The former Left Party politician presented her team at a press conference in Berlin. It aims to defy labels with a mix of left-leaning economic, conservative migration and pro-Russian foreign policy initiatives.
Sahra Wagenknecht on Monday, presented her recently announced political party to journalists in Berlin. The “Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) — Reason and Fairness,” she said, will seek to establish itself as a true people’s party and enter its first EU and German state elections this year.
Wagenknecht, who maintained her seat in Germany’s Bundestag parliament when she abandoned the Left Party in October, said BSW would work toward overcoming the “incompetence and arrogance” of Berlin’s current coalition government, claiming many voters “feel left behind.”
Wagenknecht and some 40 former Left Party colleagues will make up the initial core of the party — which will change its name before the next scheduled German national elections in autumn 2025 — and work toward establishing a larger roster of party members to stand for elections across Germany in the near future.
Wagenknecht and former Left Party parliamentary leader Amira Mohamed Ali will lead the BSW and Fabio de Masi and Thomas Geisel will stand as its first candidates when they vie for election to the European Parliament on June 7.
It is unclear which EU group the party will align itself with, as leaders have emphasized that established political labels will not apply to its program.
Wagenknecht said the party would avoid calling itself “leftist” as the term has been reduced to questions of “gender and lifestyle,” becoming devoid of any real meaning.
left-leaning economic,
Ok
conservative migration
Unfortunate, but populists gonna populist
and pro-Russian foreign policy
Wait, WTaF‽
Interrobang
The German far-left party (LINKE) has been traditionally fairly pro-Russian and remains so today, because many of its members (at least the older ones) switched over from the soviet-aligned socialist unity party of the former GDR.
Yea, somehow they didn’t get the memo that the Russia stopped being communist a while ago…
Coincidentally, ignoring political realities to further your personal agenda is also a proud tradition among former-GDR politicians.
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These people being part of Die Linke (literally The left, Germany’s left-wing party) were one of the reasons that party was unvotable up until now.
Die Linke will surely lose some (crazy) voters to BSW, but might gain some from the SPD (social democrats) or the Green party in return.
I really hope with this move the crazies from die Linke are all gone, so it’s finally possible to vote for them. Let’s keep an eye on them 😊
Wow, Pro-Russia, huh?
Another creature taking money from the Kremlin, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Or even worse: not taking money yet, but signalling that they would be willing …
That’s about as disappointing as one might expect
I seem to remember Neville Chamberlain tried appeasement with a dictator.
I wonder how that worked out …
Thank god. The left party is slowly becoming votable again especially now that she and her goons are gone.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
The “Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) — Reason and Fairness,” she said, will seek to establish itself as a true people’s party and enter its first EU and German state elections this year.
Wagenknecht and former Left Party parliamentary leader Amira Mohamed Ali will lead the BSW and Fabio de Masi and Thomas Geisel will stand as its first candidates when they vie for election to the European Parliament on June 7.
To date, BSW has only presented a rough outline of its policies and leaders promised that a vastly more detailed list of aims will be created over the coming months in coordination with citizens and experts.
At Monday’s two-hour press conference, Wagenknecht railed against the current SPD, Green and FDP coalition, accusing leaders of dividing the nation.
German farmers protesting the prospect of subsidy cuts most recently made headlines by threatening Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck as he sought to debark a ferry in northern Germany last week.
BSW also opposes the NATO military alliance, saying it “contributes to global instability” by creating “a sense of threat” — the main argument Russian President Vladimir Putin used to justify invasions of Georgia in 2008, and Ukraine in 2014 and 2022.
The original article contains 686 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 71%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
