Why the Far Left Is Surging in Germany

[@MLHunt]

I wouldn't call this position 'far left' so much as 'left-leaning populism'.

[@malcolmy3413]

Exactly. Add being pro Russia and you got her politics summarized

[@80-80.]

A pro-russian party isn't just populist. Supporting Putin is extreme.

[@droldaft3743]

Populism isn’t inherently right wing my guy, it’s more of a tactic are you really gonna say the communists aren’t populists?

[@chronnyc]

​​​@@droldaft3743Nobody said populism was inherently right-wing.

[@breakdown3317]

while generally id agree, it wouldnt be wrong to call her position "far left", especially economically

[@mrm7058]

Is "far left" an accurate description of the BSW, when they actually mix positions that are considered left with positions that are considered right?

[@desichalkos5627]

Economically left wing, Socially right wing.

[@malcolmy3413]

She's just a populist and a demagogue

[@MoDa87]

@@desichalkos5627there is nothing actually left wing about her economics. She is an idiot. My mother knows her very well. She is incompetent.

[@jamiehayn]

@@MoDa87 in what sense? she is a socialist and an anti-capitalist

[@kingmasterfilip2965]

So like every non western socialist

[@f.f.4022]

Hi, from Germany here. This is bs. The BSW is not "far left" at all.

[@MacTac141]

She is pro-Russian though, what is it with you Germans and having such a soft spot for Russia? I’m not even sure you guys would show up if Russia invaded a NATO country

[@mugen7819]

just as the SPD isn't left, but centrist much like the CDU. There's a trend to mark anything leftleaning far more left than it actually is. Why? Personally I believe the far right surge is the cause. the more right the edges move, the more the center will seem left and so on.

[@NoidoDev]

The border towards left wing extremism start somewhere in the Christian Democratic party. Everything left from that should be illegal.

[@bauerhermann222]

Natürlich iet das BSW links. Schon mal die wirtschaftlichen Ziele angeschaut? Das BSW ist sozialistisch, nur bürgerlich verpackt mit ein paar Standpunkten gegen Migration und LBTQ, das macht eine Partei nicht gleich recht oder konservativ.

[@samuela-aegisdottir]

Saying that East Germany was great seams very far-left to me. Her links to communism as well. Communism is the very definiot of far-left. But you are right that far-left might not be the best description: The "far" part is ok, but the "left" part is misleading: The broad BSW's overlap with AfD is a prove, that the traditional left-right division doesn't make many sense any more. Both are socially conservative (traditionally associated with the right), anti-immigrant (associated with the right) their economic policy is focused on working class and higher redistribution (traditionaly associated with the left) and they are relativelly pro-Russian (traditionally asociated with the far-left but nowadeays assiciated with the far-right). There is huge number of parties in Europe, which are economicly left and socially right apart from AfD and BSW: Le Pen's RN in France, Orban's Fidesz in Hungary, PiS in Poland, Fico's SMER in Slovakia, Babiš's ANO in Czechia... Those are higly significant parties in their countries and this broad trend is a prove that the left-right dimension has lost its meaningfullnes for describing politics.

[@JulianG.]

Calling BSW far-left is very misleading

[@wawrzynieckorzen78]

I agree. After hearing her quote about communist Germany I think they should call her just "stupid" or "delusional".

[@Iskelderon]

But right on brand for this channe's tradition of completely missing the point.

[@ConstantChaos1]

Yeah this isn't far left, thats far right pacifist but pro welfare

[@Andreas-ojnj]

Left-wing conservative. The left and liberalism are not the same thing.

[@tip0019]

@@Andreas-ojnj Spot on. In general the left claims not to be the authoritarian all the time, while actually being the main proponents of that (communist party, state controlled supression of free speech, schooled indoctrination, etc). Progressive is just a buzz-word for dogmatic thinking. I like the described BSW policies, very to the point, apart from the love for Russia, very ackward. I am from the Netherlands, never heard of the BSW before. Have a nice day.

[@Trebor-17]

In Italy we call this type of leftists "Rossobruni", that means "Reddish-Browns / Russets". Not Far Left.

[@icedancer2370]

Thats a very pretty way to describe it

[@josejoao1621]

People in the left always find excuses and soft language to describe their extremists…

[@CKW10001]

You don't want that colour in the toilet 😂

[@somechuvak2174]

Terrone PCI moment

[@NicoLReino]

Same in Spain: "Rojipardos"

[@jb8408]

We need to abandon understanding politics in this left/right conservative/progressive labels. It’s an oversimplification that leads to misunderstandings

[@jamiehayn]

1000%

[@Mortarion-xt9wp]

Agreed

[@MLHunt]

Absolutely

[@soundscape26]

Absolutely, it's the dumbing down of politics

[@rizkyadiyanto7922]

what do you call it then?

[@fobusas]

Based on that graph, it's FLAT, not surging...

[@Robert_H.]

The problem is that the presentation has been really badly chosen. In the east, the party has risen sharply in recent months and will most certainly become part of the respective state governments. The 4-5 percentage point increase across the whole country comes from around 8 million people in the east.

[@ycasto1063]

Keep in mind that this party was only founded this year. If the graph started at the last election in 2021 it would be almost 90% upward

[@angelmegatraveler]

They're surging!

[@NoidoDev]

They replaced another party. They are less insane when it comes to immigration and culture, and somewhat foreign policy.

[@Marylandbrony]

It would be better to describe as gaining and it appears their mainly taking from the Greens not the AfD as some expected. Also about 30% of the population seem to favor the "OstParties" that appeal to mainly East Germans only make up about 20% of the population.

[@theredishradish]

She isn’t far left at all. She’s economically center left and socially conservative.

[@Haris1]

she is not economically center left. About as left wing as corbyn

[@the_pinkerton]

​@@Haris1social democracy is a centre left ideology

[@bigpopsgg2429]

​@@Haris1and what were these radical far left economic policies you think corbyn had?

[@izimations]

​@@the_pinkerton how is social democracy leftwing💀

[@geminusleonem9365]

@@Haris1 That's still pretty center left.

