The Berlin Left Youth, the youth organization of the party Die Linke, decided on the weekend to prohibit cooperation with the Jusos, the youth organization of the SPD, and the Green Youth.

The decision, which was not published, met with sharp criticism from parts of the left and also from individual organizations of the Left Youth itself. The Association of Left Youth from the Berlin district of Treptow-Köpenick announced on Twitter that it would continue to work with Jusos and Grüner Youth.

"This prohibition of cooperation will not apply to us," it says there.

Markus Wehner

Political correspondent in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

The outgoing left member of the Bundestag Matthias Höhn wrote: "If 4.9% were still too much for you, you also decide to prohibit cooperation with progressive social forces - and at the same time say goodbye to this spectrum." The Left Party only had 4.9 in the Bundestag election Percent and was only drawn back into the Bundestag thanks to three direct mandates.

Berlin Jusos congratulate ironically

In addition, the Berlin youth left elected the former Juso functionary Bengt Rüstemeier as their spokesman. Rustemeier lost his position with the Jusos in February 2021 because of fantasies of murder and violence, which he shared on social media, only slightly changed in spelling. The student, who studied law at Berlin's Humboldt University, had fantasized on Twitter that young liberals or “rental pigs” would be shot. In addition, he wrote about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos that he could not avoid "feeling secret joy" if that person succumbed to the consequences of an explosive injury. Rustemeier therefore had to resign as a member of the board of the Berlin Jusos, who rated his tweets as an "intolerable derailment".

The Berlin Left Youth has not yet officially announced the election of Rüstemeier, who was born in 1999 and describes himself as a communist.

The Berlin Jusos congratulated their ex-member via Twitter and remarked ironically that they were "looking forward to an even closer cooperation than before".

They also confirmed the agreed ban on cooperation.

According to the newspaper Die Welt, Rustemeier has confirmed his choice via his non-public Twitter account.