As a young Canadian, I can never feel what it means for the Germans to see their country whole - once again. However, I can analyse the aftermath of the unfettered capitalism unleashed by the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and cemented by the reunification of West and East Germany on October 3, 1990. My result: The 1990s marked the ramping up of free markets as the triumphant Cold War victor. Are we truly better off? Given our world’s current state of affairs, I would argue no.

The individual has become our God, at whose altar we have sacrificed community values. We no longer see ourselves as an interconnected world, but an ensemble of singular consumers. This worldview has hampered our capacity to address our planet’s most pressing issues collectively: climate change, refugees fleeing religious and civil wars, the destruction of indigenous cultures and austerity policies that have led to mass privatizations and monetization of public services, land, water and even air.

So while October 3rd is a beautiful day for the unification of a nation, the repercussions of the 25 years since that day seem catastrophic to me. So I cannot celebrate this day. Instead, I mourn for the lost opportunity that the entire transition to democracy could have represented: The chance not just for a united Germany but for a new unified world.