We live in truly interesting times when defence of the Grundgesetz (the German constitution) is considered dangerously right-wing, when judges are prosecuted for doing their job, peaceful demonstrators are beaten down by police, lawyers are kept in psychiatric detention.
Ms. Wagenknecht is a true leftwing politician, but while mainstream politicians mouth the most absurd illogicalities and inanities, dutifully reported by a court press as pearls of wisdom, she has been a principled and steadfast voice of reason, calling a spade a spade.
In the much-ballyhooed “extremism” of the AfD and conjuring up of images of the thirties, we have to retain a grip on reality; there are no AfD hooligan groups beating up people, that is the modus operandi of the supposedly leftist but actually fascist “Antifa”. A leftist activist who was sentenced to five years in jail for horrific violence was fêted by the left, her immediate release demanded in violent demonstrations because her crimes had been committed against individuals supposedly right-wing.
In the Bundestag of even thirty years ago, Ms. Wagenknecht would have been just another gadfly on the left, like her husband Oscar Lafontaine was at the time. Her prominence now, as the AfD’s success, is purely due to the fact that she is sitting in a parliament of political and intellectual kindergarteners.
“Political and intellectual kindergarteners.” In other words the left-liberals and neoliberals who decades ago struck a partnership as they abandoned their politics to the forces of the global market, which, when you add American military power to it, becomes the ‘international rules-based order’. They shout ‘Stalin’ and ‘Hitler’ each time a moderately social democratic politician looks like getting a few votes by offering to make things a bit better for the nation’s workers. The ‘international order’ – which turned out to be rather like flying a helicopter; all your skill is needed to stop it crashing – is now falling apart for complex reasons they’re either too dim or too nervous to grasp. Not sure they’re even old enough for the intellectual kindergarten, to be honest.
Great response and in perfect English – I wish I could write that in German.
I get a little worried by the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ because they mean whatever you want them to mean. Our beloved Major of London uses the word ‘fas*ist’ to mean anyone who disagrees with him. These labels have become totally arbitrary.
It seems that all politicians to be credible have to be middle-of-the-road, say nothing, do nothing, never offend anybody, always take the international view, avoid blame – in one word, useless. Recently, we had our Home Secretary speaking out and not joining the mindless middle and there was uproar. The media was united in trying to shoot her down. Rich ex-patriots thought it was disgusting.
We need a real definition of the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’.
“kindergarteners”?
May I suggest that children might be a better word?
Otherwise spot on.
Nell Clover
7 months ago
The biography curiously misses out some rather important facts about Sahra Wagenknecht and her political past.
She joined the Free German Youth (FDJ) in the late 80s, the youth wing of the authoritarian regime that was the German Democratic Republic (GDR). No, not all ambitious young people joined the FDJ, and especially not in the late 80s when the whole ediface was discredited in the eyes of most people.
Then, after the GDR collapsed and the one party dictatorship that was the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) was forcibly ended, she decided to join the renamed SED, now calling itself the Party of Democratic Socialism.
There are only three explanations for this. She is a rabid authoritarian who genuinely thought the oppressive Stalinist surveillance state was a good thing. She is a political weather vane of no fixed compass offering nothing new. She is a ruthless opportunist happy to hitch her wagon to any political movement, even ones literally involved in the subjugation of an entire people. Take your pick, they’re all electoral limiters (even in former East Germany, where remnants of support for the old regime exist.)
Her Get Up movement is entirely modelled on Labour’s Momentum. (We are now well aware of Momentum’s hard left anti-semite brew and where it led: the expulsion of its leader from his party and EHRC investigation.) Get Up is not an alternative to AfD in the same way Labour/Momentum was not a replacement to the Brexit Party.
The AfD is popular because the former conservative parties of German politics have all drifted leftward. A left wing movement like Get Up might galvanise a splintered left wing, but it doesn’t win the votes of conservatives who see yet another left wing radical academic in a crowded field of left wing radical academics.
“… She is a rabid authoritarian … She is a political weather vane … She is a ruthless opportunist… what you’re saying, in a nutshell, is she’s your typical woman, right?
.
