Latest news with #Reichinnek
The Guardian
29-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘It's in our DNA to be anti-fascist': Germany's leftwing ‘TikTok queen' Heidi Reichinnek
The latest tattoo on Heidi Reichinnek's lower right arm reads 'Angry Woman'. A 'present to myself', she says, after the unexpected return to the German parliament of her party, Die Linke (The Left), in February's elections. Months before the vote, it had been widely predicted the far-left party, successor to the east German communists, would be decimated. But the naysayers were proved wrong: Die Linke won nearly 9% of the vote, an increase of almost 4% on the previous election, giving them a healthy 64 seats in the new Bundestag. Much of the credit for their upswing has gone to Reichinnek, who in the run-up to the vote gave a fulminating speech in which she admonished the incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, for having used the votes of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) to try to push through migration reform. 'Don't give up, but fight back, resist fascism … We'll all take to the streets … To the barricades!' the 36-year-old urged fellow MPs and those watching at home. The speech, says Reichinnek, was spontaneous – 'I quickly scribbled some things down but then couldn't read my scrawl' – but proved dynamite. Shared on social media almost 30m times in just five days, it became the most widely watched speech in the history of the Bundestag and catapulted Reichinnek – who polls show is the country's favourite female politician - to a level of political stardom, particularly among young people, that just months previously the then beleaguered party could have only dreamed of. 'It earned us a lot of support. People said I spoke to them from the heart, but also lots of others said things like: 'What's that hysterical old bint screaming about?' – hence the tattoo. 'My 'welcome back' and 'Bundestag tattoo',' she says. (The qualification is necessary for Reichinnek has others: one of her Marxist idol, Rosa Luxemburg, another of Nefertiti, the ancient Egyptian queen, donning a gas mask, and a 'zoo' of animals including an otter, raven, cat and snake. 'Because being an MP – in this prison and bureaucratic complex,' Reichinnek says, pointing to her surroundings in a room off her Bundestag office, 'I have no time to have pets.') Germany, Europe's biggest economy and stalwart if embattled democracy, is preparing for a new era: Merz, the leader of the CDU/CSU conservative alliance, is expected to be sworn in as chancellor in early May. He will lead a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats of the outgoing chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in what is expected to be a tempestuous parliament where the far right will be the leading opposition force and hold an unprecedented amount of power. Reichinnek sees the role of her smaller party as crucial, both in keeping at bay the AfD (which now stands, for the first time ever, neck and neck with the conservatives in the polls) and holding Merz to account. At the same time Die Linke does not want to be portrayed as a disruptor, but as a collaborator on important issues 'with all democratic parties, where we agree with them', she says. With a combined total of 216 seats, Die Linke and the AfD have a so-called blocking minority in the new Bundestag: the new government will be too weak to make up the two-thirds majority needed to make any changes to the constitution. But Reichinnek – whose trademark red lipstick is an anti-fascist nod to the many women who 'during the Nazi era wore [it] … because Hitler did not like makeup' – swiftly rejects any suggestion the parties could collaborate. 'We're very familiar with the 'horseshoe theory' which attempts to equate left and right,' she says. 'But we have nothing to do with that party. We don't work with or vote with the AfD. It's rightwing extremist. We're leftwing. It's part of our DNA to be anti-fascist and we will fight against it at every turn, in parliament and on the streets.' For her, the obvious way to fight the far-right populists is to create 'good social policy'. 'It's been shown time and again in so many studies that people whose personal and economic circumstances are deteriorating are more likely to vote for rightwing extremists. This means that strong social policies are needed to counter the AfD.' 'Everything', she adds, has been run down over the past few decades. 