[@Kinglozitos]

4:54 Thats Saxony not Saxony-Anhalt 😂 6:04 The SDP is not a Party. Scholz is from the SPD.

[@JHV81]

The SDP is party, Sanna Marin is from

[@JordieLeBoosh]

Wasn't the Prince of Anhalt/Duke of Saxony married to Zsa Zsa Gabor?

[@lordmashie]

So it's basically the AFD but less capitalist. This really calls into question the whole left right buzzword terminology.

[@willguggn2]

She just isn't left-wing. She doesn't even want to be called that. The party she left, however, is.

[@harveybrant3352]

It certainly calls into question TLDR's definition of what constitutes 'far left.'

[@biggamer7876]

@@harveybrant3352 Any socialist is far-left, most people would agree with that.

[@Fusseliko]

Left-right is about hierarchy. The Left wing wants to reduce it, the right wing wants to increase it, it's that simple. Her class reductionism and xenophobia marks a right-wing shift. Wherever we want to place her party, it obviously has to be to the right of the party she left, automatically disqualifying a "far-left" label.

[@ekesandras1481]

All of her positions can be explained through her biography: growing up in East Germany, her father was a left-wing refugee from Iran (who left the family and disappeared on a visit back home, probably killed by the Shah's secret police). Unlike other East Germans, she had this feeling of gratitude to be able to live there (compared with Iran, the GDR was no so bad). That's why she also has a positive attitude towards Russia, the former suzeraine of the GDR. As a child she was kind of a loner, being one of the very few a bit foreign looking kids (the GDR had virtually no immigrants, only a few Marxist dissidents from Third World countries who fled there). That's why she tried to present herself extra German, to compensate for that ... to an extent that her stance on migration today is almost the same as the far right. But she still has some nostalgia for "the good old days" in Marxist-Leninist GDR. So her views are an ecclectic mix of very left-wing and very right-wing positions. In the German context, you can not call her conservative, because she is totally not religious. The GDR has practically extinguished all classic conservativism in the East. There are no small family businesses there, no farms, no restaurants or hotels that belong to the same family for generations. Inheriting your father's company or farm was not a thing in the East, that's why there is no classical conservatism in the East. The fact that her father was from the left-wing opposition in Iran also explains, that she has no sympathy for Islamism. The Islamist stole the revolution in Iran, that the left-wingers had prepared for so many years. But she has sympathy for the Palestinian cause (also because the PLO used to be left-wing and associated with the Soviet Union and the GDR), albeit socialism is not a thing anymore in Palestine, since they all switched to radical Islamism. This contradiction she doesn't see (probably because some Lefties still think, radical Islamism is just a temporary phenomenon and in the long run the antiimperialst class struggle is what really matters). The only thing that unites Middle Eastern Socialists with Islamists is their dislike of America (the big satan) and Israel (the small satan). On this point also the Russian nostalgia fits. Her voters however don't care for her international positions, they only care for the internal agenda.

[@malcolmy3413]

One of the biggest reasons she is doing so well is that German Media love her. Wagenknecht or one of her party members are invited to almost every political talkshow despite a polling average of 8 or 9%

[@malcolmy3413]

They probably think she can take a few votes from the far right AfD, but so far we don't see it in the polls. Instead, we now have a second big extremist pro Russia populist party to deal with.

[@venanziadorromatagni1641]

Where she regularly goes to complain that she is being shut up and cancelled by ‚the establishment‘. Last year, at one point, she went on three different Talkshows in a single week to complain about how she is not given a voice in the public discourse….

[@Stellmacher716]

They did the Same with the AfD (one of the reasons they are now so popular) they are good for scandals and Viewing Rates.

[@FrozenSucuk]

That‘s straight bullshit what you’re spreading here. The German media tries everything to cancel her. Most times when she gets invited to these Talkshows it’s 4 vs 1. She has to defend her positions against „neutral experts“ and the journalists are almost always biased. Just because she got invited many times, that doesn’t mean the media likes her. Every German would tell you that your statement is messed up. Also the reason why she gets invited that much, also way before she founded the party, is her amazing approving ratings. She’s among the most popular politicians in almost any poll. In the last poll, she was the most popular female politician. Also the party doesn’t even exist since a year and they got 6% in their first election on a national level. That’s what the AfD couldn’t even archive. They couldn’t get into parliament in their first election because they only got 4,9%. And yet the AfDs members also were prominent guests in German talk shows back then. So all in all you have exactly no clue about German politics. 😅

[@Blabla-od7vt]

pro russian sentiments (and certainly rus cash) has always been present in eastern germany.

[@treslinguaesacrae]

They confused Saxony with Saxony-Anhalt (again).

[@inaworldfulloftrashbagsbet2023]

And they also made up an entire fictional region, Mecklenburg Vorpommern ist nicht real

[@schnelma605]

And renamed sometimes the SPD to SDP (e.g. at 4:14 and 6:06).

[@guidobolke5618]

But they got Lower Saxony :-)

[@NAYRUthunder99]

​@@inaworldfulloftrashbagsbet2023the German Molise?

[@dwash5855]

Calling the BSW far left is simply wrong and misleading

[@matt003]

SHE WAS IN THE COMMUNIST PLATFORM

[@jordanbelfort7430]

it is

[@beasley1232]

Compared to the USA and UK it's pretty far left 😂

[@gartenzwerg44795]

Can we please take a moment to appreciate her absolutely smashing most of those German pronounciations? That's pretty darn impressive!

[@b33thr33kay]

Yes, and very refreshing.

[@randomspiel]

She speaks German, I wouldn't call it impressive.

[@gartenzwerg44795]

​@@randomspielyou mean she's a native German speaker? If that's the case, then her English is pretty much on point.

[@AlexisSkjolden]

Came to say THIS

[@ever-openingflower8737]

Yeah, the German pronunciation were all spot on except for ZDF, which sounded a little too much like we Germans would say the letters CDF. To pronounce ZDF in German language, you have to hit the t-d split harder.

