Coalition negotiations | Opponents of Red-Green-Red in Berlin as the fascists' stirrup holders

Negotiating a coalition in the capital: Bettina König (l.) from the SPD, Elif Eralp (m.) from the Left and Nina Stahr from the Greens. Photo: dpa/Sebastian Gollnow Again. Sigmar Gabriel, Karl Lauterbach and various other social democrats have learned nothing from history. Around 100 years ago, social democrats and communists fought each other with breathtaking accusations. And so they encouraged the rise of the fascists; some would say they made it possible in the first place. And today, Social Democrats are once again taking up the cause of defaming and fighting the Left and alliances with them, like the Red-Green-Red in Berlin. It is noteworthy that - as we hear from SPD circles - the signatories are predominantly supporters of the Seeheimer Kreis, i.e. a right-wing party structure. And preferably comrades who did not live in Berlin signed.

For the next federal election it is completely clear: anyone who wants to prevent the rise of the fascists to the chancellorship and whoever wants to prevent Alice Weidel (AfD) from becoming chancellor must look for alternative alliances. And Red-Green-Red is exactly such a project. Not just for Berlin, but in the future for the entire republic. Conversely, anyone who fights this alliance will, in the future, become a stirrup for the fascists.

Michael Schlecht is a founding member of WASG and Die Linke. After 30 years of various full-time positions as union secretary for IG Druck und Papier and Verdi, he was elected to the Bundestag in 2009. He left in 2017 and was most recently the economic and trade union policy spokesman for the Left parliamentary group.

The social cuts decided and planned by the Union and the SPD in the federal government will lead to further bitterness, despair and anger among even more people. On the one hand, this threatens to further strengthen the AfD and, on the other hand, a continuation of the disintegration process on the part of the Union, as a result of which parts will be prepared to make themselves available to a blue-black coalition.

All the accusations against the Berlin Left, such as anti-Semitism and a lack of ability to ensure internal security, are fake and exaggerated. The threat to internal security in Berlin posed by organized crime, for example, has only become more virulent in the recent past under a Social Democratic Senator for the Interior. And the fight against anti-Semitism has been hindered by the cuts or misappropriation of funds by a CDU-led Senate. For leftists, including the Berlin Left, Israel's right to exist is non-negotiable. The constitutional lawyer and Jew Philippe Sands - he recently received the book trade's Peace Prize - has complained that criticism of the Israeli government because of the war against the Palestinians is only presented with deafening silence in this country. Anyone who breaks this silence is not anti-Semitic.

No, essentially it's about fighting a government led by the Berlin Left that wants to sustainably solve the housing and rent crisis by intervening in capitalist property relations. It's about ensuring the affordability of life.

If the thinking of a former Social Democratic party leader is corrupted through membership on various supervisory boards, then the irresponsibility of his positioning is still obvious. And when worn-out social democratic elected officials, especially the former mayor of Berlin Michael Müller and Franziska Giffey, who most recently served as Senator for Economic Affairs, take part in a political spray of poison, it is even humanly understandable. But for many younger, some active Social Democrats, the historical oblivion is simply frightening.

There are also partisans on the left who have pushed aside history lessons. They generally place Social Democrats in the opposing camp. That is why they are also fighting a red-green-red alliance and are trying to sabotage the coalition process with provocative statements about the Middle East conflict that deviate from the party line and by collaborating with terrorist supporters. It is gratifying that the Left party conference on October 31 clearly rejected these efforts: 90 percent of the delegates voted for coalition negotiations to form a red-green-red coalition under the leadership of left-wing mayor Elif Eralp.

With us, no one has to pay to be informed. Sounds like a bad business model? It is too. But independent journalism and participation for everyone are more important to us than profit. Journalism still costs money: research, printing and all the people who do it. That's why we depend on you. We need 300,000 euros by the end of the year.

Donate once or regularly, every amount counts. So that nd remains.