Dr. Maximilian Oehl | Executive Director and Co-Initiator of NGO Brand New Bundestag
Interview given to Ms Maria Louisa Vafiadaki
-Please describe Brand New Bundestag and its mission. What are its primary goals and which problems does it address for politics and society? Is its vision Pan-European or global?
Brand New Bundestag (BNB) is a grassroots organization, which is pursuing two main objectives. Firstly, to make the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, more progressive. By progressive, we mean future-oriented politics, dealing with issues such as climate change, tax justice and reducing social inequality. Our second goal is to make the Bundestag more diverse since right now there are groups such as women, people with migration experience, people with East German biographies and those who did not go to college who are clearly underrepresented.
From a big picture perspective, the younger generation now more than ever is hesitant to get involved in institutional politics, not least because of the intricate structures and informal networks. Instead, they often prefer joining social movements. However, true political change always also requires corresponding majorities within the political institutions, especially the parliament…
Karamba Diaby (born 27 November 1961) is a Senegalese-born German chemist and politician of the Social Democratic Party who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2013 elections.
-What skills does one need to have to enter your “Top 50 Progressives” list and be considered as a suitable politician?
One needs to be grounded, have integrity and be authentic regarding the aims they are seeking to achieve. Convincing candidates often inspire us with their intrinsic motivation to get involved in politics. Most people that we work with have a track record in getting engaged in society, such as being active in movements and working for their communities in a local context. To succeed in politics, one also needs to convey competence and charisma.
-What do you mean by the term “Progressive Politics” and why is it needed in today’s modern world?
Our definition of progressive politics captures those reforms that are necessary for our societies to be fit for the future. It’s a common denominator of reform-oriented people in all political parties, a platform for progressive people regardless of where they are standing in the political spectrum. Naturally, we would never work with candidates with nationalist or fascistic views. In German we often translate the term “progressive” as “future-oriented”.
-In a nutshell, how did your campaign perform in 2021? What were its results and what were your biggest challenges?
The fact that three of our candidates entered the Parliament was a huge success. When we started BNB, our goal was to actually be in the race for at least one seat. Winning not only one, but three seats was overwhelming for all of us.
In the beginning, quite a few people told us that they did not believe the BNB approach would work in Germany. Nevertheless, we just went for it, tried to work our way out and find the right people to collaborate. In the end, we scouted over 200 people and a total of ten people really ran for Bundestag. The three candidates that made it to the parliament were Rasha Nasr, Armand Zorn and Kassem Taher Saleh.
Together with this amazing group, we are now working within the parliamentary structures, seeking to channel impulses from civil society directly to where they can have the greatest impact – the heart of the parliament.
Managing Director Maximilian Oehl speaking at an event
-How are you hoping to get funding for your various activities?
In the beginning, we were able to obtain support from some angel investors and foundations such as the Guerrilla Foundation, which helped us with smaller start-up grants. Later, other foundations joined the BNB supporter team. In addition, we carried out several successful crowdfunding campaigns. In the medium to long-term we are aiming to finance our activities mainly through small and medium donations, especially monthly payments. It is great to see our donation base grow. In our view, this is the best path towards financial sustainability. Moreover, our community is also the basis for the fresh political impulses we are seeking to inject into the parliamentary system.
Last year, our budget was approximately 200.000 Euros. For 2022, we are calculating with a core budget of around 250.000 Euros. We are a volunteer-based organization with at the moment approx. 70 active volunteers and nine people working full- or part-time. After a phase of post-election consolidation and organizational restructuring, our volunteer community is now again experiencing dynamic growth. Before the election, up to 250 volunteers were carrying out BNB activities. Prospectively, we are aiming to coordinate up to 500 volunteers with our core team.
-In what ways can one be involved in BNB as a volunteer or as a donor? How can they reach you?
If you want to volunteer with us, you can simply sign up on our website. You can find the corresponding page here.
Donations are also possible directly through our website through a secure funding tool. If people should have any questions I am of course always available and they can e-mail me at max@brandnewbundestag.de or reach out to me through social media, e.g. LinkedIn or Twitter.
-Why do you think young people usually do not wish to be involved in politics in today’s society? Is there lack of motivation or lack of prestige in the field nowadays?
I think many young people are highly politicized, yet the structures and rituals of institutionalized politics often make it little appealing for them to run for office. This is a task especially for political parties – they need to ensure that fresh impulses from civil society are constantly being fed into the political system. Otherwise, democracies lack innovational strength. Therefore, political parties should be proactively scouting for progressive candidates – and at the same time make sure that society is adequately represented, i.e. that their candidate portfolio is sufficiently diverse.
-Finally, do you believe that each one of us hides a politician inside them or that it is a natural talent only some people possess?
In my view, there are many aspects of being a politician that can be learned – mostly by simply getting actively involved. To do so, however, one needs substantial motivation. Not everyone will be willing – or able – to sacrifice weeknights and many weekends for societal change. Yet, this is still the prerequisite of political engagement. Our vision at BNB certainly is to make politics more accessible for everyone – which also requires us to rethink the circumstances under which political work is happening nowadays. Politics for example are still not very family-friendly. People that cannot afford to “outsource” care work thus often refrain from running for office – too often this i.a., leads to too little women being politically active. There should be concrete measures from within political parties to support candidates in tackling these challenges, e.g. stipends for single parents or family-friendly meeting times.
Thank you.