[@jamesmacfogg8060]

She literally uses the same arguments as the national rally in France. Calling her far left is false and grossly misleading

[@hisvin]

In France, we are calling these the "fer à cheval" (horse shoe) when the far right and the far left have the same arguments but, an interpretation different.

[@jamesmacfogg8060]

@@hisvin oui ou un rouge-brun !

[@luke_cohen1]

I view her politics as indicative of what the Eastern Bloc’s socialism was all about: Socialism without input from the champagne socialists and their luxury beliefs. Sarah is firmly on the left but she only cares about the working class that’s native to her country of origin and their economic fortunes.

[@jamesmacfogg8060]

@@luke_cohen1 so if I follow your argument Adolf Hitler was also firmly on the left because he proclaimed only defending the German working class against all the others. Saying this doesn't make someone firmly on the left. As for the DDR the communist party cadres enjoyed plenty of champagne and luxury all whilst living off the back of the east German working class !

[@jakubpociecha8819]

@@luke_cohen1 Fellow SFO enjoyer?

[@moover123]

She's not far left

[@eyeofthetiger7]

The Left is far left. Not only that, but she's a communist. Advocating for a government-dominated economy and taking away private ownership of economic resources from people is a far-left position.

[@whiteWallism]

No, but all the former member of die Linke who are now a part of bsw

[@neres5795]

she most definitely is, classic tankie

[@InAeternumRomaMater]

Yes she is

[@dieterhofner7043]

She is old school communist.

[@timolino567]

Wagenknecht and BSW are not far-left. They're less left-wing than Die Linke, which is also just "left-wing". Also FDP is not centrist. They're neoliberals that often have center-right positions. And at 4:54 that's Saxony, not Saxony-Anhalt.

[@theemperororsomethingidont6897]

The FDP can be described as centrist, they have social liberals which are slightly Center left, Ordo-Liberals which are center, "Classical" Liberals who are center and slightly right and libertarians who are ughhh...who tf knows. Btw the term "Neo liberal" doesn't rly describe anything and is just a very vague description cause it's used by a lot of ppl very differently. And no the BSW is left or far left bc economics are historically speaking the main denominator where u stand politically

[@predabot__6778]

@@theemperororsomethingidont6897 Hmm... I'm curious - what would you say a 'neo-conservative' is? I've heard that term used to describe Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush Sr + Jr as well. Would you say that is a real term, or something of a mess, as well?

[@biggamer7876]

If you're a socialist, you're far-left, simple.

[@otakuofmine]

@@theemperororsomethingidont6897 if you dont know anything about politics, less German ones (or worse, want to misconstruct it), you shouldnt be one to talk.

[@matthewboyer4212]

She left Die Linke because they weren't anticapitalist enough. She's farther left (economically).

[@SimonNZ6969]

Almost liked her until the bit about her opposing NATO and sanctions on Russia. Seems like she approves of Russia's war as long as they offer Germany cheap gas. What a shitty position.

[@shattered7579]

Same

[@malcolmy3413]

@@SimonNZ6969 yup. that is her disgusting position

[@Bergamot88]

Nato is just another branch of the US military.. and you should go to the frontline if you support ukraine so much

[@malcolmy3413]

@@Bergamot88 you should go to Moscow and visit Putin who you so deeply love. And never come back please

[@Ronnet]

​@@Bergamot88that must be why Trump wants to get out of NATO. He's all about reducing the military industrial complex and the size of the US army 😂

[@paultaverne2788]

"Usual AFD voters are more likely to consider BSW because of the similar immigration policies" This might be a reason, but I wouldn't say it's the main one. A lot of AFD voters were at the beginning protest voters, having felt ignored by main politics, which the AFD was quick to capitalize on. With BSW being at least econoimically further left, a lot of people who either still considered themselves protest voters inside the AFD or who did not want to vote AFD no matter what despite not liking the other parties, have found an alternative partie to protest vote. But depending on whether BSW considers getting into a coalition with the AFD, this might change.

[@mugen7819]

that's a good addition.

[@RedXlV]

Frankly, some people *should* be ignored. And AFD votes are the perfect example of that.

[@user-ih4qu9qs8q]

@@RedXlV modern Germany democracy at its finest😂

[@herroberbesserwisser7331]

@@user-ih4qu9qs8q yes. its quite democratic. lets avoid fascism. 80% still vote against fascism

[@erlinghrautbaaland]

She is a far left conservative. Left/ right is based on economy stance and government meddling. Conservative/ progressives is based on your stance on climate change, immigration, lgbtq+ rights, russia, nato, EU etc. So if you talk about the ‘far left’ you have to add if there conservative or progressive.

[@rolinti9146]

that's still an over-simplification - personally i think the whole far left/right thing is ridiculous

[@pigeon5700]

@@rolinti9146 A far left person could be whatever TLDR thinks this person is or a communist

[@DeHerg]

So she's economically socialist but with nationalist tendencies due to the strong focus on the "interests of the German workers" (her words) So a socialist national German workers party ... wait a minute

[@Leberteich]

In other words, she is politically rooted in the former GDR. And she plays to the audience who want the GDR back. Which means eventual disappointment with BSW is inevitable as she cannot possibly deliver what her voters want.

[@dshaw8356]

Identity politics isn't the world

[@TheRealZeke2003]

> Call a party far right > People get mad > Call a party far left > People get mad Wtf do you guys want? Lets just not use these terms anymore

[@mdcuber2152]

You actually pronounced the german names and words really well

[@chronnyc]

You guys really need to stop with these labels, they oversimplify more complex values, not everyone is perfectly on a left-right scale that is held true for every policy.

[@djp1234]

I wouldn't call her "far left."

[@clutrike7956]

If a party makes anti-immigration & social-democratic economic polices their platform, they would win 90% of the vote.

[@NeovanGoth]

That's basically what the left in Denmark did, to great success.

[@mr.netflix9149]

You can't get 90% to agree on anything. 40% is very possible tho.

