Attacks against the Berlin Left: Now everyone wants to say something

After the lost elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin, nerves in the Union are pretty frayed. If the CDU on the Baltic Sea has been completely thrown out of the state parliament, the conservatives in Berlin are apparently hoping to be able to salvage something by torpedoing a red-red-green coalition - so that they can then continue to govern themselves, even though they have been voted out.

It all started with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), who used a slip of the tongue made by the presenter on Maybrit Illner's talk show. Illner had said about the Berlin left-wing top candidate: “Elif Eralp says… she is anti-Semitic,” but then immediately corrected himself: “She is not anti-Semitic.” Dobrindt had interjected with the words “Oh yes!”

Eralp and the Berlin regional association then filed a criminal complaint with the Berlin public prosecutor's office through their media lawyer Jasper Prigge for defamation and insult, because the labeling of Eralp as an anti-Semitic would make it more difficult to form a government.

It wasn't just a spontaneous remark. On the same day, Dobrindt's cabinet colleague Katerina Reiche (CDU) struck a blow against the Berlin Left. The Economics Minister posted parts of a speech on Instagram in which she said, among other things: "The fact that a party is now preparing to do so, here in Berlin, is not ashamed to not only talk about expropriation but to write it into its program, which openly practices anti-Semitism, which scares the Jews in this city, fights Jewish life, which cheerfully welcomes organized crime at election parties, is not only dangerous for the capital, it is dangerous for Germany as an investment location."

The Left is also taking legal action against Reiche's post, although not against the accusations against the party contained therein. The point of attack is an alleged formality: Reiche published the speech excerpt not only on her personal Instagram account, but also on that of her ministry.

However, Reiche is obliged to remain neutral because he is financed with state resources, argues lawyer Prigge. The publication of the video there, which now has a good 60,000 views, affects the parties' equal opportunities. He is therefore demanding that the video be deleted and a cease and desist declaration from Reiche.

While Reiche and Dobrindt can at least claim a certain amount of responsibility in the matter from their Berlin office - and from their responsibility for the entire republic - another attack from the CDU seems rather bizarre: Schleswig-Holstein's Interior Minister Magdalena Finke (CDU) also felt called upon to comment on the formation of the Berlin government on Instagram: "Anyone who has connections to clan structures," she writes about the Berlin Left, "anyone who hates Jews in their own ranks Anyone who has a disturbed relationship with the security authorities must never take responsibility for security.”

In terms of content, the minister is likely to move more clearly within the limits of permitted expression of opinion than her colleagues from the Federal Cabinet. But like Reiche, she spread her opinion not only on her private Instagram channel but also on her work Instagram channel, as first reported by the Kieler Nachrichten.

From the left's point of view, this is also a violation of the neutrality requirement in their case. In a letter that is available to the taz, she therefore demands that the state of Schleswig-Holstein delete the post and issue a cease-and-desist declaration that is punishable by penalty.

If the same allegations were to be spread again through an official channel of the state government, the state would have to pay damages to the Berlin State Association of the Left. The minister has until Friday to make this statement, otherwise lawyer Prigge wants to obtain an interim injunction from the Federal Constitutional Court.

Interior Minister Finke's spokesman Tim Radtke only confirmed to the taz that a "lawyer's letter" had been received. This is currently being examined by the ministry. When asked whether the ministry's Instagram account was used by the minister herself or her press office, Radkte only said "partly, partly".

Meanwhile, in Bremen it is the local FDP that is cooking its local soup on the events following the Berlin election. Group leader Thore Schäck spreads a snippet from a speech he gave to the citizens on his private and his group's Instagram account. In the direction of the Left Party leader Sofia Leonidakis, he speaks of “a party whose designated top candidate celebrates together with anti-Semites, terrorists and clan criminals at the election party there in Berlin.” A photo of Leonidakis is mounted in the post.

Schäck, whose party clearly missed entry into the Berlin House of Representatives with 2.5 percent, alludes to the Neukölln Left's public election party, at which the Palestinian activist Ibrahim Ibrahim and the alleged clan leader Issa Remmo were spotted. Only: Leonidakis tells the taz that she wasn't there, but at the Left's central election party, "with access control via QR code." “I was only in one city with the gentlemen that colleague Schäck is referring to,” she says, “and I told him that too.”

She asked Schäck to delete the video because it contained false statements. “I wanted to settle this collegially.” Only when Schäck refused to do so did she seek legal help and now demand deletion through legal means.

Schäck has now followed up with another video on Instagram in which he claims his right to “freedom of expression”. Leonidakis says: “I have great respect for freedom of expression,” especially in parliament, which is protected by indemnity. “But lying is not permitted.”