Not just AfD: What’s the BSW, Germany’s rising populist left party?
Al Jazeera
The party founded in January espouses anti-NATO, anti-immigrant populist rhetoric while promoting left-wing economics.
It’s the new kid on the block in German politics — and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is making waves.
A little more than nine months after its birth, the BSW, a new populist party, is rapidly emerging as a major political force in Europe’s largest economy, after stunning gains in recent state elections. The latest among them was in Brandenburg, on the outskirts of capital Berlin, where the BSW secured 13.5 percent of the vote, coming third behind the federally ruling Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
On paper, the BSW belongs on the left – the hard left, even. But it advocates an unusual mix of left-leaning economic policies and anti-immigration rhetoric.
Experts say its success lies in cannibalising Germany’s left while also borrowing from the nationalist policies of the AfD – all while using its unorthodox brand of populism to appeal to apathetic voters.
So what is the BSW, how is it shaking up German politics, and could it be a key player in national elections scheduled for next September?