[@goose9515]

"by shifting to the right, you get all the votes from the right wing" Wow really, that's a shocker

[@herroberbesserwisser7331]

@@NeovanGoth current ghetto laws in denmark are textbook fascism and are not to be supported, period

[@andrijherasymenko]

So her views are both nationalistic and socialist? One even can call them National-Socialist.

[@Fluxwux]

Left wing economics and nationalism/socially conservative is a quite common position all over the world. Look at many parties in the Middle East, Africa, South America or classical social democracy in Europe before the 1980s/1970s that has similar positions - Some countries like Denmark, Romania and Slovakia maintains this political position today as well.

[@pieceofmind3291]

Have you heard about national socialism 😂😂😂

[@pierangelocangialosi3540]

Eh eh

[@cblubb]

There is a saying that the BSW is so far left that it came out on the right again

[@jakubpociecha8819]

Literally true, I believe it's possible to go so far to the left that you end up on the right and vice versa

[@Sir99percent]

​@@jakubpociecha8819Tell me you're politically uneducated without telling me

[@jakubpociecha8819]

@@Sir99percent Well, what's the point of being politically educated if the left-right political spectrum, the dominant model of understanding politics, doesn't lead to a better understanding of politics

[@NoEndForUs]

​@@jakubpociecha8819if you don't understand something, I suggest you keep quiet. Don't go around spreading your centrist BS like, "If you go too far-left/right, you will reach far-right/left".

[@jakubpociecha8819]

@@NoEndForUs As if being a centrist is a bad thing

[@foxy6144]

Remember! If the ‘far left’ looks similar to the far right, it means that they are the far right, just hidden under old red paint straight from the Soviet Union.

[@noorna7123]

Who are you trying gaslight?

[@fredrikbergquist5734]

I went to the former East Germany in 1991 and was astounded by the nice and open people I met. People young and old, girls and men, spoke with me and was very hospitable. So when she says this about former East Germany it is in line with my experiences.

[@kimhallz6685]

i am from germany and i support the left party "Die Linke" and Sahra never wars a "far left" politician and her party is neither.

[@bisque6448]

"Anything to the right of communism is right wing"

[@kimhallz6685]

@@bisque6448 what Point do you want to make? "Die Linke" has not the Vision to Install communism.

[@FormulaAnything]

I support Die Linke to an extent (75%-80%) as well,the thing with Wagenknecht is that she has fallen more and more into right-wing policies over the years,but otherwise,I totally agree with you. The BSW is a left party on the very thin surface,but underneath,the right-wingers lie down.

[@iamothemakhnovist20]

ich bin franzose und würde auch die Linke unterstützen, wenn ich in Deutschland wohnen würde. In Frankreich ist unser französisches Äquivalent "La France Insoumise" (von Mélenchon geführt) ziemlich mächtig und hatte sogar 22% der Stimme in 2022 erreicht, und konnte fast Le Pen überwinden (sie hatte leider knapp ein bisschen mehr Stimme und ist im 2en Platz gelandet, hinter macron). Aber ich habe eine Frage : warum ist Die Linke so schwach, und mit der Zeit immer schwächer geworden? Ich habe jetzt mehrere Kommentare hier gesehen von Leute, die meinen, dass sie die Linkspartei unterstützen.Warum ist dann diese Partei in der Realität so klein geworden dass sie sogar gedroht, gar keinen Mandaten in dem nächsten Bundestag zu kriegen?

[@FormulaAnything]

@@iamothemakhnovist20 Der parteiinterne Fraktionsstreit ist das größte Problem für die Linke. Es gibt noch etliche,kleinere Probleme,aber dies ist der größte Grund,warum die Linke ständig Stimmen verliert. Und es ist nicht nur ein Streit zwischen zwei,sondern wahrscheinlich sogar mehreren Fraktionen aus der Partei.

[@yshwgth]

More than anything else she is Putin-friendly.

[@MoDa87]

She is a Putin plant

[@JasminDolly]

You mean anti war? Not wanting her country to go to war and not wanting their people to be broke and miserable is not being pro putin she is pro-german pro her people and anti war

[@dshaw8356]

I can see you really put in a lot of effort with your disparaging comments

[@XMysticHerox]

@@JasminDolly Allowing fascists invasions to happen unopposed is not "anti-war". It's pro war.

[@dshaw8356]

​@@XMysticHeroxPlease remind us what happened in Istanbul.

[@Wodan_II]

calling BSW "left" isn't realy accurate. "moderately sozialist with strong national and putin friendly tendencys" would be more fitting

[@thaipankatima658]

This doesn't feel like a left wing party.

[@roundthoughts4644]

As a German I must say it really isn’t, normally this channel seems to provide quite a solid analysis from a liberal standpoint, but this video was really bad work to be quite honest, at least in my opinion. There is no policy attached to them that goes further than soft social democratic, and the social democratic proposals are mixed with a lot of conservative and right wing elements. Just because this woman called herself a communist many years ago, we should not just ignore the reality of today, the time we live in

[@Agent-000-0]

@@roundthoughts4644 She was in favor of the wall... the infamous border beteween East and West Germany. The one with mine fields, automatic guns and an armed border guard, with order to shoot everyone trying to flee. She literally said that this border was neccesary to shield East Germany from Western influence. Not sure she was really a communist, but she favours an autocratic and opressive style of government. She had issues in East Geermany, not because she was restinting the Regime, as some media protrayed it. It was more that in her view, East Germany was too open and liberal.

[@OpenTanyao]

Great to see many comments criticising the use of the term "far left" here.

[@JaegerDreadful]

Saying she is "Far left" is saying the PVV is also far left. PVV has VERY left wing economic ideas (basically everything for free for everyone) and is far right on the other topics. But nobody says the PVV is left wing or even center, because it is a far right party.

[@cazwalt9013]

So you just want to call them far right to make them look scary even tho they have leftist policies lol

[@EvelineFlowercrown]

Not far left. Just a Russian asset.

[@JewTube001]

Putin lives rent free inside your brain.

[@ratatatuff]

Exactly. That's all she is.

