柏林音樂革命

（文章六月五日載於《明報》世紀版）

東、西德統一後的柏林成了電子音樂之都，施普雷河畔那些不眠的夜店是柏林人狂歡的空間，近年吸引更多來自世界各地的客人。

　　電音文化隨着圍牆的倒下而繁衍，電音派對的生命似乎也從此與這堵圍牆不可分割。

　　當年圍牆歷史性倒下後，人們以音樂慶祝，為獲得自由而歡賀，無心插柳催生了河畔一帶林立的這些”Clubs”(德國人從英語借來的用詞)。今時今日圍牆為豪宅地盆讓路而遭毀壞，卻標誌着Club的生存空間受威脅。

　　若你從「東邊畫廊」的東邊盡頭開始逛這段圍牆遺跡，第一眼看見的可能不是圍牆本身的塗鴉作品，而是幾乎與圍牆連貫的大字“Yaam must survive in Berlin City!”(英語原文)。Yaam這個場所與柏林其他Clubs不同，最初為青年非洲藝術家場地，漸演變成老幼咸宜的聚腳點，除了音樂表演外，甚至有足球和籃球玩。它高呼要生存，是因為一家建築公司正計劃收購它所在的地段。

　　這類抗議近年在的柏林已不是新鮮事。「柏林的Clubs正在瀕臨死亡，可是大家都不以為意，總以為一家倒閉後自然會有另一家新的開業。但再過五至十年可能已見不到它們了。」

　　三十四歲的Lutz Leichsenring是最近這場保衞圍牆運動的活躍成員，這位業餘玩結他的年青人9年前就開設了自己的Club，經營6年後賣掉，但繼續在這圈子行走，還做了行業團體Club Commission的發言人。跟因為討厭地產商勢力而參予抗爭的那群示威者不同，Lutz說，他們搞Clubs的都是生意人，保衞東邊畫廊並不為打倒「地產霸權」，更不為打倒資本主義，而是認為圍牆孕育着的創意空間才是柏林最珍貴的發展優勢。

　　主流電台不播放的音樂，在這些Clubs獲得舞台。每個周末成萬遊客前來享受電音派對，令這些從前「地下」、「另類」的文化地帶如今成為了柏林可觀的收入來源。

　　「旅遊、創意產業才是這個城市的經濟命脈，政府規劃卻扼殺它們…我們不是反對所有豪宅項目，但反對胡亂來的規劃。投資者建樓也該建在合理的地點吧，他們根本不知道自己在破壞甚麼。東邊畫廊是一處歷史遺蹟，是讓人們相聚、讓人們反思兩種制度的地方，所以藝術家們才來這裏。」

　　的確，柏林雖貴為目前歐洲經濟話語權大國的首都，卻不像慕尼黑有高科技產業、斯圖加特有名牌汽車公司總部、漢堡有著名港口、法蘭克福有繁忙的金融市場。如果連柏林圍牆剩下的畫作都可以洗掉、拆掉，這個地方的身份還在哪裏找？

　　但想深一層，這個城市缺乏規劃，正好也是柏林圍牆的遺痕，正好又是她獨有歷史的見證。

Facing history

    Any Asian visitor to World War II memorial sites in Germany may, intentionally or not, contrast the apologetic national attitude toward the war to the unapologetic stance of the Japanese government. I was not an exception.

    On my visit to this country for the first time, my teacher friends who were born some three to four decades after the fall of Nazi rule told me how they took their students to memorial sites every year to educate them about the painful lessons of history. Isn't it too heavy a subject for children? The history is sad, but our next generation must learn and face it, my friend said.

    After parting from my old and new friends in Hannover, I carried on my journey to Weimar. There I met a middle-age Japanese lady who had been living in Germany for years.

   We sat down in the comfortable café in our hostel, along with a fellow traveller from another part of Germany. From pleasantries to lighthearted chats about our travels. Then everybody turned sad when the discussion topic turned to where I was visiting next.

    Our young people do not know what our country did in the war, said the Japanese lady, bitterly. Our governments and schools never tell our students of the country’s past wrongdoing, and when they do talk about the war, they always talk about our nation as a victim in Nagasagi and Hiroshima, she told me.

    Are Asians, or at least Asian politicians, particularly bad at facing history? I asked myself.

    With this journey in mind, I found it particularly ironic for the new Chinese premier Li Keqiang to warn Japan against ‘denying history’ a week ahead of the 24^th anniversary of the ‘turbulence between spring and summer in 1989’, when he talked on the historic Potsdam site on his German trip. Is his government facing history?

In the crematory of the former Buchenwald Concentration Camp