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Left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht
Photo: Christian Spicker / IMAGO
The left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht does not want to support the AfD at her demonstration on February 25 in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
Wagenknecht had published a "Manifesto for Peace" with Alice Schwarzer, in which she called on the Chancellor to oppose further arms deliveries to Ukraine and to focus more on negotiations with the Russian regime.
Among the first to sign the manifesto were the actresses Hanna Schygulla and Katharina Thalbach, the CSU politician Peter Gauweiler and the political scientist Johannes Varwick.
AfD chairman Tino Chrupalla shared the appeal on Twitter and wrote: “I signed this petition for peace.
When working for peace, party lines should not be barriers.«
Attempt to "defuse"
The left-wing politician sees it differently.
The fact that Tino Chrupalla signed the manifesto and also called for the rally sparked enthusiasm among all those "who want to continue the war in Ukraine with tanks and fighter jets down to the last Ukrainian," Wagenknecht told SPIEGEL.
»But this attempt to defame our peace initiative is easily transparent.
With the selection of our first signatories, we made it clear who we work with and who we hope to support – and who we don’t.«
The support for the call was "overwhelming".
Together with many, many thousands, we will send a strong signal for peace at the rally on February 25th in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate.
For negotiations instead of tanks,” said the left-wing politician.
The appeal by Wagenknecht and Schwarzer has been signed by several hundred thousand people over the past few days.
At the same time there was considerable criticism of it.
"An appeal for peace negotiations with an immediate end to all military support for Ukraine is not only naive, but also dishonest," said Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The SPD MP and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael Roth, tweeted a video of Wagenknecht and Schwarzer: "When I see them both laughing and grinning, I want to cry."
But there was also criticism from the right.
The appeal says: "The Ukrainian population brutally attacked by Russia needs our solidarity." In addition, the Thuringian AfD state chairman Björn Höcke asked himself: "What fallback option do the authors think they can keep open with this political phrase?"
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