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Sahra Wagenknechts Retreat: Comrade Superstar

2019-11-12T08:16:57.726Z


The left will choose a new faction top. This ends the term of Sahra Wagenknecht. Over the years, it has shaped debates and dispute. What will become of her?



It is Tuesday, November 12, 2019. That day, so much we can say now, will be a turning point for the Left. Not only because the Bundestag faction of comrades chooses a new leadership. Sure, here too there are certainties and big questions that can be crucial for the future of the left. The fact that Dietmar Bartsch is re-elected is considered reasonably safe.

But who from then on leads the faction? Amira Mohamed Ali , the party spirit? Or the pragmatist Caren Lay ? And is the new top duo able to pacify the chronically divided parliamentary group?

However, this day is not a turning point not only because a new one is coming, but above all because someone is leaving - and by far the most prominent comrade in the world who has the left in her ranks: Sahra Wagenknecht.

DPA

04.09.2018, Berlin: 04.09.2018, Berlin: Sahra Wagenknecht, chairman of the parliamentary group of the party Die Linke, officially introduces the movement "getting up" in the Federal Press Conference. Unlike political parties, as a supporter of getting up, you do not have to pay a membership fee and can easily log in to the internet. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

For years, the today 50-year-old has shaped the party, determined debates and repeatedly caused controversy. Nobody polarized the Left as much as Wagenknecht, who after the fall of the Wall became the face of the communist hardliner wing, and later moved closer and closer to the center of the party on her personal march through the leftist institutions: as deputy party leader, as faction vice , since 2015 head of the comrade in the Bundestag.

Sahra Wagenknecht - Stations of the most controversial comrade in pictures:

photo gallery


11 pictures

Sahra Wagenknecht: Retreat of the left superstar

Wagenknecht has shaken off its fundamental oppositional habitus over the years. With the upperrealo Dietmar Bartsch she came out well against many expectations. It no longer defended itself against government participation, recently it even advocated talks of the left in Thuringia with the Union.

At the same time Wagenknecht remained an outsider, as a networker she did not understand until the end. With her immigration policy alone, she turned many comrades in the head, her collecting movement "getting up" was commonly interpreted as an attempt to split the party.

The bitter power struggle with the party leadership, especially between Wagenknecht and the left-wing leader Katja Kipping, paralyzed the comrades for years.

In the spring, Wagenknecht finally declared that she no longer wanted to run for the presidency in the next election. As a reason she gave burnout. Even today, she blames the inner-party quarrels on her health problems: "I was at some point weaned from the constant internal attacks," she says.

The question now is whether her successor will succeed in leaving Wagenknecht's shadow. A woman who is a welcome guest on TV talk shows - the last real superstar left after the retreats of Oskar Lafontaine and Gregor Gysi from the front row.

But the question is also what role Wagenknecht will play in the future. She finally wants to keep her mandate, but she does not rule out a new candidacy for the Bundestag. "I want to continue to make a political difference and of course I will continue to publicly represent and promote my positions," she said.

The era Wagenknecht, it seems, is not over yet.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-11-12

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