Activist Carola Rackete, who rose to prominence as the captain of the NGO Sea Watch, was nominated on Monday (17 July) as one of Die Linke’s two front runners in next year’s EU elections.
The 35-year-old activist rose to fame in 2019 as the captain of Sea Watch, an NGO that sponsors sea rescue operations in the Mediterranean. She rescued refugees and brought them to Lampedusa despite a ban by the Italian authorities.
This incident ended with her arrest and subsequent acquittal, as well as a public altercation with Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Lega party and Italy’s interior minister at the time.
“We can only overcome the ecological crises if we create socially just conditions – I share exactly this analysis with the Left Party,” Rackete told journalists in Berlin.
Again and again she asked herself where she could have the greatest influence on the social-ecological movement with her work. Finally, she concluded that the European Parliament is a place where the future of millions of people inside and outside of Europe is decided.
Rackete’s nomination is an important step for the ailing left, which is plagued by internal disputes over the party’s future direction. There is a risk of leaving parliament in the next federal election, as the left is currently below the electoral threshold of 5 percent.
“Today we want to make it clear: the left is opening up, for those who are committed, for activists from social movements and civil society. This is how we show: the left is part of a left pole of hope that is larger than itself,” said Janine Wissler, the co-chair of the left, in Berlin.
Rackete stressed, however, that she would not formally join the party as her post is intended to be anchored in the civil society movements to which she belongs. Rackete also warned that she expects more from the party, which has lost a lot of trust as a result of the recent dispute over direction.
The activist is running for second place on the federal list of the Left, along with Martin Schirdewan, also co-chair of the party and current MEP.
Özlem Demirel, another Left MEP, and Gerhard Trabert, doctor, social activist and Left Party candidate for President in 2022, also made it to the top spots. The list still has to be approved at a party conference later this year.
The left is currently represented by five MEPs in the European Parliament.
[Bearbeitet von Oliver Noyan/Nathalie Weatherald/Kjeld Neubert]
2023-07-17 16:15:47
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