'Public services have been continually dismantled. Wages and pensions have increased far too little; they have actually been devalued, while rents have risen. Hospitals are closing, schools are decaying, bridges are collapsing. Of course, people are frustrated. That's no excuse for voting for a party, but it is definitely a reason that must be addressed. That's our first approach.' Deeply critical of the new government's coalition agreement, calling it 'irresponsible' and 'fainthearted', Reichinnek says Merz's plans for a massive rearmament through historical spending and debt reforms, pushed through the old parliament at the 11th hour, have 'no clear concept' on how a multi-billion euro infrastructure fund is to be spent. A big sticking point with a fair few would-be Die Linke voters is that the party is against the further delivery of weapons to Ukraine. Critics say this is a disturbing remnant of the party's pro-Russian allegiance, a suggestion Reichinnek rejects. Die Linke is 'very much on the side of Kyiv', she insists, but the approach to ending the war must change and include not more weaponry but more pressure on Vladimir Putin. 'It only works if you force Putin to the negotiating table. He won't come there voluntarily. We're saying: there's a whole lot between supplying weapons and doing nothing,' she says. Domestically, she fears that Merz's promised cuts to social welfare spending to finance rearmament will come at the expense of social cohesion and will ultimately drive more voters to the AfD. Born in a village in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to an electrician father and chemical worker mother, Reichinnek was just 19-months-old when the Berlin Wall fell. Her formative political experience took place when she was a member of the city council and a youth worker in Osnabrück, in north-west Germany, where she lives. Referred to as Germany's TikTok queen, whose reels on everything from domestic violence and contraception to rent and migration have long earned her supporters, particularly among young female voters, she joined Die Linke in 2015 and became its parliamentary group spokesperson last year. Every time she approaches the podium in the Bundestag, she typically bats off with good humour jeering cries from the CDU and AfD benches in particular: TV cameras often show Merz and his colleagues rolling their eyes and shaking their heads. She admits she has had to grow a thick skin to cope with these critics, who deem her too 'woke' and too mouthy, and who say her 'leftist activist look' is contrived to appeal to a particular youth demographic. Her response? That her politics is based on people's real concerns, citing her fight against rent extortion and her campaign for the legalisation of abortion (while rarely punished, it remains illegal in Germany, except for specific circumstances including when a woman's life is in danger or she is a victim of rape). She has had the same fringe-defined hairstyle 'forever' and no one advises her on what she wears or what she says. She counters her critics bluntly with the question: 'The bottom line is, do you act out of solidarity with others, or are you an arsehole?' The message is getting through – at least to a certain group of people. Under her guidance, the party has seen an astonishing revival among Germany's youth: at the election, Die Linke proved the most popular choice for voters aged between 18 and 24. Her wish to make the rich pay their fair share has been the inspiration for a track by rappers MC Smook and Fruity Luke, and in her office there is an overflowing box of friendship bracelets she has received from fans. Among her trademark items of attire, they bear slogans such as 'Do it for us' and 'Only the Young'. Since first entering parliament in 2021, she has gained a reputation as the fastest-talking MP, leading to the coining of the phrase 'a Reichinnek' as a benchmark of political temperament. Her way of speaking, Die Zeit recently pointed out, 'has peak speeds of approximately 200 words a minute' – considerably faster than her parliamentary colleagues. 'Useful for TikTok', she admits, as well as in the debating chamber 'when we've only ever had two or three minutes to put our point across, so it's really paid off'. Younger people like it, she says, 'because they say, they don't have to listen at double speed. But when I'm on TV, older people often say that I talk too fast.' Will Merz's Germany move at the speed Reichinnek thinks is necessary to save it from the economic doldrums and political peril? The answer is unclear. For now, she is focused on building on her party's unexpected momentum and girding herself for the fights to come. She recently attended a Die Linke meeting in Osnabrück. 'There were lots of young people among new members there who are keen to make a change,' she says. 'That's what matters most to me.'
