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“We should be part of the pro-Palestine movement, and we should support it.”

Interview with Martha Kleedorfer (Die Linke Berlin-Mitte)


06/11/2024

Thank you for talking to us, Martha. Could you quickly say who you are and what it is you do?

My name is Martha Kleedorfer, and I am the chairwoman of die Linke in the district of Berlin Mitte. Mitte consists of Wedding, Moabit, Tiergarten, Gesundbrunnen, and alt-Mitte. I work a lot on the topic of housing politics and am a member of the local parliament.

A lot has happened in die Linke in the last couple of weeks. Recently, die Linke Berlin had their conference and there was a big discussion about antisemitism. What exactly happened there?

First of all, we had a really good debate. For example, a trade unionist from Berlin-Brandenburg came to speak about strikes by educators, and that was really strong. We also discussed a couple of other topics. And then later that evening, there was a motion about antisemitism from some people, including Klaus Lederer.

They particularly wanted to discuss “left-wing antisemitism”, which has been a big topic in Germany ever since October 7 last year. Robert Habeck, a leading Green minister, has been talking about “left-wing antisemitism”, as if it is the most important topic. This is when the AfD, a fascist party, is polling around 20%. In some parts of Germany, like Saxony or Brandenburg, they are even stronger, with 30%.

We thought that this doesn’t serve as a good enough analysis, either of antisemitism, or of the war on Gaza, so we suggested some changes to the text. Most of these changes were accepted by a majority of party delegates.

Lederer and his group got very angry that the text had been changed, and left the conference. One of them showed her middle fingers to the conference. The changed text then did not get the two-thirds of the vote it needed to be passed.

For people who don’t know who he is, who is Klaus Lederer?

Klaus Lederer is a former leader of die Linke in Berlin. He was Berlin’s Senator for Culture for six years, I think, and he was one of the mayors of Berlin.

The big headlines after the conference said that you personally accused Lederer of relativizing the Holocaust. What was that about? 

One part of the text said that the Left should never underestimate the eliminatory antisemitism of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. The term “eliminatory antisemitism” was first used by scientist Daniel Goldhagen in the 1990s. I don’t agree with Goldhagen’s ideas, but he proposed the idea that every German was an antisemite, and he used the term “eliminatory antisemitism” to characterize the German antisemitism which led to the Holocaust.

I don’t like this idea, but this is something which is being discussed in science and by historians.

There’s a very good book by Norman Finkelstein about Goldhagen’s thesis

I essentially said that I wouldn’t use that term that describes the genocide on Jews that Germans committed to characterize other groups. I said that, essentially, this is relativizing the Holocaust. I later even apologised for the very strong tone with which I said it, but they didn’t want to listen to that apology. 

A week after the Linke Berlin conference, the party had its national conference where there was another discussion on Palestine. How did that go?

After the Berlin Conference, everyone was very scared about the national conference, worrying that this would all blow up. So everyone was trying to be very precise and very calm. There was a weird atmosphere at the conference that evening. 

In the end, there was a compromise from the new chairperson, Jan Van Aken, who also lived in Tel Aviv for a couple of years and is very familiar with foreign policy. A majority of the conference voted for that compromise, and a lot of people were talking about Palestine in general. When we voted for the new party leadership, a lot of candidates were talking about the war on Gaza and Lebanon in their speeches.

What was in the compromise? Do you support it?

I voted for it at the conference, because I thought that at the end of the day it was a step in the right direction. For example, the text talks about the war on Gaza and Lebanon, and especially opposes that the German government is sending weapons to support Israel’s war. 

It also strongly rejected antisemitism. What was new was that it talked about the International Court of Justice saying that a genocide is about to happen. We were finally able to acknowledge that in that text, which contains the word “genocide”. This is quite new for die Linke, which is very reluctant when it comes to talking about Israel’s war in Gaza, and is mostly trying to use very soft terms to describe the outrageous war that is happening. 

So I thought that was a step in the right direction. At the same time, it was quite important for the part of die Linke that does not fully support the pro-Palestine movement that the part about antisemitism is in the text. It is right that there is no room for antisemitism in die Linke, but at the end of the day, they might use this to get people who they don’t like out of the party.

Nonetheless, significant parts of the Palestine movement point to die Linke supporting pro-Israel demos, and to various statements by Linke leaders, and say that even in the current compromise, die Linke is obsessed with a two-state solution – which is now dead – if it ever was a solution. They therefore argue that they don’t see die Linke as a partner. How would you address such concerns?

I do think that there’s a difference in what die Linke as a party says when it comes to the two-state solution. I also think that die Linke is one of only two major parties in Germany which doesn’t unconditionally support Israel. 

