For a Rise of Society Against Social Frostiness and Racism
In a common declaration the chairs of the party DIE LINKE, Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger, as well as the chairs of DIE LINKE parliamentary group in Bundestag, Sahra Wagenknecht and Dietmar Bartsch, ask for a societal rise against social coldness and racism:
The Land parliamentary elections represent a break in the political landscape. The rise of the AfD in Germany, growing racism and repulsion against democracy in the whole of Europe are consequences of the insecurity, hopelessness, and anger stemming from the redistribution of wealth from bottom to top.
The lack of affordable housing and good jobs, and honing down democracy to the management of practical constraints are the breeding grounds for a cultural war from the right. The gradual takeover of rightwing positions, as, for example, the latest restrictions of asylum law agreed by the Great Coalition of Christian conservatives and Socialdemocrats in Bundestag, only strengthen the right and contribute to the dismantling of the basic law and democracy.
On Sunday, the socially ignorant policy of the Great Coalition was clearly rejected. We, as DIE LINKE, remain firm: We fight for social justice, against neoliberal cutback policy, and racism! Our allies, therefore, are not those, who redistribute from bottom to top with their policy, whose politics are co-responsible for the reasons of flight, and who fuelled the people’s sense of crisis for months, by refusing to use existing budget surplusses for a humane dealing with the great number of refugees.
As DIE LINKE we will consequently fight against the right and use the experiences of the current elections for a new start. We are the party offering real alternatives to the unemployed, the workers, those that are looking for badly paid job after job, and are threatened by old-age poverty: for a higher and unexceptional minimum wage, for humane sanction-free minimum security, for secure work and higher wages, for affordable housing, and pensions for a decent living.
We invite all people to join us in our fight against the shift to the right! If one wants to stop people further going against one another, one needs to start changing the conditions that foster division, cynism, and hate. Fighting for social justice and against racism belong together. Because of that, now it is about a movement on the streets, in the quarters, in the country – for a solidary society for all. For a future worth fighting for and a democracy that is able to inspire again.