Al Jazeera
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘We will be a loud voice': Leftist leader Reichinnek woos young Germans
Berlin, Germany – In the weeks leading up to the German election, Friedrich Merz, the man tipped to become chancellor, broke a longstanding, cross-party firewall that blocked cooperation with the far-right, anti-immigrant party, the Alternative For Deutschland (AfD), to push through tougher migration legislation. Political pressure had been piling after two deadly attacks within a matter of weeks, reportedly carried out by men who had sought asylum in the country. While the legislation was ultimately blocked, the move prompted condemnation from across the political spectrum, including from former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who, like Merz, belongs to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). In an impassioned speech in the Bundestag, the German Parliament, a visibly outraged Heidi Reichinnek, co-governor of the Left party known as Die Linke, lambasted Merz directly for working 'deliberately'' with 'rightwing extremists'. 'All this happened only two days after we commemorated the liberation of Auschwitz, two days after commemorating the murdered and tormented. Now you're collaborating with those who carry on this same ideology,' she said. The speech went viral, with more than seven million views on TikTok, and pushed Reichinnek to the top of national news agendas. Coverage focused on the fallout, but also the social media presence and style of the self-described socialist, feminist and anti-fascist who is adorned with tattoos – including an inking of the German Marxist Rosa Luxemburg. As the election drew closer, Reichinnek doubled down on her progressive push, meeting with a prominent queer influencer, posting regularly to her hundreds of thousands of social media followers, criticising Merz further, and speaking out about housing costs and the AfD. The strategy paid off. In the February 23 election, Die Linke polled at 9 percent, more than doubling its voter share from the last election in 2021, with a reported quarter of young people backing it. It was the highest figure for any party among this demographic. Speaking to Al Jazeera following the result, Reichinnek, who shares the leadership with Soren Pellmann, said it was an incredible achievement not just for Die Linke, but for everyone who stood up for 'social justice, solidarity, and democracy'. 'The fact that so many people have joined the party, that hundreds of thousands took to the streets to defend human rights, and that we were able to reach so many new voters shows that there is real momentum for progressive politics in Germany. 'But this is just the beginning. Elections are important, but they are not the end goal – they are a step in a much bigger fight. The cost of living crisis isn't over, social inequality is still growing, and the far right is still a threat. That's why we will continue to be a loud and uncompromising voice in parliament and on the streets,' said Reichinnek. Commentators are crediting the 36-year-old for playing an integral role in Die Linke's electoral resurgence following internal struggles. In 2023, one of its high-profile leaders, Sahra Wagenknecht, quit and in 2024, low polling figures in the European and regional elections had many writing off the party. 'It was astonishing to see this rise of Die Linke, which seemed doomed to death last year,' Stefan Marschall, a political scientist at the Heinrich Heine University in Duesseldorf told Al Jazeera. 'What happened, especially during the last mile of the campaign, was that Die Linke was able to mobilise a lot of young people. And Reichinnek's role was important, her communication strategy was very clear and addressed certain issues, such as the high housing costs and the resurgence of the far-right, which many young people are concerned about.' 'Up until now, the AfD had been unchallenged on social media,' said Moheb Shafaqyar, a Die Linke member in Berlin. The district he is active in, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, upended the Green party seat, a high-profile left-wing result nationally. 'While in Germany and globally there is a frightening trend of young people voting for the right, in this election we have seen a trend reversal.' East German roots Born in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt in 1988, a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Reichinnek was interested in politics and a fair society from her teenage years. 'At the top of the list of things that frustrated me are the Hartz IV laws (unemployment reforms), which I want to abolish,' she said in a 2022 interview. 'Equality for women is just as important to me as effective and better child and youth welfare and basic child benefits that support poor families.' Between 2007 and 2011, she studied Middle Eastern Studies and Political Science at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. During this period, she spent time in Cairo as the so-called Arab Spring broke out. 