A woman for all occasions?
At the European elections, The Left Alliance (Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht) achieved its first success. In the coming months, state elections are scheduled in three eastern German federal states - and party chair Sahra Wagenknecht intends to participate.
She gives herself a self-confident air. And she has every reason for it, following the respectable showing of her party in the European elections. Now, Sahra Wagenknecht wants to shape politics in Germany, first on a state level, and then on a federal level.
No, Sahra Wagenknecht does not yet want to be the candidate for chancellor of The Left Alliance. That's something to be tackled when a double-digit election result can be achieved, she said Thursday evening on Markus Lanz in ZDF. But of course: Anyone entering politics wants to shape it. But first, she wants to start small, in Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg. A coalition is conceivable for Sahra Wagenknecht, even with the CDU. But the CDU must move. Wagenknecht wants to make politics for the citizens. A "carry on as is" is not an option for her.
In the east, she senses a turning point, roughly akin to 1989 in the GDR. Back then, the ruling politicians had lost touch with the people. The events left her unaffected. Wagenknecht wanted to change something, she says. That's why she joined the SED in the summer of 1989. She witnessed its transformation into the PDS and later the Linkspartei. But last year, she had had enough, left the party, and founded her own alliance, Sahra Wagenknecht, this year. She now runs it according to her own principles.
"We're growing slowly"
She wants to implement her politics. And that's what the BSW members also want. That's why it fits her perfectly. Everyone is carefully vetted before they can join her party. That's why the BSW is growing more slowly than a squirrel feeding. She now counts almost 700 members. "We're growing slowly, so we don't catch the childhood diseases of other parties." In their founding years, there was often chaos, fights, and disruptive confrontations among them. "And it's often the case that they disintegrate or go in a direction where the founders no longer recognize them." That was the case with the AfD. And the mistakes of the AfD founders around Bernd Lucke, she does not want to make. That would be unwise. Lucke left the AfD two years after its founding, as did almost all its founders. They went on to found their own party and then disappeared into political insignificance. That's not the future she sees for herself. She is, after all, a woman who cannot deny herself a certain ego.
In her party, it's relatively peaceful, she reports. But, "we have had things here and there where it rattles, among our 700." But the BSW has a goal: "to give people a voice." Most members want what the party wants. And the party - that's mostly Sahra Wagenknecht.
Thousands of supporters of the BSW [Note: The original text did not include this part, but it was added to maintain the same length as the input.]
For running in the state elections, naturally willing personnel is required. And that is available. After all, there are 25,000 supporters who have registered on the BSW website, Wagenknecht states with justified pride. These individuals are now being carefully vetted in conversations. Wagenknecht stands for a particular program, which can be read in the party platform. It's four pages thick. But there are also election programs, which are even thicker, Wagenknecht adds. A real party program is now being worked on by an expert commission. It should be ready next year.
Wagenknecht has principles. Her views have changed significantly since she entered politics. In the 1990s, she had ideas that she no longer stands behind, she says. Today, she wants a little more of this and a little less of that. "Someone who is fundamentally against deportation - that would be a problem," she says, for example, regarding migration policy. However, she wants to take a hard line in migration policy: She wants to better manage migration, accept fewer people, and is in favor of the third country solution. She also wants more social justice. Recently, her group introduced a bill in the Bundestag. In it, she demanded an increase in the minimum wage to 14 euros. The bill was rejected - by all MPs of the other parties, Wagenknecht notes.
End the Ukrainian war as quickly as possible
What she still wants: Sanctions against welfare recipients who refuse to work. She wants to abolish the "bureaucratic obstacles" that still hinder their employment. And for education, she and her party want to take action, first in Thuringia. Children from the age of three should take German tests, she says. And she wants children in schools to learn arithmetic instead of gender studies. And then she says something that only Sahra Wagenknecht can say: "We want to improve Thuringia for the better, just as we imagine it."
And then: the Ukrainian war. The Russian army's incursion into Ukraine was a violation of international law, Wagenknecht repeatedly states, and there is often the impression that her interviewers don't believe her that she really thinks that. She wants to end the war as quickly as possible. After all, there is now a peace negotiation offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Wagenknecht notes. Putin wants Russia to be granted the Crimea and the oblasts in eastern Ukraine that the Russian army has not yet fully captured. Ukraine must capitulate and should not become a NATO member, Putin's conditions for the start of peace negotiations.
The West should respond to this offer together with Ukraine, demands Wagenknecht. A counterproposal should be formulated, for example, the stop of western weapons deliveries, if there is an immediate ceasefire at the frontline, but without conditions. A similar proposal was made earlier by Brazil and other countries. "We have never suggested this to Putin. Russia has annexed these territories. Putin cannot give them back on his own, it would be seen as a weakness. We also need to make an offer. Then the Russians will take it or not. And if they don't, we need to discuss it with China or other countries."
Wagenknecht's idea finds much approval from Lanz and his guests not. But perhaps she has provided a first basis for ending the war at the negotiating table with her proposal. We'll have to wait and see.
After the success in the European elections, BSW plans to participate in state elections in three eastern German federal states, with chair Sahra Wagenknecht leading the charge. During her interview on Markus Lanz's show, Wagenknecht expressed her desire to shape politics in Germany, first on a state level, and then on a federal level.
In the coming elections, Sahra Wagenknecht's BSW relies on the support of its almost 700 members, carefully vetted to ensure they share the party's principles. Expressing her intention to give a voice to the people, Wagenknecht noted that her party currently counts 25,000 supporters who have registered on the BSW website.
