the presidential palace. the mob stormed and passed belongings to the crowd below. a historic day in south africa. voting by all races begins under heavy security. in south africa, the beginning of a day they never thought would come. all races voting in an election that ends 300 years of whi oppression. those are the ones on the brokaw shelf. we also have others. last month, last month there was tunesia, successful toppling of the leader of tunesia happened january 14th. within a week and a half, the word tunesia was the rallying cry for what just happened in egypt, in the largest arab country in the world.
change is the devil you don t. we think of the berlin wall falling is good change. yet a generation down the road, post soviet russia is one of the worst governments, ranked worse than pakistan. suddenly far reaching consequences are as worrying as inspiring on some days. but on days like today, the inspired parted of us beats back the worried part, just for this moment. because things like this, days like this remind us that not everything is foretold. that not every fate is sealed. no trajectory is permanent. that surprises happen. black swans, golden tickets, whatever you want to call it, days like this go on the brokaw shelf. days like this remind us we are lucky to be alive to see these days. this is a big one. big day. [ male announcer ] 100 crisps in every can.
thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour on this friday night. this is one of those days that you index alongside other days in history. in our newsroom here at 30 rock, the shelf that this day goes on is labeled the brokaw shelf. a historic moment tonight. the berlin wall can no longer contain the east german people. thousands pouring across a run over bridge. tonight, from west berlin. good evening from the berlin wall on the most historic night in this world s history. what you see behind me is a celebration of this new policy announced today by the east german government, that now for the first time since the wall was erected in 1961, people will be able to move through freely. that was november 9th, 1989,