One of the largest Palestinian diaspora communities lives in Neukölln. For years, long before October 2023, their voices have been silenced by the police and the local government through demo bans, canceled venues, and repression. Die Linke Neukölln stands with those who demand a just peace for everyone in the region and calls for freedom of expression for our Palestinian and Israeli neighbors here. This is what I want to focus on. The Springer press will always accuse me and my comrades of one thing or another, because hate and division are their agenda.

The debate about a Palestinian state is important. But without ending the occupation and stopping German arms exports, there will be no just peace and no Palestinian state. Germany bears a huge responsibility: for decades it has given unconditional support to the Israeli government and tried to silence all critical voices.

Die Linke’s role must be to demand an end to arms deliveries, equal rights for all people in the region, and real international pressure on Israel to respect international law. That is what we should focus on. Many people in Germany already oppose this unconditional support. Our task is to unite those voices into a political force for change. I am glad that the party leadership is now also helping to organize demonstrations, for example in Berlin at the end of September this year.

Winning the direct mandate in a district once labeled “unwinnable” was a strong signal — one I hope will be repeated in many more places. It proves that leftist politics can win strong majorities by focusing on broad working-class issues such as rents, prices and mobility, while absolutely taking a clear stance on anti-racism, feminism, climate justice and, of course, solidarity with Palestine.

People are fed up with politics that deceive them and only serve the rich. As socialists we must stay grounded and prove that we want to do politics differently from the mainstream parties. We don’t need more politicians who have lost touch with reality. That’s why I limit my salary, use my platform to relentlessly put pressure on the government, and strengthen organizing efforts outside parliament.

With fierce attacks on the welfare state coming from conservatives and the Right, tolerated by the social democrats, it is Die Linke’s task to build collective strength in the neighborhoods, workplaces, and on the streets so that we can successfully fight back.

The split had a huge impact because it finally allowed the party to communicate coherently. People were longing for an alternative on the Left after the open flirtation between the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and the AfD (Alternative für Deutschland), and the ever-worsening drift to the right of the center accompanied by austerity politics of the former governing coalition: the Social Democrats (SPD), Greens, and Free Democrats (FDP). This was the backdrop to our success.

But the political situation alone doesn’t explain our gains. Across Germany, we see a huge boost in membership. Many district organizations of Die Linke have been and are reaching out to people like never before. During the campaign, thousands of activists knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors and had countless conversations about people’s personal situations and their political demands. This helps break people’s isolation and it leaves a lasting impression.

Now we have to build on it: by organizing rent assemblies, making practical differences in union struggles, and standing shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors threatened by deportation.

The shift to the Right is frightening, especially for the younger generation. Even before the election campaign, we saw young people organizing at big universities around the slogan: “Either we are the generation that watches fascists take power, or we are the generation that stops them.”

Our message was clear in the election campaign: we don’t just want your votes, we want your commitment. Building inclusive solidarity is essential to counter fascism and its politics of exclusion and cruelty. At several major campaign events in Neukölln, volunteers experienced a sense of empowerment many had been missing for a long time.

Now we need to carry that momentum forward. In Berlin, big battles are coming up — on rents, on the socialization of major housing companies, and in the city election in 2026. Look at Neukölln: rents here have doubled between 2015 and 2025! Meanwhile, the successful 2021 referendum to expropriate private real estate companies owning 3,000 or more units in the city is still being stalled, even though nearly 60 percent voted in favor. We want to keep this spirit alive and turn it into lasting power.

Sadly, the AfD is quite successful on social media. For me personally, social media has been crucial — both for visibility and for safety. My family and I barely survived an arson attack by Nazis a few years ago. Since then, I have seen social media as a tool to amplify what people are doing on the ground and to give visibility to those who are rarely heard or acknowledged.

At the same time, however, we must not mistake social media for real organizing. What truly counts is people acting in real life. Of course, reels can be funny and silly sometimes — but in the end, we want people to feel part of something bigger and to think, “I want to get active. I will join Die Linke. I will organize my neighborhood.”