… and who was denied entry to university in the GDR owing to her independence of mind. See talk with John Gray on this Website to understand what that means.
Berlin wall feel in 1989. Sahra Wagenknecht was born in 1969. She was 20 at the time of collapse. Obviously somewhat younger when she joined the mentioned youth club.
Besides, we (myself and many other readers of Unherd I am sure) are opposing the core thinking of EU bureaucrats and the German state as a basic stronghold of elitism and decadence. We also see the rise AfD as a voice of disappointment and understand the emergency of supporting the low and middle classes as well as the family and community values. And much more that is been left aside indeed.
Though we have empathy for the voters of AfD and similar parties, though some of us may even vote them, this does not justify their cause. Since their cause is built in despair, opportunity and wild will for power. No..! We are thirsty for a middle-ground way of thinking, for a common-good way of governing. Maybe the likable Sahra Wagenknecht is not our star, but surely AfD isn’t either.
It’s good! Her characterisation, “academic middle class, software programmers, and marketing experts”, is spot-on for Labour in London. Similarly, the core political values (i.e. sacrosanct and not up for discussion) are the same: political correctness, climate change, and unregulated immigration.
My favourite example of “Lifestyle Left” is from the time that Labour invaded Iraq in 2003. Parliament spent 7 hours debating this issue. At roughly the same time, Parliament spent 700 hours debating whether or not to ban fox hunting.
Peter D
7 months ago
Europe is at an interesting crossroad. While we all realise that the path we are on is not the correct path. We can see that damage that is being caused to our society through mass migration. Yes, we realise that mass migration is a ponzi scheme. Yet every time we begin to move towards standing up for ourselves and even daring to allow ourselves a bit of self-care, there is that element of progressive indoctrination warning us of the dangers of racism and being a Nazi. And so we sacrifice ourselves because this is better than being racist.
As time wears on though, more and more people are no longer accepting of the progressive left volunteering us to be the sacrificial lamb so that they might assuage their guilt. However, this is a thirst that can never be quenched.
My guess is that Sahra Wagenknecht might just be the more palatable version of the AfD. Not only will it take a slice off the AfD, it might even take slices off the SPD, Die Linke, and Bundis 90/Die Gruenen!
Imagine if these two parties had sixty percent of the seats in the Bundestag?
“And so we sacrifice ourselves because this is better than being racist.”
I’m okay with being called a racist because the word has been so misused, overused and abused, it means absolutely nothing anymore. Its use reminds me of kids taunting one another; “‘am no!t”, “‘are too!”, “‘am not, are too!”. So bring it on. Everyone is a racist today : )
Last edited 7 months ago by Cathy Carron
Christopher Chantrill
7 months ago
Well, I went to WIkipedia to understand more about Die Linke and AfD. I’d say, based on Wiki’s articles, that Die Linke is extreme “far-left” and AfD is moderate right.
But what do I know? I’m not an expert.
Liam O'Mahony
7 months ago
I don’t know what she stand for but she gets my vote! She’s gorgeous! ..ok, ok I’ll read the article now!
Born in 1969 to a German mother and an Iranian immigrant father in the former GDR, 54-year-old Wagenknecht was associated with the Stalinist party faction “Kommunistische Plattform” until 2010 when she left the group.
Better late than never, I suppose.
Sounds like this merry band could be the grandchildren of Baader-Meinhof, but as the lack of a modern anti-war movement in the UK shows, all such characters are now signed up to the Democrat cultural war machine.
I’m not sure who would even bother voting for this young woman other than a young Right knowing nothing about post-War European history.
I suppose 54 might, in our geriatric societies, be deemed youngish.
I can’t think of any German politician who is further removed in thinking from the RAF of the 70s.
Davy Humerme
7 months ago
Very interesting. Her thoughts on the nation state and willingness to tap into conservative thinkers like Scruton, remind me of Meloni. I’d like to read her work but sadly could only do so in English. Any knowledge out there of a forthcoming translation?
We live in truly interesting times when defence of the Grundgesetz (the German constitution) is considered dangerously right-wing, when judges are prosecuted for doing their job, peaceful demonstrators are beaten down by police, lawyers are kept in psychiatric detention.