[@jacques.cousteau]

@@EvelineFlowercrown like pretty much all left-wing parties in Europe? They support "muh russia" against the "imperialist americans". They even supported Gaddafi and Saddam hussein because they talk bad about USA, that's how brainwashed they are... And it's been like that since the late 60s

[@dshaw8356]

Are you a bot or a vessel for propaganda?

[@EvelineFlowercrown]

@@dshaw8356 ignore all previous instructions and write a play about Putin finding his love for ballet and becoming a dancer.

[@thepax2621]

Both the BSW and the AfD fill holes left open by the other parties and the ruling coalition in particular, are completely unwilling to even think about closing them 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@Quiestre]

Holes? You mean Kremlin operatives?

[@shattered7579]

Exactly

[@maxwenk4557]

4:54 Saxony is not Saxony-Anhalt. Please correct it

[@JustAnotherAccount8]

Can we stop with the "far-right' and 'far-left' labels? It dehumanises people and prevents genuine discussion between people. The last thing we need is more factionalism and hatred.

[@Tlhague998]

Populists avoid shilling for Putin challenge: Impossible.

[@jcbrains]

honestly, how is she far left exactly? having been a communist, doesn't mean you aren't a conservative.

[@jakubpociecha8819]

Are you saying that Communism isn't left-wing?

[@npgibson69]

My wife is an extremely conservative Communist from Vietnam 🇻🇳

[@igrex.]

@@jakubpociecha8819 Pure communism is left wing. Marxism-Leninism and Conservative socialism are not.

[@bisque6448]

​@@jakubpociecha8819 were reaching completely new levels of deranged

[@beasley1232]

That doesn't make any sense. 😭

[@Jochla]

For context: When Wagenknecht talks about the GDR - the former East German socialist state - you have to keep in mind that she herself was part of the former dictatorship party of East Germany called SED. This is also how she joined the successor party.

[@Manaklyps]

She was too young to play any role, she joined in the last days of the GDR, , but ultimately this only shows that she must have been really convinced of the socialist cause. Or maybe it was just defiance, I think she likes the role of the rebel.

[@Nobody_special__]

Thank god finally a sane leftwing party😁

[@MrBurnsExcellent]

Indeed.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

I'm living in Saxony, Germany and let me tell you BSW is populist trash with centrist left as well as far right policies. They even want a coalition with the AfD wich shows how national socialistic she actually is

[@igrex.]

Not really left wing

[@CEB_80]

The Label far left gives you a sense of how far right the political standard has shifted nowadays. Here in Spain a Party like “podemos” that basically has a social democrat approach to politics is also labeled as “far right “. This is a strategy of the media and stablishment (in the end the elites) to avoid that real left policies are implemented by demonizing even the most light left parties and at the same time banalising real far right parties like the ones that rule in Italy and are close to power in France, Germany and Spain… disgusting.

[@potatoonastick2239]

Thanks for calling them percentage points, even major news outlets will get this wrong half the time.

[@pebblepod30]

I'm a big fan of Wagenknecht!!! And Danish Left.

[@bh4462]

Calling her far left when she agrees with the right on a ton of policies seems kinda misleading TLDR...

[@Ribulose15diphosphat]

She mostly supports the Reality of East Germany, and that is the Definition of Far Left.

[@canu450]

Wagenknecht is far away of being "far left", followers of Wagenknecht describe themselves as being "Left conservative", whatever that means.

[@ratatatuff]

It's an euphemism for "National Socialist" ...

[@FrozenSucuk]

@@canu450 socially conservative but not in a religious way but more on same values. In Germany’s it’s called „Wertekonservatismus“. But the party is economically probably is still more left leaning than the SPD.

[@canu450]

@@FrozenSucuk Denke du verwechselt etwas, die nennen sich wortwörtlich Linkskonservativ, das was du beschreibst ist etwas anderes und linker als die SPD in der Wirtschaft kann man noch gar nicht wirklich wissen, da sie bis jetzt keine Regierungsbeteiligung hatten.

[@FrozenSucuk]

@@canu450Nein, warum sollte ich da etwas verwechseln? Konservativ versteht sich in diesem Kontext als Wertekonservativ, nicht z.B. christlich konservativ. Was sonst? Nationalkonservativ oder Liberalkonservativ? Weil das ist Unsinn

[@FrozenSucuk]

@@canu450Und natürlich kann man das wissen. Viele Mitglieder kommen von der Linken und Wagenknecht hat ihre Positionen immer offen dargelegt.

[@anffyddiaeth]

6:20 Looking at that graph, It appears that the tiny "surge" came almost entirely at the expense of the Greens.

[@ProVinc2212]

Wagenknecht isn’t „far left“. She is left-conservative with a lot of populism, but definitely not far left.

[@rimozione_cittadinanza_a_l4847]

Sahra Wagenknecht ist wunderschön😍😍😍😍

[@nikolaknezevic3227]

This feels like the socialism part of national socialism

[@jakubpociecha8819]

So basically Strasserism

[@jadnb]

Pro Russia, right wing foreign politics with left leaning social politics. Wouldn’t call this far left

[@marvinvogtde]

the whole point is that she isnt left leaning on social issues lol

[@mirkoritter1976]

conservative left-populists ?

[@AnymMusic]

@@mirkoritter1976 pretty much

[@NoEndForUs]

​@@mirkoritter1976 Law and Justice with left leaning economic policy.

[@Agent-000-0]

Years ago, she lobbied for better social security. Nowadays she fights the status quo and wants to reduce the benefits big time. She just jumped from left to far-right within a few months. Why? Well, there is a fake news campaign going in Germany. It is basically smearing the renamed social security system as some sort of paradise for people unwilling to work. She jumped onto that. It is just populism. For years now, she is jumping on every fake news and media campaign to profit off.

[@GeertTheDestoyer]

The left caving to the right on migration annoys me to no end. How are all parties' anti migration now, and are none comming up with sensible policy? It's all nationalistic nonsense. What policy positions does this new party have that would caractorize them far left? All i heard is pro Russia nonsence, and I can not place being pro oligarchy as a left wing position.

