“When we provide development aid to Africa or we are involved in conflict resolution in areas where war has been taking place, we make investments to try to deal with climate change … Those things we do not do just for charity, not just because they are the right thing to do. “I know I don’t make myself very popular with this,” Merkel said, as crowds booed her. But she added that the system of processing asylum applications was being speeded up so people who were found not to be eligible could be sent back sooner. “We need to be careful that we really help those who need our help and of those there are plenty enough in the world,” she said.
“If there are disruptions in these countries, if there is bad governance, if there is war or if there is poverty ... in this new world that we live in, we can’t isolate ourselves,” he said. “We can’t hide behind a wall.” Obama said he recognised the dilemma Merkel faced, trying to help those in need while protecting Germany’s own citizens.
Obama said he was “heartbroken” by the suicide attack in Manchester on Monday and he and Merkel had sent a a joint message of condolence to the families of those killed. He said leaders had an ongoing challenge to communicate to their own populations that the globalised nature of the modern world meant there were also selfish reasons for wanting to provide help to countries in need.
German Protestant church members and visitors from all over the world crowded a square in front of the Brandenburg Gate amid high security. “When we provide development aid to Africa or we are involved in conflict resolution in areas where war has been taking place, [or] we make investments to try to deal with climate change … these things we do not do just for charity, not just because it’s the right thing to do or out of kindness.
In 2008, 200,000 Berliners came to hear Obama – then campaigning for the presidency, and barred by Merkel from speaking at the Brandenburg Gate – tell them: “This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom.” “If there are disruptions in those countries and conflicts and bad governance, war and poverty, in this new world that we live in, we can’t isolate ourselves, we can’t hide behind a wall,” he said.
Eight years later, he addressed an invited audience of 6,000 on his final trip to Europe as president, and told the chancellor – whom he described during his term as “my closest international partner” – that she was “on the right side of history”. His veiled references to his successor, Donald Trump, who has proposed building a wall between Mexico and the US, who denies climate change is taking place and who is making moves to cut the US aid budget, earned him rousing applause, as members of the audience held up banners saying: “Can we keep you,” “We miss you,” and “Welcome back, Mr President”.
Obama and Merkel ended up forging a genuinely close bond during his presidency, finding common ground over issues such as Russia’s annexation of the Crimea, the European financial crisis and the refugee crisis. But Obama was also forced to defend his record as president on several occasions. A computer studies student asked him whether his conscience was pricked by the innocent civilians who had died as a result of drone strikes carried out under his watch.
Later on Thursday, Merkel will meet Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, when she travels to Brussels for the Nato summit. “One of the biggest challenges as president of the United States … is how do you protect your country and your citizens from the kinds of things that we just saw in Manchester, England, just a few days ago, or the things that we saw in Berlin or in Paris or in Nice,” Obama said.
While apparently unintentional, the coinciding visits serve to highlight Europe’s radically different view of the two men. A Pew Research Center survey last June found 77% of Europeans had confidence in Obama – and 9% in the man who has now succeeded him. He urged his critics to weigh up the use of drones with the huge threat posed by terrorists. “These are groups that would be willing to explode a bomb in this audience right now and we shouldn’t be too complacent in recognising the need to fight against them,” he said.
The Obama Foundation says the invitation from Merkel came before the US election, so the fact that he is in Europe at the same time as Trump is pure coincidence. “Hopefully over time it’s a battle of ideas and not just a battle of weapons so that we can convince fewer and fewer young people to get involved with Isis. But as long as they’re functioning out there, we are going to have to protect our people.”
Merkel added: “We are dealing with opponents who want to destroy our entire way of life. And what worked during the cold war – deterrence … prevented war, because both sides wanted to stay alive. That doesn’t exist with the terrorist groups. They are ready to give up their own lives to destroy the lives of others, as we have just seen in Manchester, of young people, families, ordinary people.”
Without referring to the connection with the Manchester bomb, Merkel referred in unusually passionate tones to the chaotic situation in Libya, which she said was causing suffering for the hundreds of thousands of African refugees stranded there and was in danger of fuelling more conflict. She called on international leaders to work towards turning it back into a functioning state.
The forum was the highlight of a nationwide series of events to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the reformation, when the theologian Martin Luther gave birth to the Protestant church.