'I was amazed at what people can achieve when they stand together,' she said of Egyptian protesters. She engaged in further academic pursuits, including as a research assistant on a project looking at transformation in Arab societies, and periods working in the social sector, including teaching German to refugees, before she joined Die Linke in 2015. She became a member of the Left faction in Osnabrueck in northwest Germany a year later. Here she took on roles such as spokesperson for a self-described socialist, feminist, anti-fascist and ecological grassroots initiative. She rose through the party ranks. At the state party conference in Lower Saxony in 2019, she received the support of more than 86 percent of delegates, making her the party's youngest state chairwoman. Two years later, she was elected to the Bundestag on the Lower Saxony state list, working on issues such as pensions and youth, women's and family policy ever since. 'An East German background is still an exception in Germany's political sphere,' said the political scientist, Marschall. 'Her background in an East German working-class household also highlights that she did not enter politics from a position of privilege, making her engagement with social policy issues significantly more authentic.' The timing of her ascent as Die Linke faced internal strife also helped her trajectory. A bad result in the 2021 federal election followed by disagreements over its position on immigration and later Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine contributed to the departure of Wagenknecht and a cohort of colleagues, who formed a new party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) last year. Ozger Ozvatan is the head and co-founder of the diversity and inclusion agency Transformakers, and the author of Jede Stimme Zaehlt (Every Vote Counts, 2025) based in Berlin. He said during this difficult time for the party, opportunities emerged. 'Wagenknecht was against immigration and after she left, there was a chance for the progressive and pro-immigration voices within the party to become bigger and move the party towards more liberal immigration policies.' The other factor, Oezvatan said, was the Israel-Palestine conflict, which led to further departures. 'There was another window of opportunity for human rights activists to make it a more pro-Palestinian and Israel-critical party. To the general public, this made Die Linke look more progressive and human rights-oriented.' Reichinnek was active on social issues and engaging with the electorate on- and offline. 'She is an authentic voice for social policy because of her work so far in the field,' Ozvatan said, 'plus she was already seen as a social media star before the election campaign period, and this undermined the position that politicians only go on TikTok because it's an election campaign.' 'She gets close to people, and she seems to be very honest and very frank in the way she talks, which we saw in the speech to Merz,' added Marschall. 'And that's very attractive to people who are used to older, more controlled and unemotional political figures.' It's a style that has resonated with Die Linke voters such as Lina Mueller*, a 34-year-old counsellor in a pregnancy advice centre, who requested Al Jazeera to use a pseudonym due to the sensitive nature of her work. 'Reichinnek stands for a younger generation of the party while at the same time continues to fight older Left battles around social justice and anti-abortion legislation. She doesn't use strategies to get more votes from AfD voters in the way that Wagenknecht does. While they both seem like populists, Reichinnek comes across as very convincing.' As the post-election dust settles and Germany contends with a recession-facing economy and a re-energised far-right, Reichinnek's party has 'a lot of energy at the moment, and she's one of the batteries', Marschall said. According to party member Shafaqyar in Berlin, the party line has an invigorating sense of clarity. 'Reichinnek is concerned about the issues, not personal vanity and power for the sake of power. I hope it stays that way.'
New York Times
24-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
‘The Left Lives': How TikTok Helped Liberals Surprise in Germany
Her fans call her Heidi. She is 36 years old. She talks a mile a minute. She has a tattoo of the Polish-German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg on her left arm and a million followers across TikTok and Instagram. She was relatively unknown in German politics until January, but as of Sunday, she's a political force. Heidi Reichinnek is the woman who led the surprise story of Germany's parliamentary elections on Sunday: an almost overnight resurgence of Die Linke, which translates as 'The Left.' A month ago, Die Linke looked likely to miss the 5 percent voting cutoff needed for parties to earn seats in Germany's Parliament, the Bundestag. On Sunday, it won nearly 9 percent of the vote and 64 seats in the Bundestag. 