July 6, 2024
Germany’s First African-Born Parliament Member Won’t Seek Re-Election After Racist Death Threats
Although Karamba Diaby downplayed the racist slurs and death threats, he announced that he would not be seeking re-election in Germany's 2025 federal elections.
In Germany, anti-immigrant sentiment has surged with the rise of the far-right political party, The Alternative for Germany (AfD). According to The Guardian, Karamba Diaby, who made history as Germany’s first African-born MP in Parliament in 2013, has faced racist slurs and death threats recently. These incidents are widely seen as major factors in Diaby’s decision not to seek re-election in Germany’s 2025 federal elections.
During an appearance on Politico’s Berlin Playbook podcast, Diaby discussed the tenor of the political scene in Germany. “Since 2017, the tone in the German Parliament has become harsher. We hear aggressive speeches from colleagues of the AfD.”
Diaby continued, “We hear derogatory and hurtful content in these contributions. That is truly a totally new situation compared to the period between 2013 and 2017. This aggressive style of talking is fertile breeding ground for the violence and aggression on the streets.”
In 2013, Diaby and Charles M. Huber entered the German Parliament as the first Black members of the Bundestag in a moment similar to the election of Barack Obama in the United States and interpreted as a marker of Germany’s social progress.
However, according to Diaby, the racist attacks have ratcheted up in recent years. “In the last few years I’ve faced several murder threats. This has now overstepped the mark,” Diaby told The Guardian. “The hatred that the AfD sows every day with its misanthropic narratives is reflected in concrete psychological and physical violence. This endangers the cohesion of our society. We cannot simply accept this.”
Despite choosing not to seek re-election, Diaby indicated that he would remain active with the Social Democrats (SPD) as they campaigned in a letter he sent to his colleagues on July 2. He also indicated he was looking forward to spending time with his family and friends. “We face big challenges and hard work. At the same time, I’m looking forward to having more time for my family and friends and our allotment.”
In November 2023, a survey indicated that Diaby’s experience is the normal experience of Black people in Germany. As DW News reported, a survey from the German Center for Integration and Migration Research conducted from June to November 2022 revealed that 54% of Black people who responded experienced racism at least once. Furthermore, 41% of Black men and 39% of Muslim men reported that they encountered racist discrimination when interacting with the police.
The director of the center, Naika Foroutan, told the outlet that those instances of racism have a negative impact on democracy. “Repeated experiences of discrimination and racism have consequences for health and are demonstrably linked to a loss of trust in state institutions — this can weaken and threaten democracy.”
In March, Vox reported that the AfD’s resurgence can be compared to the emergence of the far right in the American Republican Party. The AfD, similar to tactics employed by its American counterparts, has gone from the fringes of German politics to major players. Like its American counterparts, the German far right is distrustful of migrants, and it often uses xenophobia and antisemitism to make its points.
Jacob Guhl, a researcher who focuses on the far right at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in Germany, told Vox his read on the party and its ambitions. “The party has radicalized a lot since 2013. There is both genuine xenophobia that they are tapping into, which [has] always existed and which they have mobilized. There is [also] discontent around the implementation of refugee policy and how local communities seem to be left alone and over-challenged with the scale of the issue.”
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