There is a gap between what we say and vote for when we meet as a conference, and what the party does at the end of the day. For example, when leaders of die Linke go to a pro-Israel demonstration, that is not part of what we want as a party, and what is in the party programme.

This is one of the biggest problems that I see. We as a party should play a bigger role in the pro-Palestinian movement. We should be part of the movement, and we should support it.

There is a difference with some groups like Palestine Speaks when it comes to how we think of Israel as a state, but what we as a party want at this point is to stop the war and a permanent ceasefire, and this is something we can fight for together with the movement.

One of the results of the National Conference was that a number of known pro-Israel people, including Klaus Lederer, left the party. Why did they do that? And how does this change the balance of forces?

One day after the National Conference, Henriette Quade, a member of die Linke in Sachsen-Anhalt and also a member of the Parliament there, left the party. I think it’s actually quite interesting, because she said she supports sending weapons to Israel, but somehow she didn’t know that die Linke is always against sending weapons into areas where there is a war. She realized that there’s a big difference between what she wants and what die Linke wants. So she left the party.

Two days later, Klaus Lederer and some other very prominent people from die Linke also left the party. It does hurt that members are leaving Die Linke. In their statement, they didn’t talk as much about the national conference as about die Linke in Berlin. They said that they can no longer advocate for “strategic orientation” in Die Linke Berlin. 

At the end of the day, it’s true, because the party has changed over the last couple of years. For example, when it comes to the unconditional support of a government that doesn’t change anything about the housing crisis in Berlin, I think there is a majority in die Linke in Berlin which does not fully support the politics of Klaus Lederer. I think there is a more nuanced part of die Linke which does not unconditionally support Israel anymore. That’s essentially why they left the party, I guess. 

They want to stay in the parliament for die Linke though.

Even though they’re not party members?

Exactly, and that is quite interesting, because exactly one year before they left, Sahra Wagenknecht and other members of die Linke in the Bundestag left the party, and everyone – including Klaus Lederer and others – were saying they should give back their seats in the parliament. And now they’re doing the same. Die Linke Berlin has said last year that members of Die Linke in parliament, who left the party should give back their seats and we are saying the same now.

One of the other things that’s been happening is that there’s been more than one article in the right wing Axel Springer press, which has been specifically attacking you and four Linke activists in Neukölln, including Ramsy Kilani and Ferat Kocak. And strangely, they’re also attacking The Left Berlin, which has nothing to do with die Linke. Who is behind these attacks and why? 

As I mentioned before, the Conservatives and bürgerliche Mitte [roughly speaking, the bourgeois middle of society] want to put pressure on the left for being, as they say, antisemitic, This is convenient for them, because it means that they don’t have to talk about the antisemitism that is happening on the right or the conservative parts of society.

So the Tagesspiegel and other journalists have been publishing those texts about us. At the end of the day, they don’t like left-wing politics, and they’re using every tool that they have. It’s very convenient to them that they think they can make this accusation of antisemitism against members of die Linke (which are not true), because at the end of the day, they want to destroy anti-capitalist politics.

Two of the people being accused – yourself and Ferat – are both trying to stand for parliament for die Linke at the next general election. Do you think you can rely on the support of the party?

Of course, there are people who have different opinions to what I said at the conference. But what die Linke in Mitte is saying is very clear. We have voted for proposals at our district conferences that are very clearly pro-Palestinian. What I say is backed by my party in my district, so I feel quite confident that it’s the right thing.

I live in Wedding, and when I walk around Wedding wearing a kuffiyah, I have so many nice conversations with my neighbors. And when I look around, there are so many apartments hanging Palestinian flags in this neighborhood. The working class lives here, and die Linke wants to make politics with the working class. It is the right thing to do to work together with the working class in our neighborhood, and this is exactly what we’re doing right now.

If you do get elected, MP, what do you think you can offer the working class of Wedding and Germany?

There is a huge problem here in Wedding that most of the people don’t actually vote. Even though many people have German citizenship, they don’t participate in elections. I think that’s because they don’t feel like any party is seeing their pain and anger, especially when it comes to Palestine and the way that German politics doesn’t acknowledge the suffering of Arabs.

What we want to do is to talk to our neighbours in this district. We want to give them a voice and not just be for them, but with them. This is exactly what you have to do, not just when we’re talking about Palestine, but also when we’re talking about rents and how inflation is going up, and how people can’t afford their lives any more. 

It is so important that someone is finally listening to them, and if we as die Linke will finally be able to support our neighbourhood in finding a voice, that is exactly what we want to do. 

How confident are you that die Linke can be an agent for change?

I think die Linke now has a chance to actually be the motor of change. When the party was founded in 2007 it was the voice of change when it came to fighting Agenda 2010, when working class people were being pressured. I really want to fight for die Linke coming back to that position. 

