EXBERLINER Issue 163, September 2017

ELECTION 2017
Find your own
Alternative for
Deutschland!
You’d call yourself a progressive leftist. You support a fair, inclusive society and
a healthy planet, and you believe moral values, not the market, should rule our
lives. But you don’t see much hope for change from the SPD, the Greens or even
Die Linke. These nine small parties want to get you inspired and involved. We met
with their leaders to find out what makes them stand out. Photos by German Palomeque
Die PARTEI The joke gets serious
Die PARTEI’s Berlin headquarters are
surprisingly difficult to locate. There
are no signs, just people smoking in
café chairs outside a blue storefront. Inside,
scruffy Kreuzbergers sit around a bottle-strewn
table, fiddling with papers and pastel candies.
People cheer as two guys roll through wearing
Popeye-esque sailor suits. They get their photos
taken by a man in socks and sandals, then saunter
off to more applause.
You wouldn’t guess that this motley crew
represents one of Berlin’s most successful
small parties. Since it was founded in 2004 by
the editors of satirical magazine Titanic (its
original mission: bring back the Berlin Wall!),
the “Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection,
Promotion of Elites, and Grassroots
Democratic Initiatives” has found increasing
resonance as a protest vote for Germans
who’ve given up on politics as usual. The 2014
elections landed founder Martin Sonneborn in
the EU Parliament; last year in Berlin, the party
garnered 2 percent of the vote, more than any
other party its size. In its stronghold of Kreuzberg,
Die PARTEI received 4.6 percent, enough
to enter the district council.
So what has Berlin party chair Riza Cörtlen
done with his newfound power? Not much –
unless you count redecorating his office with
hot pink walls and real gold trim, presumably
financed with his €1000/month government allowance.
“It’s about doing what real politicians
would do,” says Cörtlen. The soft-spoken former
squatter was previously involved with the
KPD/RZ, a satirical party founded by a friend
in 1988. When Die PARTEI arrived years later,
Cörtlen joined forces and brought his quasifamily
of dissentient Kreuzbergers with him.
Today’s members range from young politics
students to old-timer radicals. In between you’ll
find artists, lawyers, porn stars, croupiers, tattoo
shop owners, computer whizzes, and even a
wholesaler who specialises in sex toys for men.
Die PARTEI may be a satirical party, but it’s not
an impartial one – as evidenced by their “FCK
AFD” stickers and posters proclaiming “There’s
such a thing as clean diesel!” over a photo of
a burning Mercedes. The current platform
includes one-liners like “It’s all Russia’s fault!”
and “Why not a Turk?” in reference to this
year’s chancellor candidate Serdar Somuncu,
a German-Turkish comedian who first got
famous for reading Mein Kampf on stage.
Cörtlen acknowledges that criticism is
easier than positive construction. “We’re in
the comfortable position where we can say,
‘That’s bad,’ because we’re an opposition party.
Saying how to make it better – that’s what the
other parties need to do.” But Cörtlen says Die
PARTEI shouldn’t be dismissed as un-serious.
“The parties in office are more satirical than
anything we could do.” — Crystal Liu
Members: 24,000 misfit
jokers (2000 in Berlin); 270,000
Facebook followers.
Slogan: Der Russe ist an
allem schuld (It’s all Russia’s fault!)
Electoral success: One MP in
EU Parliament, 2 percent in
Berlin state elections (nearly 5
percent in Kreuzberg)
Claim to fame: Best known
for their provocative posters,
including last year’s “Here’s
where a Nazi could hang!”
SEPTEMBER 2017 7