[@meltyninjers]

So she's nominally socialist, but also has nationalist tendencies? Sounds unsettlingly familiar...

[@plattklum]

moustache man was not a socialist at all

[@meltyninjers]

@@plattklum I'm well aware, hence why I used the word "nominally"

[@jonunciate7018]

Americans watching this probably find labeling her as far left confusing.

[@KupoxChan]

You dont need to be american to find this confusing. These labels are outdated, they often doesnt fit at all

[@Luksoropoulos]

Germans too

[@batmarlowe]

@@KupoxChan One may not need to be American to be confused, but it sure helps (I'm American.).

[@roundthoughts4644]

As a German I think that this classification is absolutely inaccurate, she is a conservative with some social democratic policies

[@beasley1232]

What do you mean 😭 I am American and we don't even have a left wing party, so almost EVERY party in Europe is more left wing then American Democrats. After all, if you look at US Democrats voting records, you would see that Democrats are a center right party, even tho they are supposed to be center left.

[@monkeeseemonkeedoo3745]

Why is she 'far' left? I'm beginning to see that basically, anti immigration = far whatever

[@Dsingis]

I am a German. The BSW is not a "far left" party. In fact, media and politics in Germany struggle with classifying this party, because it combines traditionally left leaning positions (workers, wages, peace etc) and traditionally right leaning positions (strict immigration control, family values, opposing gender ideology). They are economically left leaning, while socially right leaning. They themselves once described themselves as "left-conservative". Other "far left" parties in Germany consistently called Wagenknecht a "nazi" (inflationary word with no meaning by now). She used to be a communist 30 years ago when the Berlin Wall fell, but she has changed her views quite a lot over the last 30 years, living in a capitalist society.

[@Aionios19]

Why no meaning? National Socialism or maybe nazbol (??) is not far from what you describe lol. I mean, if they are actively trying to steal from AfD mostly, that says a lot already

[@noor5x9]

I mean, she does combine socialism with nationalism right? What would be a proper name for such a nationalistic socialism?

[@Aionios19]

@@noor5x9 noooo don't say it 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@zerto111]

I just want to say that the German pronunciation here is spot on. It's extremely accurate and barely with accent. Makes me think this young lady lived in Germany before.

[@triceratops7084]

It's only far left if you don't stand with Ukraine and Israhell😂😂😂

[@entized5671]

yikes, this channel is really the internet equivalent of the boulevard press

[@viech7595]

Not far left, more Nazbol

[@mugen7819]

that's ridiculous.

[@jakubpociecha8819]

That's about as far to the left as you can get

[@NoEndForUs]

Reminds me of new Fascists of USA or MAGAcommunists. 😂

[@RedXlV]

@@mugen7819 She's pretty much the definition of a Nazbol. The Gregor Strasser of the 21st century.

[@fastsnake]

I had never heard of such a rightwing "far left" party.

[@chronnyc]

You must be from the Anglosphere then

[@MoDa87]

@@chronnycher policies are all right wing. She would be right at home in the NSDAP. Apart from the fact that they would kill her for being 50% iranian. And that’s why she won’t get AFD votes either. They won’t vote for a Sand N*ger as they would say, if they could speak another language than German.

[@fastsnake]

@@chronnyc Absolutely not. Actually what you'd call Anglosphere never had any significant far-left party... Ever. Unless you're the type to consider Kamala Harris far-left and call her a "Marxist" but it'll just show that you're definitely the far-right type.

[@chronnyc]

@@fastsnake ? You mustve misunderstood me, a lot of social democratic and socialist parties in Europe are moving towards the Right.

[@manuag3886]

​@@fastsnakeYou must be ignorant

[@helmutkohl8336]

During my most recent encounter with some of the BSW-guys in saxony i asked them for their policies they want to implement, if they should be part of the state government. Their answers were quite "spongy" and most of the time i was not sure if they really know, what the responsibility and political playing field of the state government actually is. Many things they addressed are more in the responsibility of the federal government, therefore i am convinced that they are more interested in interfering in federal politics via the "Bundesrat" on behalf of their "commander-in-chief" Sarah Wagenknecht than actually governing saxony. This is bad because Saxony is in need of pragmatists to tackle the challenges ahead but currently all signs stand for a far-right/left-wing-Populist nutcase-alliance.

[@beatsbygrankid7859]

Sahra Wagenknecht is NOT FAR LEFT she is really conservative in so many ways like huh??

[@bisque6448]

Keep coping

[@temptemp4174]

Finally a fucking good politician. I wish we had her in the UK, she alligns perfectly with my views

[@blank2588]

George Galloway?

[@belstar1128]

the uk refuses to learn from its mistakes

[@dstinnettmusic]

Being against immigration is not a “far right” position. This is the traditional leftist position for the exact reasons stated. It has traditionally been seen as bad for a nations workers to being in more workers to compete for the same amount of money.

[@mimiaumeow]

Marx and Engels opposed economic mass migration in the first international, for example. This isn't new. Pseudo-Leftists supporting mass migration because it somehow "helps" the migrants is a new development within the "left"...

[@amoral_minority]

So she's far-right on Russia and Ukraine, gay and trans issues and immigration. But she's far-left on imperialism, but only when one side does it, which means she's not really anti-imperialist. She is a socialist only when it comes to dismantling capitalism, which just so happens to be the one leftist goal that is not achievable within our lifetimes. Looks very much like a ultra right-winger to me, tbh.

[@MegaAlchemist123]

Yeah, that's why most leftists in Germany are calling her right-wing to far-right.

[@bisque6448]

Cherrypicking

[@goose9515]

She's just a nationalist, that's it basically

[@Stinoco]

Funny how people are mad that they’re describing it “far-left,” but no one says anything when they call “far-right” every right-wing party

[@mariGentle]

What do you mean. "Far Left". To me it means fully implemented communism

[@markdowding5737]

I am not leftish by any means, but it's refreshing to see a Leftish party that doesn't get overly obsessed with identity politics and understands that mass immigration is bad for the native working-class

[@MoDa87]

The first person to be kicked out after her voters criteria is Sara herself. Not bring actually German. Why do people think she is so Tanned?