In the last couple of years, we were not able to do that because we weren’t able to speak clearly about imperialism, but also about all those mistakes that the government is making. But what we have to do is to criticize what the government is doing from a socialist perspective. There are multiple injustices which are happening, including the German support for the war on the people in Gaza and Lebanon. So I really do hope that now we are finding that clear voice again.

Surveillance, Censorship, and Criminalization

Report from a meeting organised by the Arts & Culture Alliance Berlin (ACAB) about Germany’s proposed antisemitism resolution


Following the news last Friday, November 1st, of a second leak of the text of the Bundestag resolution ‘Never again is now: Protect, preserve and strengthen Jewish life in Germany’, Arts & Culture Alliance Berlin and the cultural center Oyoun held an event under the name ‘Surveillance, Censorship, and Criminalization: An Emergency Public Reading and Discussion on the Leaked Bundestag Resolution’ to address the implications of the new policy, slated for a vote this week. Ostensibly aimed at safeguarding Jewish life in Germany, the resolution has faced severe backlash for what critics claim is a thinly veiled attempt to stifle dissent and criminalize criticism of the state of Israel. Despite the venue’s capacity limits, a crowd gathered beyond those registered, portraying the urgency and high public interest in the topic. In a climate of increased scrutiny by the mainstream media and a newly reinvigorated German McCarthyism, attendees were asked to refrain from recording video or audio to avoid hostile media infiltration, which has previously misrepresented such events. The discussion unfolded peacefully, with participants expressing deep concerns over the resolution’s potential impact on civil liberties and public discourse.

The resolution, signed by the Ampel coalition and the CDU/CSU, was initially leaked over the summer, sparking widespread criticism across Germany’s media and civil society. Condemned as unconstitutional, repressive, and contrary to international law, the resolution has been widely viewed as a perilous attack on freedom of expression, artistic and scientific freedom, and the right to political dissent. Many critics have pointed out that the document conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israeli policy, a move that threatens to undermine legitimate political expression. The issue was compounded by the fact that the resolution was drafted behind closed doors to avoid further leaks, excluding broad civil society input, as well as consultation with most Bundestag members, save for a single representative from each major party.

Sunday’s event opened with a reading of the English translation of the resolution by a prominent German actress, underscoring its vague and sweeping language. The document alleges that there is “an increasingly open and violent antisemitism in right-wing extremist and Islamist milieus as well as a relativizing approach and increasing Israel-related and left-wing anti-imperialist antisemitism” and warns of “the alarming extent of antisemitism based on immigration from North Africa and the Middle East, where antisemitism and hostility towards Israel are widespread, partly due to Islamist and anti-Israeli state indoctrination”. Critics, however, argued that these statements dangerously oversimplify and racialize complex issues, deflecting responsibility away from Germany’s own historical roots of antisemitism. Furthermore, by conflating antisemitism with any critique of Israel, the resolution appears to silence meaningful discourse about Israeli policies and the rights of Palestinians.

Following the reading, speakers, whom we have decided not to name for reasons of confidentiality, highlighted the resolution’s ambiguity and raised questions about its legal viability. As a non-binding resolution rather than a formal law, it will not undergo the constitutionally mandated legislative process, which means it will be challenging to contest in court despite its potentially unconstitutional restrictions on freedom of expression. Yet, state offices could invoke this resolution to justify punitive actions, exploiting its vague language while bypassing constitutional safeguards.

Speakers observed that the resolution seeks to redefine antisemitism in ways that link Jewish identity intrinsically to Israel, framing critiques of Israeli policies as attacks on Jewish people themselves. By presenting Israel as the “Jew among states” and implying that Jewish identity is inseparable from Zionist ideology, the resolution risks creating a climate where even non-violent opposition to Israeli state practices is viewed as antisemitic. As one speaker noted, this resolution is not about protecting Jewish life, but about conflating Jewish identity with Israeli nationalism, to suppress solidarity with Palestine.

The resolution’s emphasis on increased oversight in the arts and academia also raised significant concerns. It references recent controversies, such as those at Documenta 15 and the Berlinale, as justification for intensifying scrutiny and regulation within cultural and academic institutions. With proposals for “antisemitism-critical codes of conduct”, many fear that the resolution could stifle artistic freedom, limit public funding for projects deemed critical of Israel, and create a chilling effect in academic settings. Among the suggested measures is for universities to enforce “house rules” to deny entry or expel students and staff whose views are interpreted as antisemitic, and “to appoint antisemitism officers at universities across the board”—a troubling development for free speech in Germany’s institutions, given the arbitrariness with which these measures could be implemented.

