Conversations between BSW and AfD: pain threshold sought

It is no surprise that the BSW in Saxony-Anhalt wants to hold talks with the AfD about cooperation. BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht announced before the state elections that she considered the firewall to be nonsensical. Only loyal followers remain in her party who follow her AfD cuddly course. No resistance is expected, everyone else has left the party.

The BSW also rules out a coalition with the AfD. The most likely scenario is that the AfD will tolerate a minority government - this would allow both sides to save face. It remains to be seen whether the AfD will agree to this and whether the BSW will ultimately use its votes to ensure that AfD's top candidate Ulrich Siegmund is elected Prime Minister. Both parties will now certainly discuss the details. The alternative would be new elections, or the old government remaining in office on a provisional basis for a long time. Neither party wants that.

There are a lot of overlaps in terms of content anyway. Both parties are in favor of energy deals with Russia. Wagenknecht has already announced that the BSW could apply to the new Magdeburg state parliament to reopen the Nord Stream pipeline and fill the German gas storage facilities with Russian gas. She's all about publicity. In addition, Wagenknecht – like the AfD – wants to weaken public broadcasting. This has already caused the BSW and its coalition with the SPD to break up in Brandenburg. The public broadcaster Wagenknecht comes in handy. Since the BSW has been back on the road to success, its founder has been appearing on public talk shows again.

The taz is an independent, left-wing and opinionated daily newspaper. We have been arguing in our comments, essays and debate texts since the taz was founded in 1979. We often cannot and do not want to agree on an opinion. That's why you'll find some completely opposing positions here - all part of the very broad left-wing spectrum of opinions.

The question is what pain threshold there is for Wagenknecht and her people. The AfD's open racism and right-wing extremism doesn't seem to bother them. Will your conscience be stirred when refugees and – in the eyes of the AfD – “culturally alien” migrants in Saxony-Anhalt are targeted? You have to have that hope. But it is small.