Borders
No Borders
Germany, 1989. The Berlin Wall falls. The whole world witnesses what is considered by many an epochal change that will put an end to a period of tension and will open a new season of cooperation and coexistence between States.
The number of walls, however, instead of decreasing, has steadily increased since 1989: from the line of control in the Kashmir region to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, from the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Morocco to the internal division in the island of Cyprus, from the border between Israel and the Palestinian territories to the wall between Mexico and the United States. And yet the barriers that separate Europe from the rest of the world, made of barbed wire in the Balkans, or salt water, the Mediterranean Sea once a vehicle for trade and knowledge, now an insurmountable obstacle in the journey in search of a better life.
Objectives
Players will face at the same time a vertical, backward journey into their own past and European history, and horizontal, across national borders and looking for walls in the world.
They will then be invited to reflect first on the consequences of building a wall in a city and a state that was free of it, on the divisions it entails and the problems it generates, and then on how the world has increased the number of barriers since the 1990s.
Finally, they will address a reflection on the concept of historical memory and how learning the past is useful to live and interpret the present.
Toolkit
No Borders: How-to Guide
No Borders how-to guide provides background information, details of the materials you will require, advice on how to set the room up, and run it.
Berlin, today
This is the introduction to read to players at the very beginning of the escape room.
Key Take-aways
A barrier generates division where previously it was not foreseen, often splitting lives in two and interrupting the existence of people.
Despite the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a historic event famous all over the world, since the 90s the walls of the world have increased exponentially, spreading to all continents.
The migration crisis of 2015 has raised rapidly the number of large barriers on the planet, today more than 90.