Venue: Rosengarten in Hasenheide

We have provisionally decided to have the next Orga meeting (Monday 16^th at 7pm) outside in the sun. Venue: the Rosengarten in Hasenheide park where we met a couple of times last Summer.

Here’s a suggested agenda:

1. Introduction – who’s here

2. Walking tour – the orga meeting is 2 days after the next walking tour. How did it go? Do we want to do more in the future?

3. Meetings on Palestine – report back from the meeting on 11^th May, preparation for the meeting on 23^rd May, where Hanna is speaking.

4. Küfa – On Sunday, 29^th May we’re planning a Küfa with an Armenian group. They are meeting this week, and will send some suggestions for us to discuss

5. Summer Camp – What is the programme looking like? How many people have registered so far? How can we let more people know?

6. LINKE Party conference – discussion of resolutions, especially the one proposed by Mohtasim (see below)

7. Future meetings – we want to organise a meeting with Ferat Kocak and Katalin Gennburg in Septermber around the 1 year anniversary of Red-Green-Red in Berlin. Do we have a preferred date? Also do we want to organise any other meetings in the Summer?

Resolution #: __________

Petitioner: The Left Berlin, Links*Kanax, und ………

Resolution receiving body: The provincial party congress, Berlin.

Title of Resolution: Introduction of minority quotas through the implementation of Resolution G24 from Party Congress Oct.- Nov. 2020 Erfurt.

1. The lower socioeconomic power relation of minorities

Several studies show that the socioeconomic power relation of an individual determines its wellbeing. [1-4]. According to this argument, the Hartz-IV recipients rank lower in the social hierarchy, and a large fraction of this consist of migrants. For a long it is known that the PoC (People of Colour) are ~ 4 % of the total population [5, 6], however in 2013 their share in the unemployment was ~ 27,5 % [4, 7]. If they find work at all, they are found over proportionally in cleaning industry (usually women, see Fig. 2), in gastronomy, and on construction sites (usually men).

The data of The Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamtes) and DIW Berlin show that ~ 26% of people with migration background are threatened by poverty, while this number for the people without migration background is less than half, i.e. ~ 12% [8].

In 2013 the similar results were reported by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung) [9]. It is also well known that about 43% of people between the age 25-35 who entered Germany since 2011 had university degrees [10].

In addition to this, the people at lower socioeconomic status are also more vulnerable to racism and other forms of social violence. Whether it is Hanau in Germany or Minneapolis in the USA, the victims were PoC and had lower socioeconomic status.

In the name of work and integration a lot is said and done from federal till municipal level, but one thing is clear

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.“

Einstein

2. Why Quotas?

In Germany the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung) [4] and the Institute of Labour Economics (Institut für die Zukunft der Arbeit) [11] have proved that the job seekers with migration background are often discriminated in job market.

In every society there are some people who are disadvantaged with the given set of rules and structures.

It is not easy to remove the prejudice against people which have structural causes. But an egalitarian society always looks for the solutions to balance the socioeconomic power relation between the privileged and deprived people. One of these solutions is the quotas or the so called “Affirmative Actions”, which is a tested and effective mechanism.

“Stronger is the one who makes the weaker stronger.” Several countries through quotas empower their minorities and deprived members of the society [12]. For example, in China [13], India [14] and in Pakistan [15] the deprived minorities who usually lie at lower socioeconomic rank, enjoy “reserved seats” in politics as well as in public offices. However, the privileged people in these countries call for “Meritocracy”. Since March 2015 in Germany there is legal women quotas. The studies conducted by DIW Berlin 2020 [16] and the analysis of „Inquisitive Mind“ [17] show that the proportion of women in DAX-30-Group has gradually increased.

3. Quotas in the Party

For us the quotas are not unknown. Since the beginning of the party we have women quotas. Whether it is jobs in public sector, or political positions such as, political fractions, representation in the delegations and committees, the women quotas are applied. As a result of this, in last federal election

in 2021, die Linke party has achieved the second highest proportion of women, ~ 54% in the Bundestag, see Fig. 3. With the same argument one can introduce the minority quotas in the party.

4. Now the implementation of the resolution G24

According to the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamtes), in 2019 Germany had 21.2 million people with migration background, which is 26% of the German population. Among them 52,4% have German citizenship, see Fig. 4.

This 26% of population is a new proletariat, which grows further. Sooner or later these people will need a political voice. If the party wants to be attractive for this target group, it must offer them a voice. It would be a future oriented step.

In the Party Congress Oct. – Nov. 2020, Erfurt, die Linke has passed a resolution G24, where the representation of the migrants has been promised. Therefore, in this resolution it is requested to introduce the legal quotas for minorities/migrants in the same manner as it works for women. For this a committee will be organised, which works out the legal prerequisites and provide solutions and suggestions for the implementation of the quotas.