Ms. Wagenknecht is a true leftwing politician, but while mainstream politicians mouth the most absurd illogicalities and inanities, dutifully reported by a court press as pearls of wisdom, she has been a principled and steadfast voice of reason, calling a spade a spade.
In the much-ballyhooed “extremism” of the AfD and conjuring up of images of the thirties, we have to retain a grip on reality; there are no AfD hooligan groups beating up people, that is the modus operandi of the supposedly leftist but actually fascist “Antifa”. A leftist activist who was sentenced to five years in jail for horrific violence was fêted by the left, her immediate release demanded in violent demonstrations because her crimes had been committed against individuals supposedly right-wing.
In the Bundestag of even thirty years ago, Ms. Wagenknecht would have been just another gadfly on the left, like her husband Oscar Lafontaine was at the time. Her prominence now, as the AfD’s success, is purely due to the fact that she is sitting in a parliament of political and intellectual kindergarteners.
Always good to hear an alternative voice which, btw I assume to be closer to home geographically speaking.
“a principled and steadfast voice of reason, calling a spade a spade.” well put. An old fashioned social democrat, in fact.
“Political and intellectual kindergarteners.” In other words the left-liberals and neoliberals who decades ago struck a partnership as they abandoned their politics to the forces of the global market, which, when you add American military power to it, becomes the ‘international rules-based order’. They shout ‘Stalin’ and ‘Hitler’ each time a moderately social democratic politician looks like getting a few votes by offering to make things a bit better for the nation’s workers. The ‘international order’ – which turned out to be rather like flying a helicopter; all your skill is needed to stop it crashing – is now falling apart for complex reasons they’re either too dim or too nervous to grasp. Not sure they’re even old enough for the intellectual kindergarten, to be honest.
Great response and in perfect English – I wish I could write that in German.
I get a little worried by the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ because they mean whatever you want them to mean. Our beloved Major of London uses the word ‘fas*ist’ to mean anyone who disagrees with him. These labels have become totally arbitrary.
It seems that all politicians to be credible have to be middle-of-the-road, say nothing, do nothing, never offend anybody, always take the international view, avoid blame – in one word, useless. Recently, we had our Home Secretary speaking out and not joining the mindless middle and there was uproar. The media was united in trying to shoot her down. Rich ex-patriots thought it was disgusting.
We need a real definition of the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’.
“kindergarteners”?
May I suggest that children might be a better word?
Otherwise spot on.
The biography curiously misses out some rather important facts about Sahra Wagenknecht and her political past.
She joined the Free German Youth (FDJ) in the late 80s, the youth wing of the authoritarian regime that was the German Democratic Republic (GDR). No, not all ambitious young people joined the FDJ, and especially not in the late 80s when the whole ediface was discredited in the eyes of most people.
Then, after the GDR collapsed and the one party dictatorship that was the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) was forcibly ended, she decided to join the renamed SED, now calling itself the Party of Democratic Socialism.
There are only three explanations for this. She is a rabid authoritarian who genuinely thought the oppressive Stalinist surveillance state was a good thing. She is a political weather vane of no fixed compass offering nothing new. She is a ruthless opportunist happy to hitch her wagon to any political movement, even ones literally involved in the subjugation of an entire people. Take your pick, they’re all electoral limiters (even in former East Germany, where remnants of support for the old regime exist.)
Her Get Up movement is entirely modelled on Labour’s Momentum. (We are now well aware of Momentum’s hard left anti-semite brew and where it led: the expulsion of its leader from his party and EHRC investigation.) Get Up is not an alternative to AfD in the same way Labour/Momentum was not a replacement to the Brexit Party.
The AfD is popular because the former conservative parties of German politics have all drifted leftward. A left wing movement like Get Up might galvanise a splintered left wing, but it doesn’t win the votes of conservatives who see yet another left wing radical academic in a crowded field of left wing radical academics.
“… She is a rabid authoritarian … She is a political weather vane … She is a ruthless opportunist… what you’re saying, in a nutshell, is she’s your typical woman, right?
.
Oops! But I know what you mean.
I upvoted you for your audacity
Off to the Magdalene Laundries with her, and be sharp about it!
