Trinity Ents has cancelled an upcoming event inspired by the fall of the Berlin wall after criticism that the tone of the event was insensitive.
Tuesday’s “Fall of the Wall” event was due to coincide with the 32nd anniversary of the Berlin wall coming down. A 1980s-themed “Pick-n-Mix” will now take place instead.
A statement on the Trinity Ents Instagram story said: “We have made the decision to change the theme for Tuesday’s event.”
“It came to our attention that this is a sensitive topic for many people, and that this theme was causing offence”, the statement said. “As an apolitical, student-run organisation, we never meant to cause offence, and apologise that we did.”
Regarding the 80s-themed night, Trinity Ents posted on Instagram: “On Tuesday 9th of November you can do 80s your way in Tramline! We’ll have two rooms: a groovy room and a techno room, and a full wall of Pick N Mix!”
Tickets will go on sale at 8pm today. Late release tickets will go on sale tomorrow at 6pm.
In 2018, Ents collaborated with DU History and Trinity Visual Arts on a similar “Fall of the Wall” event. Attendees took an online personality test to be assigned to one of two groups, East Berlin and West Berlin.
The Berlin Wall divided the city in two physically and ideologically, and was destroyed on November 9th, 1989, having been erected in 1961. West Berlin was aligned with the democratic, capitalist West Germany, while East Berlin and East Germany were communist, with Soviet forces present in the country throughout the Cold War.
Regions that were formerly in East Germany still lag behind the rest of the country economically due to the relative lack of industrialisation and foreign direct investment in the once communist-controlled area.
There were mass protests in the days leading up to the fall of the wall, as the communist State became increasingly untenable. The Berlin Wall is a popular tourist attraction today, with 1.1 million people visiting it in 2018.