The resolution also highlights antisemitism as stemming from immigration, particularly from North African and Middle Eastern communities, a framing that participants criticized as scapegoating. This language risks fueling xenophobic narratives, framing Muslim and Arab communities as inherently antisemitic and ignoring the German state’s own history of antisemitism. One panelist remarked that by placing blame on immigrant communities, Germany sidesteps its responsibility while reinforcing damaging stereotypes. The resolution’s portrayal of “Israel solidarity” as integral to Jewish identity disregards the diversity within Jewish communities, especially those who actively oppose the Israel’s policies toward Palestinians.

Concerns were expressed over how these narratives pit marginalized groups against each other, dividing communities and stifling solidarity. As the discussion progressed, the resolution was described as not only undermining Palestinian rights but also as a vehicle for Germany to “project blame onto the other” while shielding itself from critique. This tactic is a clear means to avoid confronting Germany’s complicity in contemporary international conflicts and human rights abuses and, more importantly, to avoid confronting its past.

In response to the resolution’s threat to freedom of expression, speakers emphasized the importance of continued resistance. Organizations such as the European Legal Support Center and 3EZWA were highlighted for their work monitoring discrimination against Palestine solidarity movements in Germany and for offering legal assistance. Others advocated for proactive steps, including disrupting institutional silence on the issue and increasing international visibility around Germany’s policies toward Palestine.

Another focal point of discussion was the need to hold German cultural and academic institutions accountable, especially regarding potential funding restrictions for projects perceived as critical of Israel. Among the suggested strategies were joining unions, participating in direct actions, and working within institutions to amplify dissenting voices, and demand transparency in funding and policy decisions.

As the event came to a close, it was clear that the Bundestag resolution represents more than a repressive undemocratic policy; it signals a deeper ideological struggle within Germany that has global implications. It is a measure that disproportionately targets migrant communities and minorities, who have been at the forefront of the protests from the beginning—in contrast to the German population, which is more reluctant to take to the streets in this regard. The even graver paradox is that, after the Palestinian and the Arab population, the main target is precisely a part of the Jewish community, which is leading various protest movements.

Hence the importance of continued resistance against state narratives that seek to equate antisemitism with anti-Zionism, emphasizing that solidarity with Palestine is not only a matter of social justice but a vital act of free expression. This is why we appeal not only to allies of the movement for freedom of the Palestinian people, but to anyone who believes in the values of the human, democratic, and civil rights of free expression, association, and protest. When rights are restricted to some, they are, in reality, restricted to all.

In a powerful closing statement, one speaker urged for a global response, highlighting that Germany cannot avoid international scrutiny. Just as apartheid South Africa faced worldwide condemnation, so must Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the discriminatory and complicit policies of Germany.

The UK budget – not nearly as generous as it might seem

Under Britian’s new Labour government, healthcare remains underfunded


05/11/2024

While the recently published Darzi report laid the blame for the current failings of the NHS squarely with Conservative governments, the problems are now owned by Labour after their July election victory, and there is a pressing need for patients to see real improvements in services. Broad aims to utilise technology, shift care into the community and focus on prevention need clarification in terms of detailed plans for how things will be made better in practice. Campaigners have long been calling for a £20bn funding injection as a down payment on what is needed to start the process of repair. This demand was coupled with calls for a commitment to a publicly funded and provided NHS and fair pay settlements for staff. Darzi’s stark diagnosis of a critically ill service starved of funds also sets the scene for the government to prescribe necessary treatment, the details of which are expected to be set out in next spring’s 10 year plan.

The recent budget enables Labour to argue that it has started on the path of restoring NHS services, with one aim being a return to meeting NHS performance standards in the next five years. The NHS was a key issue in the election, and Labour is likely to be judged next time around on how much it has been able to deliver in terms of real progress. A major concern remains that unspecified ‘reform’ is being prioritised over greater investment, despite the fact that New Labour showed, the last time that Labour ‘saved the NHS’, that a sustained increase in funding was crucial to reducing waiting lists and improving public satisfaction. In addition, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, insists in the face of all evidence to the contrary that the private sector is there to help out and must play a key role in recovery.

What did the Budget promise?

The headlines for the NHS were an additional £22.6bn over the next two years for day-to-day spending, and a further £3.1bn capital over the same period. The government also announced that £1bn of the capital investment would be used to tackle the backlog of repairs and upgrades with a further £1.5bn for new beds in hospitals across the UK, around one million additional diagnostic tests, and new surgical hubs and diagnostic centres. This is aimed at reducing waiting lists (currently standing at nearly 8 million) and increasing numbers of hospital appointments and procedures in England by 40,000 per week (at present there are nearly two million weekly hospital appointments).

