Sahra Wagenknecht has long been criticized for her alleged proximity to the AfD – and has been ensnared by right-wing extremists. But since she announced the formation of a party, the tone has changed. It’s all tactics, says an extremism researcher.
Sahra Wagenknecht has hardly been accused of running the AfD’s business in recent years. Wagenknecht’s opponents in the Left Party had accused her of spreading “right-wing populist platitudes.” As early as 2016, Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow told Wagenknecht that one should not try to “imitate the tone of the AfD.”
At the same time, for years Wagenknecht was the only German non-AfD politician who regularly received praise and attention from the extreme right. However, little has been heard about this since Monday, when Wagenknecht left the Left Party and introduced the association “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht”.
New right disillusionment
In December, the cover of the right-wing extremist “Compact” magazine rejoiced that Wagenknecht was “a candidate for left and right”, in short: “the best chancellor”. In the spring people dreamed of a “cross front” between the AfD and Wagenknecht.
But now an anonymous author complained about the presentation of the “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” association on Monday: “Sahra looked completely exhausted.” The whole event was also “bureaucratically organized”. It had already been said in advance: “A diva cannot lead a party.”
A former federal leader of the right-wing extremist “Identitarian Movement” also said in the magazine “Freilich”: “No dynamism, no pep, no spirit of optimism.” The apparently hoped-for “polarizing impact” of a “left-wing criticism of migration” also failed to materialize.
In the magazine “Secession” around the publisher Götz Kubitschek it was said in view of Wagenknecht’s previously known comrades-in-arms: “Departure looks different.” A Sahra Wagenknecht alliance could still be “used as a battering ram against the possible AfD victories” in the upcoming elections in 2024, which is why a “tough” substantive debate is needed.
AfD suddenly sees no partner
In recent years, representatives of the partly right-wing extremist AfD have invited Wagenknecht to speak at AfD demos or to join the party straight away. Now the reaction here was also cautious. Federal spokesman Tino Chrupalla said on ZDF that Wagenknecht’s program was “almost one-to-one AfD.” In any case, he isn’t afraid.
In February, Chrupalla had signed a call for Wagenknecht to hold a rally, which she publicly refused to do. Just as she had done against other AfD advances.
One person who invited Wagenknecht to join the party was the Thuringian AfD leader Björn Höcke, head of the ethnic wing in the party. Given the name “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht”, Höcke now asked whether “a narcissistic disorder is emerging here”. Other economically liberal AfD politicians accused Wagenknecht of “communism”.
Many also shared a graphic showing the voting behavior of the new club chairwoman and former left-wing parliamentary group leader Amira Mohamed Ali in the Bundestag. It shows Mohamed Ali’s approval of migration-friendly motions from his own group – and rejection of various AfD motions, for example on nuclear power or Corona policy.
The tenor: Wagenknecht’s demarcation from the other parties is implausible in view of Mohamed Ali’s positions. AfD member of the Bundestag Martin Reichardt even told the “NZZ” that Mohamed Ali was a “migration fetishist”.
Extremism researcher: “Complex love-hate relationship”
For extremism and protest researcher David Begrich, the supposed change of heart comes as no surprise. “In the new right milieu there has been a complex love-hate relationship with Sahra Wagenknecht and her political orientation for years,” says Begrich in an interview tagesschau.de. But the relationship was always “clearly tactical” – even with the AfD.
Their positions on asylum policy are understood here as a “left-wing nationalist orientation”, which is why Wagenknecht was attributed a kind of “bridging function to their own camp”. “It was always hoped that she would be the Trojan horse on the left.”
With her criticism of globalization and her praise of the nation state, which a functioning welfare state needs, she is “particularly compatible with the ethnic part of the AfD,” said Begrich. Begrich emphasizes that both sides have so far made similar arguments, especially on the migration issue – but without this having to be racially motivated in Wagenknecht’s case.
Wagenknecht differentiates himself
Wagenknecht has recently outlined several times how she feels about the AfD. One goal of the upcoming party is to weaken the AfD. Part of their electorate should receive a “serious offer”, an alternative to the self-proclaimed alternative. Wagenknecht repeatedly explicitly addressed workers and small business owners, the groups that particularly frequently vote for the AfD.
Although she will not give up a position just because the AfD represents her, she will also not join forces with the AfD – although she considers majorities that come about with AfD votes to be unproblematic. In Saxony, Wagenknecht has already positioned himself as a coalition alternative to the CDU and to the AfD. Overall, she wants to “talk less about the AfD,” said Wagenknecht.
Surveys have so far shown that the upcoming party has very different prospects of success. Extremism researcher Begrich generally advises restraint. The only thing that is clear is that a Wagenknecht party would compete with the AfD for that part of the electorate “that is primarily attracted by anti-establishment rhetoric,” said Begrich. “And there are a lot of them, especially in the East German states.”
Regarding their controversial stance on migration policy, a paper distributed at the press conference on Monday simply said that immigration could be an enrichment – if it remains limited to a level that does not overwhelm “our country and our infrastructure”. The alliance speaks out against “poverty migration”. These are tones that are also represented in the CDU or the FDP. It doesn’t get any more specific than that.
It is unclear who ultimately weakens whom
However, it has not yet been decided whether this party would ultimately strengthen or weaken the AfD. In the state elections in Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia – should you actually run there – “that will depend very much on the people and programs in the individual states,” says Begrich. Some in the AfD are already hoping for disappointed Wagenknecht supporters who will then migrate to the AfD.
There is still neither a party nor a fixed program. Wagenknecht’s statements have always been “highly volatile and often populist,” says Begrich.