Status: 02.09.2023, 14:47 p.m.
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Carola Rackete. © Peter Hartenfeser/Imago
The nomination of Carola Rackete as the lead candidate of the Left Party in the European elections was a surprise.
Now she is also becoming an important player in the power struggle on the left. An interview about the change into politics, her goals in the EU Parliament and a possible duel with Sahra Wagenknecht.
What thoughts do you wake up with in the morning?
Oh dear, honestly, I have hip pain at the moment, like many people who sit a lot. This is new to me, because I have never worked in the office, but have always been outside. I try to move around a lot and I like to do physical work. Now I wonder how this is going to work out in Brussels.
Do you expect that there will be even more desk work?
I'm afraid that it will be a change. Our main concern with the candidacy is to network civil society in Parliament. We will certainly spend a lot of time at events, talk to people and invite people to Europe who are affected by European politics but are not allowed to have a say.
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This interview is IPPEN. MEDIA as part of a cooperation with Berlin.Table Professional Briefing – it was first published by Berlin.Table on August 27, 2023.
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You've always been an activist and you've done your own thing. Will the left-wing movements join you in the EU Parliament in 2024?
We want to keep the balance and, on the one hand, reflect the climate justice movement in Germany, but also global movements in my candidacy. In the area of migration, there are many people who are affected by EU policies but do not live in the EU, or they are here but do not have the right to vote. Frontex operates everywhere, including in many African countries. Because I am an ecologist, I would like to work thematically at the intersection of climate justice, agriculture and nature conservation. There are also many international examples: Think of feed imports from Argentina or Brazil. In addition, environmental pollution or land rights, such as lithium mining.
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My Area
How do you want to integrate the movements?
There is not just one left-wing movement. And besides, the question is, who is actually allowed to speak for them? What I think we can really do is make information more accessible to movements. It is often not at all clear what is being decided in the EU and what the consequences are. For example, the EU Commission wants to introduce so-called nutrient trading. Hardly anyone in civil society understands what this is supposed to be. It is about the trade in water pollution certificates. If you explain this to people, they might react with, "Oh fright, that's not good." But before you act, you first have to know and understand it.
"At the moment, it is difficult to find a person who says: This Left Party is close to my heart"
Are you worried that being a professional politician will change you a lot?
I'm sure it will change me – like everything you do. No matter where you go, no matter where you work, you always adapt to the people you surround yourself with the most. That's why it's important for me to stay together with my team. With people who have strong roots in civil society. It is also important to be clear to yourself what you want to achieve and what you are doing your work for. And for me, it's very clear that we need to strengthen civil society and bring in a strong perspective of justice.
Although you are running as an independent, the candidacy was read in such a way that you are now supposed to save the left. Do you want to save the left?
In Germany, we need a party to the left of the Greens that asks critical questions about fair distribution and economic growth. We know that resources on this planet are limited, that there can be no green growth. The German Greens, however, continue to argue in a capitalist logic – in this, by the way, they differ in part from other European Greens. The left does not do that. And this is important because we need to understand that what is needed is not green growth, but fair distribution. Therefore, a law is needed to cap the consumption of resources. This is important to me. After all, it is also about the fair distribution of resources, which is extremely unequal worldwide and even in Germany.
Now you have only half answered the question. How much do you personally care about the Left?
I think it's really difficult at the moment to find anyone who says: This Left Party, as it is now, is close to my heart. Most are quite frustrated with her right now, but also see opportunities for the future. Because I am not a party member, the content is particularly important to me at the moment.
Above all, they are associated with sea rescue and climate protection. Topics that are not yet part of the brand essence for many leftists, at least not yet. Does the orientation of the party change with you?
I am convinced that we need a left-wing party that represents the interests of marginalized groups. And by that I don't just mean the classic workers in the low-wage sector, but also migrant people, people without work, people who are affected by discrimination. These groups must be represented by a good left-wing party and work for a redistribution from top to bottom. We know that the income gap has widened, who is most affected by inflation, and so on. And there is a lack of a party that makes this unifying class politics reasonable. And I think the moment to commit to it is now.
"It is a mistake to think that people in a precarious situation are therefore also nationalists"
Now you may have to compete against Sahra Wagenknecht and her new party in the European election campaign. Maybe you'll sit on a podium with her. Are you preparing for this scenario?
That will probably happen. For me, the crucial questions are: Who do we want to convince, who do we want to represent? The program of the left has been totally clear in recent years: they are pro-migrant and have a clear stance for human rights, a clear stance for radical climate protection through redistribution and a fair tax system. That is also what I can represent in terms of content. It is a mistake to think that people who are in a precarious situation are therefore also nationalists. Instead, we need to make it clear how we can create real redistribution.
In France, we have seen that the fragmentation of a left-wing party in the elections can also be harmful. Are you afraid of losing voters if the left splits?
A split is, of course, the crisis that everyone has tried to avoid. But it can also be an opportunity to move forward. To create clarity, to attract new people, to involve them and perhaps also to win back those who have left in recent years.
How would they try to restore voter confidence?
Content and arguments are important. But people can also be reached through emotions, as we know from psychology or brain research. We don't make our decisions based on rational arguments. In fact, the problem of the social left is that it tries too hard about content. Many people think that no matter who governs in Berlin, it is always distributed from the bottom to the top – which is partly true. Even as a young generation, there are enough reasons to be angry. About how poorly wealth and opportunities are distributed, or that corporations repeatedly prevent real CO₂ savings. Their anger must be taken seriously. Therefore, it is necessary to address the feeling of many people that they are not heard and not represented.
What might that look like?
It's one thing to be able to talk well as a politician and to bring beautiful visions forward and maybe motivate a few people. What is lacking are concrete improvements that people can feel. That's why it's important that the climate movement also deals with practical things, also to show which side it is on. Projects that help the climate and at the same time make a social difference. The 9-euro ticket was one such example. There is now also a campaign #WirFahrenZusammen from Fridays for Future, which has joined forces with trade unions for this purpose, we need such cooperation everywhere.
"You don't have to pit low-income earners against migrant workers"
Who convinced you to run for the Left?
Originally, I was approached by MEP Conny Ernst and Clara Bünger, the refugee policy spokeswoman for the Left Party in the Bundestag, both from Saxony. Conny wanted me to take her place now that she is retiring. Relatively quickly, the party leadership also joined the idea. But in the end, I was convinced by friends who are neither allowed to vote nor run for office here. They said, "That's great, we can't do that, but you could fill the gap while we can get involved in the movement."
In what ways does your understanding of left-wing politics differ from Ms. Wagenknecht's?
I believe that I can represent a credible, internationalist position both through my involvement in sea rescue and in the climate movement. This was once elementary for socialist politics, but in recent years it has also suffered from the shift to the right. This makes it all the more important to put them back on the front. There is no need to play off low-income earners against migrant workers in this country. They are both bled dry for the profit of the corporations – and these in turn are the same ones who influence political decisions with lobbying millions.
Do you see the possible founding of a Wagenknecht party as competition?
No, because it cannot be assumed that she will stand up for equality, human rights or the solution to the biggest social problem of this and future generations: the climate crisis.
(By Vera Weidenbach and Leonard Schulz)