The £22.6bn will inevitably be eroded by pay settlements, by staff recruitment as the workforce plan is implemented and by inflation. Alarmingly, with an estimated current £4.8bn underfunded shortfall in NHS England revenue budget there will be no more money immediately available, despite the need to tackle a crisis that is seeing 14,000 avoidable deaths each year simply from delays in Emergency Departments. The £1bn of the capital funding for urgent repairs includes the seven hospitals in danger of collapse due to being constructed with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete. These need rebuilding at an estimated average cost of £1bn each (as part of the much bigger but as yet unfunded New Hospitals Programme). £600m has been allocated for upgrades to 200 GP surgeries, and £70m for radiotherapy machines. Social care is to receive a paltry £600m, and like general practice, the sector will be hit by the rise in employer National Insurance contributions despite public services being protected from this. For GPs, also being hit by a 6.7% rise in minimum wage for practice staff, this seems inconsistent with Labour’s pledge to ‘bring back the family doctor’ (20% of practices closed between 2013 and 2023) and reduce pressure on hospitals.

How much extra funding does the NHS need?

Some figures give a sense of just how much money the NHS might need if our People’s Vision of a restored service based on its founding principles is to be achieved. In the decade preceding the pandemic, annual spending increases were significantly below the long-term historical average for nine subsequent years. As a consequences, the British Medical Association estimates that since 2009/10 there has been a £44.6bn cumulative underspend compared with historical funding settlements. The Health Foundation considers that to enable the NHS in England to meet growing demand and improve standards an additional £38bn funding each year until 2029/30 would be necessary. Lord Darzi identified a £37bn capital investment deficit compared with similar countries, and the NHS Confederation has been calling for an annual £6.4bn capital funding increase to ensure staff have the right tools and space to work effectively. There is currently a maintenance backlog of £13.8bn needed to bring NHS estates to an adequate condition.

A small step in the right direction

While welcoming the announcement of extra funding, it is crucial that this be invested in the NHS as a public service provider and not diverted to short term profit taking companies. Investment in social care and in rebuilding public health services should also be prioritised, and there must be a real cross departmental focus on reducing health inequalities by addressing the social determinants of health and the promotion of social justice. With climate change now the biggest threat to public health, it is lamentable that this hardly featured in the budget except for a welcome increase in air passenger duty for private jets.

The budget was a missed opportunity for wealth redistribution from rich to poor. A much needed tax on the very wealthy was avoided and a manifesto pledge to tax the huge profits made by private equity bosses was considerably watered down. This is despite government stating that money for investment in public services should come from those with the broadest shoulders. This is urgent given compelling evidence of how a failing NHS will lead to a failing economy. As Darzi said in a clear message to government, ‘It is not a question of whether we can afford the NHS. Rather, we cannot afford not to have the NHS, so it is imperative that we turn the situation around’.

So often complex accounting practices and shifting definitions of what constitutes NHS spending obscure the true financial state of the NHS and its funding needs, as well as how much of the money promised will translate into reality. While welcoming the budget as a small step in the right direction, the likely reality is that it will only help maintain services but not mean patients will see an improvement in care. If Darzi saw the NHS as a critically ill patient, then the journalist Frances Ryan is spot on to categorise the budget as ‘£22bn worth of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation’. It raises questions as to just how committed Labour is to restoration of a publicly provided NHS. Much more will be needed to return it to healthy status, including a far greater commitment in the coming 10 year plan.

Statement by The Left Berlin on Die Linke

Why we are ending formal ties


The Left Berlin, which grew out of the Linke Berlin Internationals, decided on 14th October, 2024, to end formal ties with Die Linke. One reason for our decision – but not the only one – is the inability of Die Linke to fully condemn the genocide in Gaza, while simultaneously supporting pro-Israel demonstrations. As international socialists, we cannot accept such an approach.

Several of our allies also asked us to clarify our relationship with the party. They told us that they wanted a strong left party in Germany, but not at just any cost. One of the speakers at our recent Summer Camp, representing the French left party La France insoumise (LFI), argued that LFI should not work with Die Linke as long as it maintained its lack of support for Palestine.

This statement is an attempt to clarify our position, and to explain what we think has changed.

What is Die Linke and where did it come from?

Die Linke was formed in 2007 as a merger of the Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus (Party of Democratic Socialism, PDS), the old communist party based mainly in the East, and the Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative (Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative, WASG), a party set up by trade unionists in the West to fight the Agenda 2010 “reforms” implemented by the Red-Green government. One of its first acts was to support the mobilisation against the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.

Over the years, Die Linke has invested more in winning elections than in extra-parliamentary movements. For example, it has played little visible role in movements like Black Lives Matter and Fridays for Future. 

October 7th – a turning point

Whereas Die Linke has shown token support for campaigns like Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen (DWE), it has rarely actively supported the movement for a free Palestine. This is nothing new, but has become increasingly important after October 7th, 2023.