'It was one of only five parties to win multiple seats in the new Parliament, joining the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, the hard-right Alternative for Germany and the Green Party. It was a remarkable comeback, powered by young voters, high prices, a backlash against conservative politicians, and a social-media-forward message that mixed celebration and defiance. At a time when German politicians are moving to the right on issues like immigration, and when the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, doubled its vote share from four years ago, Ms. Reichinnek, the party's co-leader in the Bundestag, and Die Linke succeeded by channeling outrage from liberal, young voters. They pitched themselves as an aggressive check on a more conservative government, which will almost certainly be led by Friedrich Merz, a businessman who has led the Christian Democrats to take a harsher line on border security and migrants. Mr. Merz's ascent, and his decisions in the middle of a campaign that his party led from the start, appear to have helped Ms. Reichinnek. In January, after a deadly knife attack by an immigrant in Bavaria, Mr. Merz pushed the Parliament to vote on a set of migration restrictions that could only pass with votes from the AfD — breaking decades of prohibition in German politics against partnering with parties deemed extreme. Many analysts trace Die Linke's surge to Ms. Reichinnek's furious — for the German Parliament, anyway — speech denouncing Mr. Merz and his measures. 'You just said that no one from your party is reaching out to the AfD!' she shouted, in a speech that has since racked up nearly seven million views on TikTok. 'That's right! They've been happily embracing each other for a long time already!' In the month that followed, she called the AfD a fascist party and demanded that the Christian Democrats fire Mr. Merz. She proposed strengthening immigrants' rights, increasing pensions and imposing stricter rent controls to help people struggling with postpandemic price increases across Germany. She also called Die Linke the country's last great firewall against the far right. Die Linke coupled those calls with an aggressive social media outreach and party-like atmospheres at its rallies. It added more than 30,000 new members in the last month of the campaign, said Götz Lange, the party's press officer. In the campaign's final week, Ms. Reichinnek traveled to the Berlin suburb of Treptow-Köpenick to talk to Ole Liebl, a queer influencer, about 'techno and TikTok.' Afterward there was a party, with a DJ set, including a techno mix with the voice of a famed left leader in Germany, Gregor Gysi. The venue, an old brewery, was bursting at the seams: Instead of the allowed 400 guests, around 1.200 people showed up. Most of them were techno lovers in black hoodies, people with multicolored hair and T-shirts with 'antifa' slogans written on them. They mostly appeared to be in their early 20s. There wasn't enough space inside for everyone, so around 800 guests followed the event outside and downstairs, on a livestream. Wearing a rust red-colored sweater and jeans, Mr. Reichinnek appeared after a 30-minute delay, smiling and waving to the crowd. 'Thank you for being here,' she said. 'It's crazy, I don't even want to know what it looks like down there. If you need help, try banging on the ceiling really loudly, we'll know.' The crowd roared. On Election Day, Die Linke surprised analysts and appeared to snatch votes from the Greens and the Social Democrats, the party of the incumbent chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and got new voters to turn out. In Berlin's central Mitte neighborhood, it won areas previously dominated by the Greens. Founded in 2007 and descended from the former ruling party of East Germany, Die Linke had recently been better known for its failures than any success. Its most well-known leader, Sahra Wagenknecht, quit the party to start her own — which blended some traditional left economic positions with a hard line on migration and an affinity for Russia. That may have been a blessing, said Sven Leunig, a political scientist at the University of Jena, a public research university in Germany. Ms. Wagenknecht's positions had split the party. 'They were torn,' Mr. Leunig said, and voters did not like it. The departure also allowed Die Linke to enlist new candidates and leaders. Other mainstream parties continued to push familiar faces and may have paid the price. Daria Batalov, a 23-year-old nursing student from the central town of Hanau, said she was won over by Ms. Reichinnek's TikTok videos. 'They really spoke to me,' she said, adding, 'And it was clear to me after a few videos that, OK, my vote is going to Die Linke.' Analysts said Ms. Reichinnek and her party also benefited from a backlash to Mr. Merz's migration measures, and from fears about the rise of the far right. 'She had good luck,' said Uwe Jun, a political scientist at the University of Trier. Her supporters called it something else: the rebirth of a movement. At Die Linke's election-viewing party in Berlin, the crowd erupted into cheers when early exit polls flashed across the screen. Jan van Aken, a party leader, was greeted onstage with confetti. 'The Left lives,' he said.
