At the Berlin Die Linke party conference the debate about the motion “Against all antisemitism – defend emancipation and universal human rights” raised a lot of excitement. You and other delegates were accused by the people who proposed the motion of “destroying the party. How do you think that this came to happen?
The “Realo” wing around the parliamentarians Katina Schubert, Klaus Lederer and Elke Breitenbach went onto the offensive with a resolution at the party conference. The resolution was nominally against antisemitism, and foresaw the “use of constitutional means”.
The resolution also accused Hamas and Hisbollah of “eliminatory antisemitism”. The left wing of the party called for this phrase to be deleted, because it has been developed in relation to the Holocaust. Calling on the authoritarian state during increasing repression was rejected by a majority.
After a break, the people who proposed the motion said that they were withdrawing it. Because of the accusation of relativising the Holocaust, they would not stay at the conference any longer. This right-wing group then stormed out of the conference hall making wild calls and insults. One parliamentarian stuck up her middle finger at a female comrade.
What is the accusation that you and others want to “destroy” the party about?
Nothing. The resolution, leaving the Conference, and the media campaign appear to me to be an orchestrated campaign by the party right. Despite the accusations, I wasn’t even part of the intervention at the Conference, even though I see myself as part of the left wing and welcome the outcome.
In the current times of imperialist escalation and the growth of the AfD, an anti-capitalist voice is necessary. I and other comrades have been passionately building the party Die Linke with this aim over years. I wouldn’t consider a decline of Die Linke to be a step forward for the German Left as a whole if there is no alternative.
What are your perspectives?
At the moment, Die Linke is barely capable of showing a pole of hope. The orientation on parliament and joining governments has weakened the connection with extra-parliamentary movements and workers’ struggles, and has led to passivity in most base structures.
The politics of Die Linke in local governments does not oppose social cuts, deportations and climate crisis. In open debate, Die Linke is no longer noticeable as a system-critical opposition against capitalism. It acts like a colourless, established party.
At the same time there is rage against the consequences of neoliberal politics of war and impoverishment. The climate movement and the Palestine movement against Israel’s genocide in Gaza are confronted with state repression. Resentment against German militarism is growing, the rise of the AfD is making determined counter-mobilisation necessary. These are starting points into which a left party of movements could breathe life.
What does that mean for your engagement in the party?
At the end of the week, there is the party conference in Halle [this interview was published on 17th October]. We believe that this is the time for decisions. Die Linke will have no future with formal compromises. A left party which cannot call a genocide a genocide makes itself irrelevant.
At the same time, the problems are deeper than just Palestine solidarity. The engagement in building an opposition party which is a voice against war and crisis will continue to be central for me. I value many activists in Die Linke.
Nonetheless, a decision for stagnation would mean that the former MP Christine Buchholz [back in the party leadership since 2022], I and other members of Sozialismus von Unten [Socialism from Below, a left-wing organisation of which Ramsy and Christine are members] will change our priorities to building the movement and our organisation. Our work in Die Linke was always connected with building a revolutionary core in the fight for reforms.
Ramsy Kilani is an activist with “Sozialismus von unten” and a member of Die Linke.
Yaro Allisat is a freelance journalist and active in the climate justice movement and at the Refugee Law Clinic Leipzig as a consultant for asylum and residence rights.
This interview was first published in the junge Welt. Reproduced with permission.