Following October 7th, Israel has conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing and extermination in Gaza that is unprecedented in this century, in addition to expanding its deliberate targeting and bombing of civilian targets to Lebanon and Iran. While the official reports indicate that at least 40,000 people have been killed by Israeli bombs in Gaza, substantiated estimates indicate that the human toll in Gaza since October 2023 is far higher than official reports, exceeding 118,000, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population.

While the near universal reaction by the international left has been to show solidarity with the Palestinian victims of Israel’s genocidal campaign, Die Linke’s response was to join the CDU and other mainstream German parties in calling a demonstration in support of Israel. On 12th October, Bundestag MPs — including those from Die Linke — voted unanimously to support Israel.

At its recent national conference, Linke delegates voted for a compromise resolution, which was slightly better than what preceded it, but was too little, too late. The resolution does call for an immediate ceasefire and refers to genocide, but it also falsely claims that the Palestinian resistance is driven by antisemitism, and clings to the illusion of a two-state “solution”, which is no longer an option, and arguably never was.

The Left Berlin responds

In response to Die Linke’s apparent support for genocide, The Left Berlin organised two well-attended meetings in November and December 2023, to discuss our relationship to the party. At these meetings, we made two decisions.

Firstly, we decided to organise most of our future events not with the Linke Berlin Internationals as we had done previously, but under the name The Left Berlin. The identification with Die Linke, even via the Internationals, was making it harder for us to relate to the solidarity movement.

Secondly, on the request of several internationals who were still party members, we decided that we should “stay and fight”, and keep our links with the party. This was not a final decision, and we agreed that we would review this relationship over time.

This was the background to our Summer Camp in September 2024, where many attendees asked us to clarify our relationship to the party. The feeling which many had held at the end of last year — that we could win the party for consistent solidarity with victims of genocide — had all but evaporated. This discussion led to the decision to cut all ties.

Recent developments

Since we took the decision to end formal ties with Die Linke, there have been a number of developments. First, the right wing Springer press have launched a concentrated attack on members of Die Linke who support Palestine. Articles in the Tagesspiegel and elsewhere have leveraged personal attacks on five party members, all of whom have worked with The Left Berlin to a greater or lesser extent. Curiously, the same articles attacked The Left Berlin, although we have never directly been part of the party.

As a result of this provocation, some members of Die Linke called for the expulsion of the activists under attack. We want to make it clear that we support the right of all five to remain in the party for as long as they want, and will continue to support their struggle against unjust expulsion.

At roughly the same time, a number of leading party members around former Berlin senator Klaus Lederer decided to leave the party because they didn’t think the party supported Israel enough. This has led some to believe that the party can finally be won to a pro-Palestine, pro-social movement position. We do not share this belief. 

As of writing this statement, Die Linke remains perhaps the only socialist party in the world which refuses to stand unequivocally on the side of the Palestinians. Die Linke has consistently refused to contend with the reality that Israel represents an imperialist project of occupation, colonialism and apartheid, and we feel that if the horrific events of the last 12 months have not persuaded the party to commit itself to principled socialist praxis, nothing will. The conduct of Die Linke over the past year will remain an unfortunate and deeply shameful reminder of the failure of the socialist scene in Germany for years to come.

Although we are formally breaking with the party, we will retain our contact with reliable Linke partners, such as Ferat Kocak and the International Department, as long as they continue to take a principled stance. We will continue to build social movements alongside party members. We will not, however, receive any financial support — whether direct or indirect — from Die Linke.

We would like to thank Die Linke for the solidarity and cooperation they have given us over the years, and we hope that they come around to a progressive position on the liberation of Palestine.

Is German guilt to blame for the oppression of Palestinians?

Or: why are so many Germans silent in the face of genocide?


04/11/2024

There’s been a lot of talk about German guilt in the pro-Palestine movement. Stickers have been produced saying “free Palestine from German guilt”, and an Al Jazeera article has attacked the “nationwide guiltwashing – or the cover-up of authoritarian state policies through the pretense of addressing Germany’s historical guilt for the Holocaust.”

I want to argue that “German guilt” is an imprecise and not particularly helpful way of describing a very real phenomenon. As early as March, 69% of Germans felt that Israel’s actions in Gaza were unjustified, and only 18% found it justified. As it becomes more obvious that Israel is directly targeting schools, hospitals, and even UN peacekeepers, support for Israel among the German public is not rising.

At the same time, demonstrations in Germany are significantly smaller than those in other countries. Most of them have been dominated by non-Germans. It seems clear that something is different in Germany—but can this all be attributed to guilt?

This article is not about why the German state supports Israel, which has nothing to do with guilt and everything to do with support for, and competition with, US imperial interests in the oil-rich MENA region. What’s most interesting here is how so many German people manage to stay silent in the face of an obvious genocide.