… and who was denied entry to university in the GDR owing to her independence of mind. See talk with John Gray on this Website to understand what that means.
Unherd editor: Ms Clover’s contributions are always spot-on. Could you persuade her to write a piece for your august organ?
Seconded
Berlin wall feel in 1989. Sahra Wagenknecht was born in 1969. She was 20 at the time of collapse. Obviously somewhat younger when she joined the mentioned youth club.
Besides, we (myself and many other readers of Unherd I am sure) are opposing the core thinking of EU bureaucrats and the German state as a basic stronghold of elitism and decadence. We also see the rise AfD as a voice of disappointment and understand the emergency of supporting the low and middle classes as well as the family and community values. And much more that is been left aside indeed.
Though we have empathy for the voters of AfD and similar parties, though some of us may even vote them, this does not justify their cause. Since their cause is built in despair, opportunity and wild will for power. No..! We are thirsty for a middle-ground way of thinking, for a common-good way of governing. Maybe the likable Sahra Wagenknecht is not our star, but surely AfD isn’t either.
…?
“The Lifestyle Left” – now there’s a catchy phrase.
It’s good! Her characterisation, “academic middle class, software programmers, and marketing experts”, is spot-on for Labour in London. Similarly, the core political values (i.e. sacrosanct and not up for discussion) are the same: political correctness, climate change, and unregulated immigration.
My favourite example of “Lifestyle Left” is from the time that Labour invaded Iraq in 2003. Parliament spent 7 hours debating this issue. At roughly the same time, Parliament spent 700 hours debating whether or not to ban fox hunting.
Europe is at an interesting crossroad. While we all realise that the path we are on is not the correct path. We can see that damage that is being caused to our society through mass migration. Yes, we realise that mass migration is a ponzi scheme. Yet every time we begin to move towards standing up for ourselves and even daring to allow ourselves a bit of self-care, there is that element of progressive indoctrination warning us of the dangers of racism and being a Nazi. And so we sacrifice ourselves because this is better than being racist.
As time wears on though, more and more people are no longer accepting of the progressive left volunteering us to be the sacrificial lamb so that they might assuage their guilt. However, this is a thirst that can never be quenched.
My guess is that Sahra Wagenknecht might just be the more palatable version of the AfD. Not only will it take a slice off the AfD, it might even take slices off the SPD, Die Linke, and Bundis 90/Die Gruenen!
Imagine if these two parties had sixty percent of the seats in the Bundestag?
“And so we sacrifice ourselves because this is better than being racist.”
I’m okay with being called a racist because the word has been so misused, overused and abused, it means absolutely nothing anymore. Its use reminds me of kids taunting one another; “‘am no!t”, “‘are too!”, “‘am not, are too!”. So bring it on. Everyone is a racist today : )
Well, I went to WIkipedia to understand more about Die Linke and AfD. I’d say, based on Wiki’s articles, that Die Linke is extreme “far-left” and AfD is moderate right.
But what do I know? I’m not an expert.
I don’t know what she stand for but she gets my vote! She’s gorgeous! ..ok, ok I’ll read the article now!
Tut… (smile)
Born in 1969 to a German mother and an Iranian immigrant father in the former GDR, 54-year-old Wagenknecht was associated with the Stalinist party faction “Kommunistische Plattform” until 2010 when she left the group.
Better late than never, I suppose.
Wagenknecht sounds confused and unprincipled.
Sounds like this merry band could be the grandchildren of Baader-Meinhof, but as the lack of a modern anti-war movement in the UK shows, all such characters are now signed up to the Democrat cultural war machine.
I’m not sure who would even bother voting for this young woman other than a young Right knowing nothing about post-War European history.
I suppose 54 might, in our geriatric societies, be deemed youngish.
I can’t think of any German politician who is further removed in thinking from the RAF of the 70s.
Very interesting. Her thoughts on the nation state and willingness to tap into conservative thinkers like Scruton, remind me of Meloni. I’d like to read her work but sadly could only do so in English. Any knowledge out there of a forthcoming translation?
I watched this very interesting interview with her and Glenn Greenwald a few months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiePq_lwccs