‘The left needs to convey the idea that the world can be better,’ says German politician

Brasil de Fato

The left needs to communicate better and convey the idea that the world can and should be better. That was one of the ideas defended by German politician Ferat Koçak, from the left-wing Die Linke party.

Koçak came to Brazil to meet parliamentarians and progressive movements. Last Friday (19), he took part in a debate on the advance of the far right in the West, promoted by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Expressão Popular Publisher House, and the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST, in Portuguese).

He talked to Brasil de Fato shortly before the event. Read the full interview below:

Brasil de Fato: When Marine Le Pen realized that she had lost the French elections, the far-right leader said that the “tide is rising”, suggesting that it is only a matter of time before they come to power. Why is the far right advancing so much in Europe?

Ferat Koçak: We see it happening again in Britain right now, even though the Labor Party there won. Many conservatives are moving to the right. The left is celebrating victories that aren’t victories at all. The right, especially in Europe, has positioned itself in such a way that, with simple answers, it talks to those people who no longer feel represented by politicians. They achieved power with simple answers, simple speeches that ended up making them attract voters.

Especially in Germany, what we’re seeing is that the right is tackling complicated issues in a very simplistic way, particularly regarding prejudice, race, gender, racism. They simplify the problem in a far-right way and say what people want to hear.

We on the left are no longer reaching the public. We’ve seen recently in France that, yes, the left can still win, but in Germany, we’re no longer managing to do that.

Why?

I’ll talk about the left in a moment. Still talking about the right, it creates a sense of unity through the simplistic polarization between “us” and “them” – and it works. It gives citizens the feeling of belonging to a group.

That happens because the right frames social problems in such a way that allows them to present themselves as the only solution. For example, people no longer manage to pay rent, inflation is high, and people can no longer enjoy the same quality of life. Pensions are no longer enough to live a decent life. The health system in Germany is broken. These are all social problems. Meanwhile, the right sells the idea that they [right-wingers] are the only way out.

Why does the right convince people and the left doesn’t? The left also believes in solutions and that the problem is caused by the right, by liberalism. However, it can’t get this message across and is losing ground.

We see the change in society as a whole, from the left to the right. This has not gone unnoticed by the left-wing parties either. The solutions offered by the left today are social democratic. In my view, the left needs to return to its basic values, to understand that humans, animals and nature cannot and should not be exploited for the benefit of a few individuals.

We, the left, have lost this identity of being the representatives of change. From afar, we are seen as being the establishment, while the far right is seen as a group fighting against the establishment, against politics.

But in Austria, for example, the far right came to power in the early 2000s and didn’t do well. It came back in 2018 and left power again, but it still receives a good part of the votes. Right-wingers can no longer be considered new: they are part of the establishment.

In Austria, they succeeded in spreading the idea that the left is to blame for everything. This is also happening to some extent in Germany. It’s important for the left to, once again, show and propagate the image of how the world can change and be better.

The AfD [Germany’s far-right party] has become very strong with its anti-immigration policy. The political class is trying to grow by doing things that are typical of the right, such as investing more in the military and less in the social structure. All this strengthens the right.

I’d like to cite the example of Berlin and the housing sector. A project was approved to expropriate buildings to create housing, a radical initiative approved by 96% of voters. But the left is unable to take this information to the streets and turn it into votes.

Another example was the pandemic, when the left missed a great opportunity to criticize the structure of the German health system. It was the right that took on this critical role: the people understood that the AfD was the one criticizing the health system.

We need to mobilize the masses again, just like the MST does here [in Brazil], and take them to the streets. We need to be seen as a movement and not waste time trying to get at the government.

What is the reason for so many missed opportunities? Is it a consequence of some kind of arrogance on the left?

I don’t think it’s necessarily arrogance. First, we need to establish what the left really is, because the social democrats call themselves the left, and so do the greens and socialists. We need to name things and establish what the left is.

In Germany, the term has a negative connotation because of former East Germany, whose regime murdered people. This is a burden we carry. Nowadays, I talk about democratic socialism, which manages to guarantee citizens’ basic needs.

We need examples like Austria, where parliamentarians donate a large part of their salaries and receive only what an ordinary worker would earn. I advocate this in Germany and that we can have a maximum of two terms. We need to restore the credibility we had with the public. We can clearly see that this is achievable.

The center moved towards the right and the left moved towards the center. Can you think of any current examples that could inspire the left?

Mélenchon was elected in France as part of a broad coalition, despite having a fairly radical stance and making statements that surprised us in Germany. In Brazil, too, a broad coalition was formed [in the 2022 elections]. Of course, this can work for a while, but then you end up in a tight spot, working together with liberals.

And these aren’t the only examples. We have other districts in Berlin where we work closely with the people. In Hamburg, our comrades work very successfully. We need to stop being a party of a parliamentary system and become a party representing people’s movements.

As a party, we need to offer our resources to these movements. That’s the only way to reach people. And only through the people will we be able to increase our credibility.