The party bears her name: Sahra Wagenknecht inspires her fellow campaigners at the first BSW party conference in Berlin. Internally, she promotes “careful treatment”. Outwardly she deals violently.
With sharp attacks against the traffic light coalition, Sahra Wagenknecht has prepared her new party for the 2024 election year. At the first party conference of the Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht, the founder once again called the traffic light “the stupidest government in Europe” and accused it of leading the country into crisis and, in the worst case, war. “Our country absolutely needs a new political beginning,” said the 54-year-old former left-wing politician in Berlin on Saturday.
She broke with the left at the end of 2023 and founded the new party with her name at the beginning of January. She herself is chairwoman, together with the former left-wing faction leader Amira Mohamed Ali.
Around 380 members gathered at the Kosmos cinema in Berlin for the first nationwide party conference. They gave Wagenknecht enthusiastic applause for the speech, which the party leader concluded with the words: “We have big plans for our country and for the people who have great expectations of us. We owe it to them to do our job well.”
“We are not Left 2.0”
Internally, Wagenknecht warned the BSW to pull together. The party members are very diverse, including trade unionists, entrepreneurs, nurses, police officers, theologians, city dwellers and villagers. The party will only be successful if the members see this diversity as an advantage. “We are not Left 2.0, that must also apply to how we treat each other,” said Wagenknecht. “Let’s treat each other with care.”
Wagenknecht sharply criticized other parties, including the Union and the AfD. The AfD stands for record spending on armaments, and CDU leader Friedrich Merz in the Chancellery would “certainly not be the lesser evil.” However, she attacked the traffic light most harshly and accused it of being incompetent and aloof. Because of the arms deliveries to Ukraine, Wagenknecht spoke of “inhumane politics.”
For an “end to armament”
In addition to peace, Wagenknecht named the reduction of social inequality as central political issues. She called for a higher minimum wage of at least 14 euros per hour, better pensions at the same level as in Austria, a health system without pressure on returns, affordable energy, a rent cap, a move away from economic sanctions against Russia and “an end to the arms buildup”.
Wagenknecht also complained that there was not enough attention paid to poverty and a lack of opportunities for advancement. There are more and more professions that would previously have enabled modest prosperity. And in which the incomes today are such that with them you never have the chance of a halfway good life, of a minimum level of social security, of solid family planning or even of your own house. “That has to change again in our country,” said Wagenknecht.
Against the AfD
BSW General Secretary Christian Leye emphasized the demarcation from the AfD. This feeds on people’s desperation, but does not advocate for it. Leye said people with incomes of 300,000 euros or more would benefit most from the AfD program. “This is not an anti-establishment party.” The AfD is against subsidies for farmers and against higher minimum wages. Addressing people with “bullshit wages,” Leye said: “The AfD doesn’t give a damn about your problems, and that’s the truth.”
Wagenknecht, Mohamed Ali, Leye and several other board members were elected at the beginning of January. At the current party conference, additional board members were up for election, including several former members of the Left and several Wagenknecht employees. Among the candidates were the journalist Michael Lüders as well as the Bundestag members Alexander Ulrich and Zaklin Nastic and the former MP Sabine Zimmermann. The former leftists Friederike Benda and Amid Rabieh became vice chairmen.
The one-day meeting was also intended to determine the program and candidates for the European elections on June 9th. The former left-wing European MP Fabio De Masi and the long-time SPD politician Thomas Geisel, former mayor of Düsseldorf, have been designated as the top candidates.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