This is the result of years of development. The established parties have pushed the political landscape increasingly to the right. Austerity and divisive politics created fertile ground for the far right. The AfD did not just fill a gap — it became the grotesque culmination of existing migration policies.

But the threat posed by this party is imminent and far more dangerous than the current ruling politics. If the AfD is allowed to take power, millions of our neighbors — whom the AfD considers not “German” enough — would face deportation, hatred, and violence as well as queers, trade unionists, and anyone who openly resists their agenda. We need broad anti-fascist coalitions to push them back while also building a left, anti-capitalist alternative that gives people hope and a sense of community.

While canvassing, we met quite a few right-leaning voters and many nonvoters. My experience is that often you can have meaningful political conversations. People are ready to reflect on and challenge their ideas. What convinces them most is that Die Linke doesn’t just want to govern and hold office but to actually change things. That must be our focus.

Looking at the numbers, our campaign succeeded in raising turnout and building a coalition of nonvoters, migrant voters, and more left-liberal ones. That shows us a direction we need to deepen. It would backfire to focus only on abstract economic debates. The working class is diverse: we need to address the issues that divide us while fighting for substantive improvements in everyday life, like a rent cap. In the end, the proof is in the practice. It is on us to build these struggles, convince many more people to join, and win the changes we all deserve.

Combating racism and advocating for equality are at the heart of my work. I see myself as an anti-racist voice that repeatedly exposes injustices and the denial of democratic rights — for example, by excluding so many people from the right to vote. The Left has launched several parliamentary initiatives on this issue, most recently in 2023. We will renew pressure here, both in parliament and outside it.

Our job is to bring people together and build trust. Refugees are not abstract numbers but our neighbors, our colleagues, and the people who take care of our children. When people work together for common causes, no one asks for their passport. Of course, we open up our own structures to migrants and refugees and actively empower people to take part.

Many people who look like me still face far-right attacks today. But I also draw energy from the solidarity and support of my comrades. The arson attack on my family was the ultimate consequence of the far-right agenda — and it also showed me that you can never trust the state in the fight against Nazism. The Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution) knew I was a target and didn’t warn me.

That is why we must take responsibility ourselves: by showing people in our neighborhoods an alternative approach to their daily struggles and by building broad anti-fascist coalitions against the AfD here and now. The initiative Widersetzen, for example, managed to block the AfD convention in Riesa [city in Germany] for hours with thousands of people. We can’t wait for the SPD or CDU to ban the fascists — it is up to us to take this issue in our own hands.

Of course it has, otherwise the far right would not be this strong today. But we must keep fighting. One thing must be clear: the far right is not only a by-product of neoliberal politics but also a terrible force in its own right. We must tackle both. That means building strong alternatives in people’s everyday lives while uniting broad anti-fascist coalitions across Europe and the world.

We must relearn internationalism and demonstrate what is possible when the Left has a clear plan. The far right is organizing across borders, so we must do the same. My team and I have been closely following what is happening elsewhere, for example Zohran Mamdani’s campaign in New York City and the new party formation in Great Britain. We need to learn from each other and deepen our strategic discussions on an international level. Internationalism is not just a slogan — it is the only way to fight back.

Some of the people on the team will fly to New York in November, and I think there have been some loose strings, but nothing permanent yet.

We have not only won many new voters but also thousands of new members — even before our comeback in the general election. My impression of many of these new members is that they have a strong class-based vision and are eager to build a party that is truly different from the others. Their optimism is mine. That spirit is what I want for Die Linke.

There is a quote from the East German philosopher Ernst Bloch that I like, which goes roughly like this: we have to learn to hope. When we stop hoping, what we fear will surely come. That hope must be turned into collective power — that is the task for Die Linke in the coming decade.

A lot. My parents always worked hard. Money was often scarce, so family cohesion became all the more crucial. My father dropped out of college and worked day and night to put food on the table. He sacrificed his own dreams to give us a future he never had. And as a staunch unionist, he fought tirelessly for workers’ rights. My mother, meanwhile, has always been a passionate advocate for women’s rights.

From them I learned what it means to fight with determination and with heart. They are the reasons I will never forget where I come from — and why I will always continue to fight no matter what.