Jette Nietzard is stepping down – and the Greens are hoping, at least for now

Clothes with slogans are very popular among the young Greens. The sweaters here are decorated with “Tax the rich”, the peaked caps with “Antifa-Lover”, the T-shirts with either “Climate Justice Now”, “FCK AfD” or “FCK NAZIS”. A young Green man with a “Solidarity Without Borders” bag jumps up and down with excitement as he greets an acquaintance. Another, who has dyed pink hearts in his close-shaven, bleached hair, collapses onto a chair next to a “More Love” sweater. Others have opted for “Make Polluters pay”, for “St. Pauli” – and: “Smoked tofu”.

So there was nothing new for the Green Youth when they gathered in Leipzig at the weekend: The youth association of the Greens is pretty far to the left, finds the world notoriously unfair, capitalism stupid and, as a result, the Green Party too centered.

Only one “ACAB” (“All Cops Are Bastards”) can be found anywhere here. Too sensitive? Because she wore a sweater with such a print, the now outgoing co-leader Jette Nietzard dominated the debate in the country for days a few months ago and received clear condemnation from the parent party.

Not for the first time. During the one year in which she led the “GJ” together with Jakob Blasel, she often caused outrage not only on social media, but also among Green officials, be it when she questioned whether the presumption of innocence should apply in a party, when she wrote on New Year’s Day that men who lost their hand while shooting firecrackers could no longer hit women, or when she asked Christian Lindner at the FDP’s departure from the Bundestag said that she was happy that he was enabling his wife to have a career.

Now the “enfant terrible” of the Greens is leaving – the 26-year-old is completing her last day in office in a bright red one-piece suit (without any print). If it’s too cold for her, she puts on a jacket with “FRANCE” emblazoned on the back. What does that mean again, is she emigrating to the neighboring country? No, it’s not that far, she even wants to stay in the Green Youth.

And that despite the fact that she didn’t necessarily bring her association into calmer waters after the previous board left unexpectedly and with a big bang (because the Greens weren’t left-wing enough for them). The fact that things didn’t calm down was not only because Nietzard was making jokes on social media, but also because the collaboration with her co-spokesman Jakob Blasel didn’t work – who never publicly opposed her, but who had little use for Nietzard’s strategy of provocations. The day before the meeting of the green offspring, the “Spiegel” published an article according to which Nietzard was said to have waged a tough fight against Blasel, and those in charge from several GJ regional associations anonymously accused Nietzard of “abuse of power” and “bullying”.

Nevertheless, she received a lot of applause after her farewell speech. Most people stand up, but some also remain seated. She kept her promise “not to kiss anyone’s ass,” she said on stage. You can’t fight for anything in silence. And concluded with an appeal to band together and form chains. “Chains to oppose fascism, to prevent deportation flights, and perhaps to leash men – we will see.”

But her co-chair Jakob Blasel clearly received more applause when he said goodbye. The 24-year-old well-known climate activist makes more substantive points. He is angry about how the Greens have foreseeably gotten into the situation where they did so poorly among young people in the last federal election. He talks about what he believes is the Greens’ “racist ten-point plan” on migration in the final phase of the election campaign, and about the fact that climate protection is a social issue, but that one can only demand the ban on combustion and the heating law if it is clear who is responsible for it pay. He speaks of the “cowardice” of Green politics, which no longer dares to take on the real perpetrators of the crises. The hall acknowledged all of these points with much applause.

Which raises the question: What kind of Green youth would there have been last year with a Jakob Blasel if Jette Nietzard hadn’t absorbed all the attention? Despite his clear criticism of the content, there would probably have been a more productive exchange with the parent party. Nevertheless, one thing was achieved during the Nietzard-Blasel period: After the Green Youth shrank in 2023 and 2024, it has recently gained significantly in members again, from 16,000 members at the beginning of the year, the number has now grown to almost 19,000.

Now it’s the turn of two new people: On Saturday, the Green Youth will elect Henriette Held and Luis Bobga as their two new federal spokespeople. What to expect? Both emphasize that they are not satisfied with the current Greens. “It doesn’t matter whether you have a stomach ache or not,” says 23-year-old Held, who was previously the state spokeswoman in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: “In the end, people too often decided in favor of power and against attitude.”

“But he hasn’t lost hope yet,” says Bobga, who is the same age and who was previously on the board of the Green Youth: “We can and we will turn this party back to the left.” He expects the Green Party to “never again follow right-wing discourses” and “never again support inhuman asylum compromises”.

But it is also clear that the fact that the Greens are no longer a government party but an opposition has defused a lot of things here. The Green Youth now primarily wants to ensure that questions of redistribution are addressed more strongly by the Greens; they must “finally be at the center of green politics,” says Bobga. They also want the parent party to take a clear position on the issue of conscription. Some people take photos in front of a pink wall with the slogan “Military service – no thanks”. The fact that Realo Cem Özdemir, who leads the Green Party in Baden-Württemberg in the election campaign, recently called for a general year of service, a so-called “republican year”, is seen by many here as an affront.

In the federal party there is at least hope that with Held and Bobga at the top of the party’s junior ranks they will finally have better luck again. He hopes that it will be possible to see what we have in common even in difficult times, says party leader Felix Banaszak, who came to Leipzig from Berlin. Where, throughout his speech, a large banner was displayed: “Felix, please turn left.” After last year, this is certainly a type of confrontation that the party leader can still endure. Maybe he expected worse. After all, it even says “please”.