The Young SPD Member
July 27, 2005
Sebastian Kolkau only knows Willy Brandt from anecdotes, and he doesn’t see the one-time idol of Social Democrats as a role model for the young generation today. "At least I've never heard anyone at the Jusos say 'I want to be like Willy Brandt'," says Kolkau, who ponders whether everything really was better in the SPD back in those days. Who can say?
"We only hear the stories, but no one knows what it was really like," he surmises.
It's the ideas that count
The 26-year-old head of the Jusos in Gelsenkirchen doesn't believe that it's up to individuals to make the SPD strong again. The contents are more important, he says. "People need to regain confidence in the SPD and in order to do that, you need ideas," argues Kolkau. "If Schröder would recite the election manifesto, it would not be authentic because in the past years, he just did too little of what is in it."
According to Kolkau, a change in party personnel might be the right thing for a new beginning.
Anger and ambivalence
After five years, Kolkau still enjoys working for the party. But it has its ups and downs, he admits. The downside includes standing on the street campaigning for the SPD or Jusos while people walk by yelling out their anger at him. He has to hear "Damn SPD" or "you cutthroats" even though he can't do anything about the decisions made in Berlin.
"It’s really ambivalent for me because you stand there and think, actually they’re right," says Kolkau.
Maybe Kolkau will one day find himself in a position where he's responsible for political policies, as a representative in the state or federal parliament. He says he could envision such a position, even if he wouldn’t go so far as to call it his dream. First, he wants to finish his business degree and go from there. He certainly has enough to do on the side: for the Jusos and as a research associate in the office of a Member of Parliament in Gelsenkirchen.
As for working for a party that currently holds the "loser image"? "It’s not that bad in Gelsenkirchen," he says. "We still get 50 percent here. Anyway: other employers are doing poorly, as well. And people still work there."