“We want all the basic needs that people in the country have to be socialized”

The leader of the Left, Luigi Pantisano, sees a campaign behind the debate about anti-Semitism in his party. The discourse surrounding statements from his party is “not because of concerns about anti-Semitism on the left,” he said in an interview with “Deutschlandfunk”.

Rather, it is about the concern “that we are serious about socialization”. At the same time, he emphasized: “We want all things of the common good – energy, mobility, housing, water, all the basic needs that people in this country have – to be socialized.”

“Of course we also have anti-Semitism on the left,” admitted Pantisano: “But it exists in every other party, and in every social group, anti-Semitism is an evil that has to be dealt with.”

At the same time, he affirmed that his party rejects any form of anti-Semitism and stands by Jewish life. Anti-Semitic statements by members must be pursued and, if necessary, punished in accordance with the statutes: “We have no place for anyone who has the extinction of Jewish life in mind.”

The party leader added that it is “our core task as a party to always put ourselves before and protect Jewish life.” But one must also differentiate between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel's policies: "We criticize the Israeli right-wing extremist government, which killed over 70,000 Palestinians and responded with another war crime after Hamas' war crime on October 7th, in which over 1,000 Jews were partially slaughtered."

The Left Party rejects the policies of the Netanyahu government, Pantisano added: “The federal government is supplying weapons for a genocide, as we call what is happening in Gaza.” But this criticism has nothing to do with anti-Semitism.

On the subject of socialization, the politician went on to say that the Left Party in Berlin is interested in socializing apartments belonging to corporations with more than 10,000 apartments. This affects around 160,000 apartments in the capital. One does not want to touch the private property of people with houses or apartments that they have built themselves.

The Berlin Left is also planning a rent cap for state-owned apartments, the construction of 100,000 social housing units and a “rent police” against rent usury. There should be no speculation with living space, says Pantisano.