Linke on democracy and the state

The Left wants to initiate proceedings to ban the AfD and have every neo-fascist organization banned. Nazis and Reichsbürger (people who reject the German state's legitimacy) should have to give up their weapons, and anti-fascist initiatives should be strengthened.

The Left wants proceedings to ban the AfD. Neo-fascist groups should also be banned. Nazis and Reichsbürger should not be allowed to have weapons. Groups working against the far right should get more support.

The program classifies the AfD as a far-right party with an ethnic-nationalist worldview that it says contradicts the Basic Law. The state should examine bans and carry them out where appropriate. The party calls civil society anti-fascist groups and their research the backbone of the fight against the right. It opposes stripping such associations of their nonprofit status. It also wants to stop the shift to the right through economic and social policy.

The Left wants migrants who live permanently in Hamburg to be able to vote even without German citizenship. This should apply to district elections and to elections for the Bürgerschaft (state parliament).

Many people have lived in Hamburg for a long time but have no German passport. So far they cannot vote. The Left wants to change that. They should be able to vote in the districts and for the state parliament.

The right to vote would no longer be tied to citizenship but to long-term residence in the city. The party also wants to reorganize the relationship between the city as a single municipality and its districts to allow more democratic participation. Migrants' interests should carry more weight in political decisions.

The Left wants a dedicated freedom of assembly law that guarantees broad rights for demonstrators. Wearing face coverings and holding spontaneous assemblies would no longer be criminal offenses, and civil disobedience should not be criminalized.

The Left wants a new law for demonstrations. It should give protesters many rights. Covering your face at a protest should no longer be a crime. Spontaneous protests should also not be punished.

The platform refers to so-called assembly offenses and wants to decriminalize them. The Left regards civil disobedience as a legitimate tool of democratic protest. It announces that it will keep blocking neo-Nazi marches and sees itself as a partner of antifascist groups.

The Left wants permanent public funding for Hamburg projects that work against right-wing extremism and group-focused hostility. It rules out any cooperation with the AfD or other far-right parties.

Many projects in Hamburg work against right-wing extremism. The Left wants the city to pay for these projects permanently. The Left will not work with the AfD. That applies in parliament and everywhere else.

This covers projects for civic education, prevention, and counseling for those affected. Their funding is to be based on need and continued reliably. The perspectives of migrants and other affected groups are to be included, and migrant self-organizations strengthened. The remit of Hamburg's victims' commissioner is to be extended to victims of group-focused hostility.

The Left wants prisoners to be paid at least the minimum wage for their work and to be included in social insurance. Rehabilitation would be greatly expanded, and the courts would get the funding and staff they need.

Prisoners should get at least the minimum wage for their work. They should also be able to pay into the pension system. There should be more help for life after prison. The courts should get more money and more staff.

Prisoners are to be included in pension insurance in particular and allowed to organize in unions. Prison conditions are to be made more humane, and secure psychiatric facilities for mentally ill offenders expanded according to need. The platform sees overly long court proceedings as a threat to the rule of law and a problem of fairness. More training, lateral entry, and more attractive working conditions are meant to ease staff shortages in court offices. Legal education is to be reformed.

The Left wants to give Hamburg's districts more rights and recognize the district assemblies as municipal parliaments. The city government (Senate) would no longer be allowed to take over district decisions or override them with instructions.

Hamburg has seven districts. The Left wants the districts to decide more on their own. They should also be free to spend more of their money. The city government should stop overruling them.

Hamburg's unitary structure, in which state and municipality are one, is to be reviewed. The Left wants to cut earmarked allocations so that districts can spend more funds freely. Also planned are a participatory budget, a say for district assemblies over staffing, the return of centralized tasks, and attendance fees for neighborhood advisory councils. Community centers are to be adequately funded. For tourism, district offices would get their own managers, and heavily affected neighborhoods would receive a share of the culture and tourism tax revenue.

The Left wants to substantially improve Hamburg's Senior Participation Act and involve older people in all public planning that affects them. The district seniors' advisory councils are to get broader rights to submit motions.

Older people in Hamburg should have more say. The Left wants to change a law for this. Seniors' councils in the districts should be able to submit more motions. The city should provide enough money.

The district seniors' advisory councils would be able to submit motions not only in the main committee but in every specialist committee of the district assembly. Sufficient funds are to be provided for older people's participation. A review is to examine how the interests of older LGBTIQ* people and migrants are represented on the councils. Accessibility in public transit and housing, as well as the quality of care, would be secured by more inspection staff.