Parties: Left leadership: Schwerdtner and van Aken are running

At its federal party conference in Halle today, the Left is electing a new dual leadership. The journalist Ines Schwerdtner and the former member of the Bundestag Jan van Aken applied. The two had their first test on Friday evening: a compromise formula they had negotiated on the Middle East conflict and against anti-Semitism in Germany found a majority at the party conference. The decision defused a heated internal dispute.

Van Aken in particular said he had negotiated with party colleagues for hours over several days in order to smooth out the differences. “We have really come a long way as a party,” he said. It is crucial that the left stands on the side of the victims.

The adopted motion contains demands for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East and the release of all hostages. “The warfare in Gaza and Lebanon, which violates international law, must be stopped immediately,” it says. And further: “The injustice of the occupation of the Palestinian territories is never a justification for the inhumane terror of Hamas – and just as October 7 does not justify the Israeli army’s crimes under international law in Gaza or Lebanon.”

Compromise replaces stricter proposal

It goes on to say that Germany and NATO are not allowed to supply weapons. The federal government should recognize Palestine as a separate state within the 1967 borders in order to strengthen the possibilities of a two-state solution. At the same time it is emphasized: The left stands firmly against any form of anti-Semitism and racism.

The compromise replaced other motions on the topic, which were therefore no longer voted on. Among them was a much more strongly worded motion that, among others, the Left from Berlin-Neukölln had submitted. It called for “Israel’s war against the Palestinian population to be classified as genocide.” According to the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the term is generally used to refer to genocide and the targeted persecution of population groups. The application did not mention the attack on Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, 2023.

“This is the departure for me today”

Before the Middle East debate late on Friday evening, around 500 delegates debated the situation and the party’s future line for hours. The Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow called on his party to make a new beginning. “I wish we had the necessary strength to regroup,” he said. “This is the departure for me today.”

The outgoing chairmen Martin Schirdewan and Janine Wissler also promoted a powerful signal and emphasized that the Left was still needed. They are withdrawing because the party has performed poorly in recent elections. She also had to cope with the splitting off of the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance. Schwerdtner and Van Aken hope to stabilize the party.

A journalist and a biologist

Ines Schwerdtner was born in Werdau, Saxony, in 1989 and moved with her family to Hamburg as a child, where her parents were looking for a professional future. In her own words, the 35-year-old political scientist would like to work particularly hard for East Germany. Schwerdtner has only been with the party since the summer of 2023, but in his own words has felt connected to it since 2007. At that time she met the Berlin Bundestag member Gesine Lötzsch. When Lötzsch retires from the Bundestag next year, Schwerdtner wants to defend her direct mandate in the Berlin-Lichtenberg constituency.

Van Aken was in the Bundestag from 2009 to 2017. The Reinbeker native represented the Hamburg-Altona constituency. In parliament he was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and promoted arms control. In his own words, he resigned because he is fundamentally in favor of limiting his mandate. The 63-year-old is a biologist and says he learned how to organize campaigns at Greenpeace. He later worked as a United Nations bioweapons inspector.