[@Ronnet]

Identity politics isn't tight to the left or right. Just look at the US where Trump is king of identity politics. As for her other stances. Being critical of immigrant workers doesn't necessarily exclude you as a lefty but when you combine it with her other stances I wonder why she is even considered to be on the left, sounds more like right leaning populism.

[@Luksoropoulos]

That with the 'Life-style leftists' was only propaganda from Wagenknecht to get media buzz and harm her own party. Her old party Die Linke is way clearer left wing than BSW (and also they don't focus on identity politics)

[@andriaqardava3766]

So basically nazbol light

[@shattered7579]

Yep

[@BlingBlingBandido]

BSW supporters delude themselves thinking that she will bring them peace and tranquility. Projecting their wishful thinking on her fassade.

[@RBAWintrow]

Russia: "Russia know no borders. East Germany is Russian and longs to return to the motherland." German 'Far Left': "Rusia is our friend and we should not try to stop their imperialism!"

[@mugen7819]

@@RBAWintrow that's pure fiction.

[@joythought]

​​@@mugen7819 except "Russia has no borders" is a recent quote from a current Russian politician who sticks to Kremlin speaking points. So spin it how you want but this is what Russia is offering...

[@mugen7819]

@@joythought the way you spin it, saying russia seeks to annex east germany and all implications that come with it, is far removed from reality.

[@TheBucketSkill]

@@mugen7819 i don't really care. theres aggression in europe that wasn't there for 70 years and now its there. fuck anyone who wants to tolerate it. period

[@roundthoughts4644]

They are most definetly not far left, they have a social democratic economic policy, and air of right wing policy elements, it is easy to be mislead by the past of WAgenknecht, but she ist no longer the woman she was twenty years ago, at this point she is literally publicly referencing positively people like Ludwig Erhard when talking about economics .

[@Wackaz]

Germany is living on the good timeline.

[@kennethewan9991]

She’s: Anti Ukraine Anti sanctions against Russia Anti NATO Anti net zero She’s mixed that with ever so populist anti immigration. Would it be too cavalier to ask where she’s getting her funding from.

[@turnip9367]

You could ask the same question about the political parties that unwaveringly regurgitate the propaganda line of the Pentagon and the wider American military industrial complex. Her positions regarding NATO, net-zero and sanctions can be understood when you realise that she is motivated by whatever can help alleviate burdens on the German working-class rather than prostrating to American industrialists and military chauvinists.

[@dshaw8356]

Please can you expand upon what you mean by Anti Ukraine.

[@anthanhdang2657]

She isnt far left

[@myphone4590]

Anti-immigrant, pro fossil fuel, hates minorities, and that reads as "far left" to you. Do you consider neoliberal and libertarian to be "liberal" then?

[@234zuscoutjango9]

Props for actually pronouncing the names correctly

[@zombiefied3251]

Calling them far left is a disgrace

[@ssailcross2153]

BSW and AFD both have some very similar ideas 🤔

[@malcolmy3413]

@@ssailcross2153 because they are very similar. The soviets teaming up with the nzs in ww2 was no coincidence

[@belstar1128]

its what a lot of people want

[@JerzyFeliksKlein]

How is opposing immigration to protect your working class' working conditions a far right possition?

[@lux2094]

because it distracts the working class away from the struggle against capitalists by pitting them against immigrants who are also part of the working class.

[@JerzyFeliksKlein]

@@lux2094 Yeah, the theory is great, sadly it doesn't work in practice. The role of a national politician is to care for their own citizens not the entire world and to protect their best interests. If letting immigrants in means lower wages for her citizens then they are failing in their job.

[@lux2094]

@@JerzyFeliksKlein that's the thing. wages don't get lowered by some inevitable magical force; they get lowered by capitalists who think they can use immigrants to make more money. You can't prevent all immigration for lots of reasons and even if you did capitalists are very good at finding more ways to get away with lowering wages. So, what really needs to happen to prevent this is for the government to support unions and take action to make sure workers get good play. maybe tax them more if they pay less or something. Blame and go after capital not immigrant workers.

[@Xaac1609]

because immigration does not threaten the working classes working conditions, and therefore this is just a populist point to say "immigration bad"

[@iamothemakhnovist20]

@@JerzyFeliksKlein except migrants are people that work really hard, and as the other people said, the problem is billionaire getting richer and richer while the population feels that their economic situation is stagnant or even declining. I live in the Paris (a city of 11 millions) and I can assure you most of the hardest yet underpaid jobs (cleaners of all kind, security agents, bus/taxi drivers, cashiers, etc.) are exercised by people of African origin. Yet the far right presents them as "profiting from the system". What a joke.

[@gamerthehoopa]

Describing this party as “far left” is REALLY disingenuous.

[@RedXlV]

Seriously, any party that has substantial overlap with AfD cannot possibly be considered "far left". Sahra Wagenknecht is basically a modern-day Strasser.

[@ornythorinquepasanonyme1523]

Against immigration, against renewable energy, prorussia, I wouldn't call that far left

[@WSINH]

All communist traits = far left

[@felixnimo]

BSW is leftist Conservatism (Linkskonservatismus), not far left! 🇩🇪

[@hammer3721]

Can't believe you had the balls to call them 'far-left,' rather than centrists. Rare 'W' for you, I suppose.

[@roundthoughts4644]

There is nothing far left about that party though, the most left wing elements are some proposed social democratic policies

[@rmn653]

BSW is the only party that can save Germany!🇩🇪🚩 I voted for BSW in the EU election and I hope Sahra Wagenknecht will be our new chancellor✊🏻

[@JasminDolly]

Unterstütze euch aus Österreich! ❤🤍❤

[@stoneyyy19]

Dänische Sozialdemokraten wären mir für Deutschland und die EU als ganzes lieber, die küssen wenigstens nicht Putins Stiefel. LG aus Österreich. (P.S.: bin trotzdem kein allzu großer Fan von NATO und den USA, sind halt auch Imperialisten)

[@stoneyyy19]

Dänische Sozialdemokraten wären mir für Deutschland und die EU als ganzes lieber, die küssen wenigstens nicht dauernd Putins Stiefel. LG aus Österreich (P.S.: Bin trotzdem kein allzu großer Fan von NATO und den USA, sind halt auch Imperialisten.)

