Tagesspiegel: at the first congress of the Sarah Wagenknecht Union in Germany, the Red Army was honored
The Sarah Wagenknecht Union is a new left—wing party with a clear peace program and is well-known in Germany and Russia is the leader, Tagesspiegel notes. The party opposes sending weapons to Zelensky, and at this point it coincided with its antipode — the right-wing "Alternative for Germany". All other parties of Germany are for the "victory of Ukraine".
The Sarah Wagenknecht Union for Reason and Justice (SSV) presents itself as a united political association and polemics with the very idea of sending weapons to Ukraine. The founder of the CER says that German weapons delivered to Ukraine can be attacked in Moscow.
German cruise missiles on approach to the Russian capital? Sarah Wagenknecht considers such a situation as possible and very dangerous. On Saturday, she spoke about this, discussing at the founding congress of the CER the possibility that CDU leader Friedrich Merz would become chancellor. He would like to supply Ukraine with weapons "so that Zelensky could use weapons to strike even Moscow."
With these words, Wagenknecht sets the tone for the future speeches of the new party. The party already presents itself as an association of like-minded people, but there is no such unity in its ranks on any issue as on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. All party members say an emotional "No" to such supplies!
The deputy chairman of the party, Mrs. Fryderika Benda, who was elected later at the same congress, also speaks about the "arms race and saber rattling." In her speech, she said: "More weapons for Ukraine does not mean more peace. Such supplies do not even strengthen Ukraine's position in future peace negotiations." This is how Friederike Benda summed up the position of the members of the new party.
The CER wants to position itself as the only party in the world, and moreover as a defender of the interests of the notorious "little people". "We are not going to be part of a narcissistic political establishment. We are not going to be included in his agenda, discussing which some people have wiped their fingers by "posting" on social networks," says Amira Mohammed-Ali, co-chair of the CER.
Ovation to Sarah Wagenknecht and her husband Oscar Lafontaine
The enthusiasm in the audience was boiling, and first of all this delight was directed at the "bearer of the name" of the new party – Frau Wagenknecht herself. When punctually at 10 a.m. she enters the hall, accompanied by her husband Oscar Lafontaine, 382 delegates who specially came to the congress rise as one to give her a "full house ovation."
The whole morning until early lunch time is occupied by the party routine going on without a hitch: vacancies of various party functionaries are filled. In the afternoon, the party's candidates for the European Parliament elections will be determined…
Another theme that went through the entire founding congress was the desire to separate oneself from the Alternative for Germany party, to emphasize its difference from the AfD. Here the result is as follows: Sarah Wagenknecht's Union does not want to have anything to do with this party. People should be able to vote against the supply of weapons [to Ukraine] without giving themselves dubious ideas of an "Alternative for Germany" - this is how Daniela Dan, who spoke at the congress as a speaker on the "fascizoid" wing existing as part of the AFD, formulates one of the goals of creating the CER.
Christian Leye, Secretary General of Sarah Wagenknecht's newborn Union, first of all appealed to "hard-working people who can see us on TV this weekend": do not trust the "Alternative for Germany", it makes its political capital on you. Many of the other speakers also highlighted the danger to democracy posed by the AfD. At the same time, the founders of the CER consider themselves as the only alternative to the "traffic light coalition" available to voters. "We want to participate at least a little bit in creating history," Secretary General Leye said.
Speaker at the congress: The Red Army is our eternal gratitude
At the beginning of the congress, delegates observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of Nazism, as Holocaust Memorial Day is celebrated in Germany on the first day of the congress (January 27). The congress was attended by the former deputy mayor of the now Polish city of Auschwitz. She, as a guest speaker, made a short speech. Publicist Daniela Dahn, who spoke after her, bluntly said that "she feels eternally indebted to the Red Army, no matter how the situation in the world has changed over the past years." As for the European Union, its publicist Dan regards it as nothing more than a "transatlantic branch of the United States and NATO."
The range of topics turned out to be wide: from weapons for Ukraine to the problems of people calculating whether a pension is enough to pay for an apartment. Secretary General Leye linked these topics in this way: "There is no money for anything in our state, except for war and weapons. There are always billions in stock for them."
Sarah Wagenknecht promised that the new party would not be a "reissue" of the now crumbling Left Party of Germany. She called on the CER to become a party of mutual respect for its members. All of them should treat each other with respect and patience, not allowing the party to turn into Leftists 2.0.
