Linken-Urgestein Gregor Gysi draws parallels between the banned Socialist Reich Party and the Bundnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW). The two parties share similarities in their early development.
“I recently read the 1952 ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the ban of the Socialist Reich Party” Gysi told the Bayern Mediengruppe. “It states that this party was founded from top to bottom. If they were to gain responsibility in the state, it would be feared that they would organize it in the same way there. But it must be the other way around in the state. From the bottom up. And it also says that in their structure, membership is not free. A few individuals decide who can and cannot be a member. That’s also the case in the BSW. That’s what’s bothering more and more people.”
Gysi attributes the BSW’s poor poll numbers to the role of Oskar Lafontaine: “Of course, everyone has now realized it. Wagenknecht is the spokesperson, but her husband, Oskar Lafontaine, makes the decisions. I know him well, so I know that the migration policy they’re pursuing doesn’t come from her.”
Gysi expects the BSW to be open to coalitions with the AfD. “The co-leader Amira Mohamed Ali has already said that if the AfD proposes something reasonable, they would naturally agree to it. I don’t take the BSW’s statement that it won’t form a coalition with the AfD at face value.”
The politician advocates for addressing the root causes of flight and for maintaining relations with despotic regimes like the Taliban in the context of addressing the migration crisis. “The Left is the only party that demands the eradication of the root causes of flight, as this is the most humane and effective way to limit migration” Gysi said. “Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and so on – a lot has happened and is still happening too little.”
He wants to establish contacts with all parties: “We must naturally talk to everyone. We had broken off diplomatic relations with Syria for years and had no one to tell us what was developing there. That was wrong. That’s why we were caught off guard by the fall of Assad.”
When asked if this also applied to the Taliban in Afghanistan, Gysi replied: “Yes, of course, we need contacts and relations with the Taliban. We can’t just walk through the world with our fingers held high, saying everyone must be like us. That doesn’t mean I respect the Taliban, on the contrary, but if one wants to support social currents that are against such regimes, one must be represented on the ground. We’re in the G20, we’re in the G7, we could discuss such measures there.