Former party leader Lafontaine: Sharp criticism from comrades
Photo: RALPH ORLOWSKI / REUTERS
Oskar Lafontaine is confronted with calls for resignation from his own party.
The reason is a joint appearance with Thilo Sarrazin.
Members of the left demand that the former party leader should give up his post as parliamentary group leader in the Saarland state parliament.
In a communication, the association "Anti-Capitalist Left" (AKL) writes: "The AKL demands that Oskar Lafontaine resign immediately all political offices in which he would have to represent the politics of the left."
The reason given is that Sarrazin is "a nationally known racist who has just been expelled from the SPD after a long and torturous process" and a "right-wing radical icon" that should not be publicly valued by a member of the left.
"This joint appearance is anti-party."
Lafontaine appeared on Monday evening in Munich together with the CSU politician Peter Gauweiler and the former Berlin Senator for Finance and book author Thilo Sarrazin to talk about Sarrazin's new book.
Sarrazin was expelled from the SPD in July for making racist and Islamophobic statements.
His bestseller "Germany abolishes itself" is one of the most important milestones in the establishment of the new rights in Germany.
"Someone who shares a podium with racists like Sarrazin and plays off the interests of refugees against German pensioners is not allowed to hold a public office for Die Linke."
Lucy Redler, member of the Left Party Executive
Lafontaine said at the event, according to a report by the "BR", that an unaccompanied refugee child costs around 5000 euros a month and that he could not explain that to a social pensioner.
Too much money is being spent on too few people in need.
Lucy Redler, member of the Left Party Executive, told SPIEGEL: "Someone who shares a podium with racists like Sarrazin and plays off the interests of refugees against German pensioners is not allowed to hold a public office for Die Linke."
With Thies Gleiss, who is also on the party executive committee, Redler is one of the most important people in the AKL.
Lafontaine was once at the head of the party and the parliamentary group in the Bundestag - currently he is a functionary for the left in the Saarland state parliament.
In response to AKL's call for resignation, he told SPIEGEL: "It is regrettable that you cannot convey to people who see themselves as leftists that it is better to help ten million people than two million. The politics of the For Bernie Sanders 'anti-capitalist left' is capital-friendly: 'What the right wing loves in this country is a policy of open borders. Bring lots of people who work for two or three dollars an hour.' "
"It's not on the left, it's grist to the AfD's mill"
Other members of the left also reacted in horror to the joint appearance and sharply criticized, but without demanding a resignation or other consequences.
"I think it is out of the question to sit on a podium with Thilo Sarrazin. The escalation in the cost of unaccompanied minor refugees is shabby. That is not left, but grist to the mill of the AfD," Christine Buchholz told SPIEGEL.
Lafontaine was isolated with such positions in the party.
Buchholz is a member of the party executive committee and a member of the Bundestag.
"Joint appearances with a proven racist like Sarrazin are forbidden for functionaries of the left - that goes without saying," said board member Raul Zelik to SPIEGEL.
And the deputy party chairman Martina Renner tweeted: "The racist Thilo Sarrazin is going on a promotion tour for his new work and a left-wing parliamentary group leader makes the mascot and seconded with anti-refugee statements. You do something like that if you want to destroy the Left Party."
The Bundestag member Niema Movassat also wrote on Twitter: "It really couldn't be more disgusting. Oskar Lafontaine and the racist Sarrazin appear and say that children who have fled cost too much. Stepping on the poorest and playing them off against other poor people is unacceptable . "
And Wulff Gallert, Vice-President of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, commented on Twitter: "I always had a very bad feeling at Lafontaine from 2007 at the latest. His appearance with Sarrazin confirms me in retrospect in a way that I did not want have."
Icon: The mirror