Local Germany
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
German far left in surprise comeback ahead of election
"I say to everyone out there: don't give up, fight back, resist fascism," Heidi Reichinnek said in a recent parliament speech against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and those who cooperate with it. "To the barricades!" declared the 36-year-old, who has a picture of the revolutionary left's icon Rosa Luxemburg tattooed on her left forearm, in a fiery speech that has racked up over 6.5 million views on TikTok. Die Linke has been especially popular among young voters with its promise to fight for social justice, tax the rich, bring down surging rents and make public transport cheaper. With the anti-immigration AfD polling at a record 20 percent ahead of Sunday's election, Die Linke has become a standard bearer in the pushback against the extreme right. Founded from the ashes of communist East Germany's ruling party, it had been plagued by infighting and a damaging defection and until recently faced the threat of political oblivion. Only weeks ago, Die Linke was polling below the five-percent threshold for reentry into parliament, but latest polls give it between seven and nine percent. It's a strong comeback for the party that was in disarray after its key figure Sahra Wagenknecht left the party early last year to found her own "left-wing conservative" movement, the BSW. But while Die Linke has been on the up and up in recent weeks, the BSW, which also demands curbs on irregular immigration, is now hovering around the five-percent death zone and must fear for its survival. 'Anger in my belly' Reichinnek joined Die Linke in 2015 with "anger in my belly about many social injustices", she told AFP. The MP who spent time in Cairo during the Arab Spring protests also has an arm tattoo of a street art image showing ancient Egypt's queen Nefertiti with a gas mask. "I really wanted to find people who saw things the same way as me, with whom I could change things together, and I found them in Die Linke," she said. Reichinnek was relatively unknown before her blistering speech in the Bundestag against the AfD and the conservative CDU/CSU alliance. The conservatives had breached a long-standing taboo by accepting AfD votes to push through a motion calling for an immigration crackdown. The shattering of the anti-AfD "firewall" sparked mass street protests. Since the fateful vote and Reichinnek's spirited response, Die Linke has seen a surge in grassroots support with membership reaching its highest point in 15 years. In a recent mock election of under-18s, Die Linke emerged as the biggest party at 20.8 percent. The party had already laid the groundwork with a light-hearted social media campaign centred around three of its "old comrades" aged in their 60s and 70s -- Bodo Ramelow, Dietmar Bartsch and Gregor Gysi. Die Linke has run an "effective" campaign and set "very clear priorities", said political scientist Antonios Souris of Berlin's Free University. Berlin student Thomas Jaeschke, 23, who has been distributing Linke flyers and putting up campaign posters, said the mood in the party was "very positive". "At the campaign events there are really a lot of people there, some from all over Germany and a lot of newcomers," Jaeschke said. He puts this down to a "well-communicated" campaign focused on core left-wing values such as "rent prices and redistribution of wealth", but also credited Reichinnek with "mobilising younger people in particular". 'German duty' It's a far cry from a year ago, when Die Linke was plunged into crisis as Wagenknecht, 55, left to set up the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). The new, Moscow-friendly party made a strong start, scoring 6.2 percent at EU elections last June and entering the government after two eastern regional elections. Die Linke scored just 2.7 percent of the EU vote. But support for BSW has waned this year as the party was hit by infighting and corruption allegations. BSW drew the ire of many left-wingers when it also joined the AfD in voting for a drastic crackdown on immigration in parliament. "In the end, Wagenknecht has not made the impact in the media that BSW might have hoped for," Souris said. Berlin hairdresser Thomas Marienfeld, 43, said he voted for BSW in the EU elections but has now joined Die Linke. Backing Wagenknecht in June was an "impulsive" decision that he regretted when he saw her party "voting with the AfD", he said. Watching Reichinnek's speech, he said "I was 100 percent saying, 'Yes!' If the world swings to the right, then it is my German duty to go left." By Claudia HORN and Femke COLBORNE
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German far left in surprise comeback ahead of election