It didn’t start on October 7th

I first moved to Germany in 1995. As soon as I could understand the language properly, I was regularly attending meetings on Palestine. It wasn’t that Germans weren’t discussing Israel and Palestine, but they were doing it within very strange parameters.

The meetings almost always ran according to a certain pattern. The speaker would describe the horrific conditions which experienced by the Palestinians. Everyone would look sad. When the discussion was opened up to the public, people would say how terrible this was, and how sorry they were that this was happening.

Then the second or third speaker would end their contribution saying “but of course, we Germans can’t discuss Israel.” Everybody murmured their approval, and the debate was closed down after that. My friend Samieh and I developed a strategy to deal with this. Samieh is a Palestinian from Yafa. I am British. At the moment of the inevitable “Germans can’t talk about this” contribution, we thrust our hands up. “We’re not German, can we say something about it?”

Surprisingly, this strategy always worked. It was not that this lefty-liberal German public didn’t want to hear about the Palestinians. They just had some sort of conditioning telling them that if they talked about it, it would be the first step in a process which ended with them building gas chambers.

Who is guilty?

We were talking about this in a recent Left Berlin book club. Someone mentioned a story that a friend had told him. One day, the friend’s daughter came home from school and asked “Daddy, are we responsible for the Holocaust?” On one level, it is plainly ridiculous that a young girl would be responsible for something which ended nearly 80 years ago. And yet this seems to be what is being taught in German schools.

It’s not just schools. In 1996, Daniel Goldhagen brought out the book Hitler’s Willing Executioners, which argued that all Germans were to blame for the Holocaust and that as penance their grandchildren should unconditionally support the State of Israel. Goldhagen won the Democracy prize, and his book was a best-seller. A 1997 article said that it had already sold 160,000 copies in Germany alone.

Incidentally, Germans were not the only people buying the book. It was prominently displayed in the English shop in Stuttgart, where I lived at the time. The idea of collective German guilt went hand in hand with ‘Two World Wars and One World Cup’ English nationalism.

The purpose of this article is not to examine the deficiencies in Goldhagen’s argument, but if you want to know more, I highly recommend Norman Finkelstein and Ruth Bettina Birn’s forensic book A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen Thesis and Historical Truth.

 But what does this have to do with Gaza?

Let us assume for one second that the thesis behind German guilt is true, that is that all Germans—and not just those who were alive in the 1930s and 1940s—are to blame for the Holocaust. Just what has this to do with support for the genocide on Gaza? Coming to this conclusion requires 2 or 3 sleights of hand which are based on, shall we say, flimsy logic.

The first sleight of hand is to reduce Nazi Germany’s crimes to antisemitism. I want to make myself clear: the industrial genocide of 6 million Jews was the worst crime committed by Nazi Germany. But it was not the only crime. The Nazis also managed to murder millions of Sinti and Roma people, LGBT+ people, trade unionists, Communists, and even Social Democrats.

And yet, so-called “antiziganismus” is not taboo in modern Germany. There are few howls of protest against plans to tear down Berlin’s only memorial to the Roma and Sinti who were killed in the Holocaust for a railway. Similarly, anti-Communism is so acceptable, that it was enshrined in post-war West German law. In 1956, the Communist Party was banned. 

Homophobia is slightly more complicated, as some liberals use their supposed support for LGBT+ rights to pinkwash Israel’s crimes, but it would be an illusion to suggest that homophobia is not a strong feature of modern German society.

Germany seems to have come to terms with most of the crimes committed by the Nazis, but antisemitism is the one thing which is beyond the pale. Again, I want to be clear about what I am saying. Antisemitism is of course beyond the pale, as are other forms of bigotry.

Israel does not equal Jewish people

The second sleight of hand involves conflating all Jews with the State of Israel, After the Holocaust, most Jews fleeing Germany did not want to go to Israel, but it was racist immigration laws in the West (including the 1905 Aliens Act, set up by Alfred Balfour – yes, the man who made the Balfour Declaration) which prevented many from finding asylum in Western countries.

Even now, most Jewish people do not live in Israel, and an increasing number of Jews actively oppose what the state is doing. A survey of US Jews taken at the end of the last Trump administration provides interesting results: over half had never visited Israel, and 41% felt not too or not at all connected to Israel, a figure which rose to over 50% among people younger than 30. 

These figures date from before a wave of Campus protests for Gaza began, much of which was led by young Jewish people. After the protests in Spring 2024, the Middle East Eye found that “at several of the encampments, anti-Zionist Jewish students vastly outnumbered Palestinian or Arab student protesters.”