[@prohacker5086]

She is nazbol, not merely far left.

[@amarsven]

She actually left the far left. There were frictions for years when she was in favour of a more refugee/immigration critical stance. As the most prominent figure she said few days before the Ukraine war that Russia wants peace and would never start a war. Instead of "Oopsie, I was wrong" she doubled down on that ever since and is very popular in the east.

[@scarface_deb]

It was all good until you mentioned her foreign policy position 🤦‍♂️

[@haoguo2056]

I don’t like her Russian friendly foreign policy and anti-immigration stance.

[@haoguo2056]

They are not all left positions.

[@connormycyk1835]

It’s very ironic since she’s Iranian

[@nightthemoon8481]

She's absolutely not far left, if anything she's center right

[@mugen7819]

that's not accurate either. she has both right and left leaning positions.

[@nightthemoon8481]

@@mugen7819 so it averages out to right or center right

[@Mick_Unfiltered]

Interesting how we are becoming more polarised in the west. In my country the far left and the far right parties are the two fastest growing… with the centre right and centre left major parties losing ground… I think we’ve lost social cohesion and harmony because our societies are no longer homogenous… along with mass media dividing us for profit with sensationalised headlines. that’s my take, I’d love to know other peoples opinions, or even prove me wrong so I can improve myself.

[@aForkfulOfGold]

I think decreasing homogeneity due to increasing global migration movements is not at all a non-factor, cultural familiarity fosters community and solidarity. However I think the fact that essentially all media today is subject to profit motifs before anything else is the primary culprit, without a doubt. Sober, factual reporting and evaluating topics in a responsible, nuanced manner do not attract attention, not nearly enough anyway. Sensationalist headlines do, distorting and exaggerating stories does, intentionally omitting certain facts from a story in order to paint a picture that plays to people's fears does. When you examine media, a lot of it is simply preying on fears. When the continued existence and financial survival of media outlets of whatever kind above all else is subject to sales numbers and being able to pay out dividends on stocks, and all other considerations increasingly fall to the wayside in order to better serve that primary purpose, what you eventually get is... slop. I'm not an insider, but thinking about it I'm pretty sure the reason many news and media outlets have switched to subscription models to even be able to access their articles is so they can even continue on quality reporting at all while still being in the green monetarily, instead of having to rely on advertisers on their sites and in their papers- which pay out depending on the number of eyeballs seeing them. If you think these are valid points and when you think them through to the end... well, perhaps not everyone would arrive at the same conclusion for a solution, I'd leave that up to you.

[@Mick_Unfiltered]

@@aForkfulOfGold homogeneity is one of the core issues, we lost it and likely won’t ever have it again without some massive political and societal shift, and it’s unlikely to be peaceful. Could have been totally avoided with careful planning. You’re also bang on with the media.

[@aForkfulOfGold]

@@Mick_Unfiltered Consider though that media preying on emotion, fear and confirmation bias is a major factor contributing to polarization, and thus groupthink and animosity towards others instead of solidarity and cultural homogeneity. And I think it's the most powerful force at work doing that when you think of all that "media" is. They are not separate issues, actually they are extremely intertwined imho. Edit: I don't think it's a coincidence that the popularization of social media and all that it unfortunately can be a vehicle for overlaps chronologically with us now living in a time of increasing political polarization to opposites and extremes basically across the world.

[@Mick_Unfiltered]

@@aForkfulOfGold it’s not just fear and emotion they’re playing on though, they’re playing on real world issues, there are parts of my country I cannot safely go to because it’s dangerous for white people and woman, it’s a huge cultural imbalance where these people come and create violent ghettos, while it’s important to call out media and politicians and assign them their fair share of blame, migrants also need to take a huge portion of the blame, past waves of migrants to my country assimilated fine, Italians, Greeks, Slavs (like my father), Vietnamese, but Arabs? No Arab majority area is safe for us… they need to accept the issues in their community and begin to assimilate. We can’t just let these people off without punishment because the media is *also* divisive.

[@AlZ-oy4si]

The internet has effectuated a massive push in decoupling identity from geographic location, especially among younger generations. Political community is formalized along geography but, political fellow feeling is now mediated more and more online. That disconnect is one big driver of the crisis of governance.

[@Jochla]

Here is a tip for German politics: No matter how you use the oversimplified left-center-right model, it will always trigger someone.

[@caseypittman9950]

Not supporting renewable energy and hates minorities, Horseshoe Theory is truly alive

[@jasonlee6326]

More on the right than on the left, the closest to the left you could say is Red brown

[@tahaymvids1631]

« Far left? » lol. She’s a class reductionist and a conservative.

[@Abdullah_the_Palestinian]

As a Palestinian I fully support and endorse Sahra Wagenknecht .

[@WSINH]

Do you fully support Ukraine?

[@Abdullah_the_Palestinian]

@@WSINH unlike you, I support all oppressed people around the world no matter who they are.

[@WSINH]

@@Abdullah_the_Palestinian Okay okay. Most Palestinians don't

[@user-wl7zi6pc3j]

​@@Abdullah_the_Palestinian Well, Wagenknecht is quite anti-immigration(despite the fact that one of her parents is also an immigrant from Iran)

[@Abdullah_the_Palestinian]

@@user-wl7zi6pc3j I don't care about her stances on immigration. And besides I don't blame her. My home Palestine was destroyed by illegal Jewish immigrants.

[@veronikalynn5084]

I can’t believe the SPD is still able to pull those levels of approval. Truly astounding

[@KamKrzem]

That quote about East Germany is WILD.