The socialization of the holdings of the large private housing groups will be the crucial question when it comes to forming a government after the House of Representatives elections in the fall. For the Left, which according to current polls will probably have a say in the constitution of the next Senate, implementing the referendum has long been at the top of the priority list. But now the topic is taking on a whole new urgency with an unexpected personality.
As the taz learned, Rouzbeh Taheri, co-initiator of the Deutsche Wohnen & Co Expropriate campaign and its long-standing spokesman for the Left, is to move into the House of Representatives. The Neukölln district association wants to put him at number one on the list at a general meeting next Saturday. The district board unanimously approved the electoral list – there is no opponent for Taheri.
In the election for the House of Representatives, the Left is not running with a state list for the entire city, but rather with individual district lists. In strongholds like Neukölln, entry for the candidates at the top of the list is considered certain. And Taheri also has no doubts about his mission. In an interview with the taz, he says: In the House of Representatives he wants to be a “spokesman for socialization” and as such push forward the implementation of the referendum.
Taheri draws a thick red line on the issue: “There will be no government coalition with the participation of the left that does not immediately begin implementing the referendum.” He will “never agree” to a coalition agreement that does not support implementation with concrete steps and deadlines.
Party agrees
The Left in Neukölln will be happy to hear that. Enthusiasm for government participation has always been low in the association, which is characterized by the rather dogmatic socialist network Marx 21. Maximum demands, even those that cannot be met, are a suitable means. Nevertheless, Taheri’s sentences are unlikely to raise eyebrows even among those in the party who would make major compromises to participate in the government.
So had Elif Eralp, candidate of the Left for the office of Governing Mayor, in an interview with the taz Shortly after her appointment in October, she said: “Of course you always have to make compromises, that’s clear. But the central issue for us is the rent issue. That means socialization is needed.”
Niklas Schrader sees it the same way, although he entered parliament via the state list in 2023 with support from Neukölln, but has now sought his home in the Left Pankow due to differences over political orientation. When asked, the parliamentary group’s domestic policy spokesman said: The demand for the implementation of Deutsche Wohnen expropriation “corresponds to the mood in the party”. Without a plan, “it will be difficult to form a coalition.”
It depends on the SPD. She has to show her colors.
Rouzbeh Taheri
Taheri says: “It depends on the SPD. They have to show their colors.” If she cannot decide to implement DW Enteignen, “there will be no coalition with her”. She would then have to “justify why the expression of the will of the people of Berlin continues to be ignored.”
Activist in parliament
In this case, there will be the announced legislative referendum of the initiative, which would force every coalition to implement it. Extra-parliamentary pressure continues to be crucial for “big changes,” said Taheri. He wants to counteract the “tendency of bourgeois parliaments to integrate and absorb people,” also with the help of clear “agreements on accountability” that were made in the Left Neukölln.
Taheri left the PDS in 2004 in protest against the government policies of the red-red Berlin Senate. As one of the co-founders of the Berlin WASG, he also did not follow the path of merging with the PDS to the left. Instead, he got involved in the S-Bahn table and in city policy initiatives. Since 2022 he has been the publishing director of the daily newspaper cooperative nd. However, he wants to give up this position in time before the election.
It was only two years ago that Taheri rejoined the left, after Sahra Wagenknecht’s resignation and in response to the Potsdam remigration meeting. Since then he has been a simple member of the Left in Neukölln, which, due to its positions on the Middle East, for example against the exclusion of Ramsis Kilani are also criticized within the party because of allegations of anti-Semitism. Taheri says: “Middle East was never my focus.” Nevertheless, he adds: “The position of the district association is no different from mine.”
The experienced activist also wants to run as a direct candidate in Neukölln constituency 3, which stretches from Rixdorf to Blaschkowallee – and the chances of that happening are good too. In the 2023 election, the then left-wing candidate Moritz Wittler was only in fourth place in the first vote, but the gap to the victorious SPD MP Derya Çağlar was only 4.5 percentage points.
Since then, however, the Left has grown significantly both nationally and in the district and has doubled its membership. In the federal election a year ago she had with a massive election campaign for Ferat Koçak won a direct mandate in a West German constituency for the first time. Taheri said they wanted to rely on door-to-door discussions again in the coming election campaign. He had already done this for DWE before the parties discovered it for themselves.