Germany's far-left Die Linke party has enjoyed a late poll surge ahead of Sunday's elections, boosted by a spirited anti-fascist speech by its new rising star that quickly went viral. "I say to everyone out there: don't give up, fight back, resist fascism," Heidi Reichinnek said in a recent parliament speech against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and those who cooperate with it. "To the barricades!" declared the 36-year-old, who has a picture of the revolutionary left's icon Rosa Luxemburg tattooed on her left forearm, in a fiery speech that has racked up over 6.5 million views on TikTok. Die Linke has been especially popular among young voters with its promise to fight for social justice, tax the rich, bring down surging rents and make public transport cheaper. With the anti-immigration AfD polling at a record 20 percent ahead of Sunday's election, Die Linke has become a standard bearer in the pushback against the extreme right. Founded from the ashes of communist East Germany's ruling party, it had been plagued by infighting and a damaging defection and until recently faced the threat of political oblivion. Only weeks ago, Die Linke was polling below the five-percent threshold for reentry into parliament, but latest polls give it between seven and nine percent. It's a strong comeback for the party that was in disarray after its key figure Sahra Wagenknecht left the party early last year to found her own "left-wing conservative" movement, the BSW. But while Die Linke has been on the up and up in recent weeks, the BSW, which also demands curbs on irregular immigration, is now hovering around the five-percent death zone and must fear for its survival. - 'Anger in my belly' - Reichinnek joined Die Linke in 2015 with "anger in my belly about many social injustices", she told AFP. The MP who spent time in Cairo during the Arab Spring protests also has an arm tattoo of a street art image showing ancient Egypt's queen Nefertiti with a gas mask. "I really wanted to find people who saw things the same way as me, with whom I could change things together, and I found them in Die Linke," she said. Reichinnek was relatively unknown before her blistering speech in the Bundestag against the AfD and the conservative CDU/CSU alliance. The conservatives had breached a long-standing taboo by accepting AfD votes to push through a motion calling for an immigration crackdown. The shattering of the anti-AfD "firewall" sparked mass street protests. Since the fateful vote and Reichinnek's spirited response, Die Linke has seen a surge in grassroots support with membership reaching its highest point in 15 years. In a recent mock election of under-18s, Die Linke emerged as the biggest party at 20.8 percent. The party had already laid the groundwork with a light-hearted social media campaign centred around three of its "old comrades" aged in their 60s and 70s -- Bodo Ramelow, Dietmar Bartsch and Gregor Gysi. Die Linke has run an "effective" campaign and set "very clear priorities", said political scientist Antonios Souris of Berlin's Free University. Berlin student Thomas Jaeschke, 23, who has been distributing Linke flyers and putting up campaign posters, said the mood in the party was "very positive". "At the campaign events there are really a lot of people there, some from all over Germany and a lot of newcomers," Jaeschke said. He puts this down to a "well-communicated" campaign focused on core left-wing values such as "rent prices and redistribution of wealth", but also credited Reichinnek with "mobilising younger people in particular". - 'German duty' - It's a far cry from a year ago, when Die Linke was plunged into crisis as Wagenknecht, 55, left to set up the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). The new, Moscow-friendly party made a strong start, scoring 6.2 percent at EU elections last June and entering the government after two eastern regional elections. Die Linke scored just 2.7 percent of the EU vote. But support for BSW has waned this year as the party was hit by infighting and corruption allegations. BSW drew the ire of many left-wingers when it also joined the AfD in voting for a drastic crackdown on immigration in parliament. "In the end, Wagenknecht has not made the impact in the media that BSW might have hoped for," Souris said. Berlin hairdresser Thomas Marienfeld, 43, said he voted for BSW in the EU elections but has now joined Die Linke. Backing Wagenknecht in June was an "impulsive" decision that he regretted when he saw her party "voting with the AfD", he said. Watching Reichinnek's speech, he said "I was 100 percent saying, 'Yes!' If the world swings to the right, then it is my German duty to go left." fec/fz/fg