And yet, the self-appointed protectors of Jewish life insist, it is only Israelis and supporters of Israel who are proper Jews. This brings us to the absurdity of a multi-cultural centre in Berlin shut down because of alleged antisemitism, specifically for hosting an event organised by the Jewish Voice for Peace—the ‘wrong sort’ of Jews.

“Imported antisemitism”

One more step is required to justify the repression of Palestinians, and this is the dubious concept of “imported antisemitism.” In 2018, Angela Merkel made a speech saying “We have refugees now, for example, or people of Arab origin, who bring a different type of antisemitism into the country”. Around the same time, her antisemitism Tsar Felix Klein raised the issue of “imported antisemitism”. 

According to the theory of imported antisemitism, Germany has had no problem with antisemitism, apart from a short blip in the 1930s and 1940s. Now that this problem has been dealt with (we’ll ignore the fact that the Fascist AfD is polling around 20%, and around 30% in most East German States), a new scapegoat is in order. If the Holocaust can be reduced to antisemitism, and Judaism to Israel, then it is Arabs, and particularly Palestinians, who are trying to start a new Holocaust.

This is what lies behind a recent claim, made during the Berlin Linke conference, that Hamas and Hisbollah are guilty of eliminatory antisemitism—a term used by the aforementioned Goldhagen to refer to the perpetrators of the Holocaust. Seeing how ridiculous this comparison is doesn’t require you to be a big fan of Hamas and Hisbollah (to let you in on a secret, I’m not). 

Besides, the statistics show that most antisemitic violence is carried out by the Right. A report in Al Jazeera in 2021 found that “the German police recorded a total of 2,351 anti-Semitic incidents in 2020. Of these, 95 percent, or 2,224, were committed by right-wing extremists.” Even with the increased tendency to label any criticism of Israel as antisemitic, it is clear that the main danger to German jews is home-grown.

The irony of the situation is that the idea of German guilt is now used to imply that no German is guilty of any antisemitism. It’s all the Arabs’ fault, apparently. The untenable theory intended to prove that Germans are guilty has been flipped around and is now being used to argue the opposite.

So what is the cause of German silence on Palestine?

We should start by rejecting wild generalisations about “the Germans”, “Arabs”, and “Jews”. In each of these groups there are different class interests. Not all Germans were high-ranking Nazis or people who directly profited from the Holocaust.

It is true that some working class Germans supported the Nazis. Others resisted and ended up in Concentration Camps. But just as the grandchildren of Nazis are not responsible for their ancestors’ sins, some descendents of resistance fighters have unfortunately ended up trying to justify the unjustifiable.

It goes without saying that different people have different motivations, but here is my attempt at an explanation for the relative weakness of the pro-Palestine movement in Germany.

Many Germans are appalled by what their grandparents might have done. Quite understandably, they find it uncomfortable to talk about the past. Added to this is the false assumption that Germans have a genetic tendency towards antisemitism. This has led many to believe that talking about Jewish people in any form would make things worse.

These vague inferences were compounded by reunification in 1990, when a fear of a greater Germany emerged (remember what happened last time?) accompanied by a series of high-profile Nazi attacks on refugee homes in both East and West Germany.

This in turn led to the growth of the Antideutsche—a strange but self-confident group of leftist Israel supporters. It is not that the Antideutsche were ever particularly strong outside certain areas of academia, but when everyone else is saying nothing, your shouts sound much louder than they actually are.

This was the situation when 7th October posed questions about anti-colonialism and our relationship to national liberation movements. Most of the German left couldn’t come up with answers. And when the left cannot provide an answer, other,  less progressive ideas start to sound more plausible.

Looking forward

One year on, the conditions have shifted slightly in favour of our message. General opposition to Germany’s complicity with Israel’s attack on Gaza has led health workers, students, artists, and other groups to act. Top German NGOs, traditionally having  distanced themselves from pro-Palestine statements by international partners, recently launched a petition against German arms sales to Israel.

Above all, German people have eyes and ears. Even though German media tend to show everything from the point of view of the German and Israeli governments, the existence of social media means that people have access to other sources of information, if they choose to use them.

This does not mean that hundreds of thousands of Germans are immediately taking to the streets for Gaza. Many have had to cope with decades of uncertainty and doubt, of thinking that it’s “too complicated”, that there are “problems on both sides” or that this is a discussion which Germans must sit out.

But people are starting to break with the old way of thinking. Israel’s war crimes are so explicit and unapologetic that it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify them or to look away. White Germans are more open to us challenging their old assumptions than they have been in decades.

Last year, I interviewed Ilan Pappe, and he said: “we should not give up on Germany”. Germans still have the time to atone, not just for the crimes of their grandparents, but for the fact that until now they have looked away from genocide. We should approach them, listen to them, but above all we need to convince them that an international movement for Palestine is both possible and necessary – in Germany as much as anywhere else.