Why the Far Left Is Surging in Germany

When the far-left German politician Sahra Wagenknecht launched her new party in January, analysts claimed she will soon be 'syphoning' the far-right votes. In this video, we're taking a look at what's happening eights months on, how is her party getting on, and why the far left is surging in Germany.

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00:00 - Introduction
01:13 - Context
04:05 - Polling Data
05:34 - Why the Far Left is Surging
07:34 - Sponsored Content

[MLHunt]

I wouldn't call this position 'far left' so much as 'left-leaning populism'.

[mrm]

Is "far left" an accurate description of the BSW, when they actually mix positions that are considered left with positions that are considered right?

[f.f.]

Hi, from Germany here. This is bs. The BSW is not "far left" at all.

[JulianG.]

Calling BSW far-left is very misleading

[jb]

We need to abandon understanding politics in this left/right conservative/progressive labels. It’s an oversimplification that leads to misunderstandings

[fobusas]

Based on that graph, it's FLAT, not surging...

[Trebor-]

In Italy we call this type of leftists "Rossobruni", that means "Reddish-Browns / Russets". Not Far Left.

[lordmashie]

So it's basically the AFD but less capitalist. This really calls into question the whole left right buzzword terminology.

[malcolmy]

One of the biggest reasons she is doing so well is that German Media love her. Wagenknecht or one of her party members are invited to almost every political talkshow despite a polling average of 8 or 9%

[theredishradish]

She isn’t far left at all. She’s economically center left and socially conservative.

[gartenzwerg]

Can we please take a moment to appreciate her absolutely smashing most of those German pronounciations? That's pretty darn impressive!

[Kinglozitos]

4:54 Thats Saxony not Saxony-Anhalt 😂
6:04 The SDP is not a Party. Scholz is from the SPD.

[dwash]

Calling the BSW far left is simply wrong and misleading

[timolino]

Wagenknecht and BSW are not far-left. They're less left-wing than Die Linke, which is also just "left-wing".
Also FDP is not centrist. They're neoliberals that often have center-right positions.
And at 4:54 that's Saxony, not Saxony-Anhalt.

[jamesmacfogg]

She literally uses the same arguments as the national rally in France. Calling her far left is false and grossly misleading

[treslinguaesacrae]

They confused Saxony with Saxony-Anhalt (again).

[SimonNZ]

Almost liked her until the bit about her opposing NATO and sanctions on Russia. Seems like she approves of Russia's war as long as they offer Germany cheap gas. What a shitty position.

[paultaverne]

"Usual AFD voters are more likely to consider BSW because of the similar immigration policies" This might be a reason, but I wouldn't say it's the main one. A lot of AFD voters were at the beginning protest voters, having felt ignored by main politics, which the AFD was quick to capitalize on. With BSW being at least econoimically further left, a lot of people who either still considered themselves protest voters inside the AFD or who did not want to vote AFD no matter what despite not liking the other parties, have found an alternative partie to protest vote. But depending on whether BSW considers getting into a coalition with the AFD, this might change.

[andrijherasymenko]

So her views are both nationalistic and socialist? One even can call them National-Socialist.

[erlinghrautbaaland]

She is a far left conservative. Left/ right is based on economy stance and government meddling. Conservative/ progressives is based on your stance on climate change, immigration, lgbtq+ rights, russia, nato, EU etc. So if you talk about the ‘far left’ you have to add if there conservative or progressive.