In 2013 Diaby became the first African-born black politician to be elected to the Bundestag. He is now leaving after being subjected to racist attacks in previous years. At some point, Karaba Diaby reached his limits.

A month ago the SPD politician posted on his Instagram account various hate messages that had been sent to him and his associates. The last straw were the threats against his life.

Now the Diaby announces his retirement from the federal political scene, declaring that he will not run as a member of Parliament for the next Bundestag. And this is primarily due to personal and not political reasons, as he emphasized to DW.

“This is a personal decision that I reached with my family,” says Diaby. “And that is the most important of the reasons why I made this decision. One must also take into account the fact that at the end of the current parliamentary term I will turn 64 and I think that now is the right time to choose other paths, but also to give younger people the opportunity to take on responsibilities.”

Hate speech, threats, arson

Karaba Diaby became the first African-born black man to be elected to the Bundestag 11 years ago, while in 2021 he was the SPD’s leading candidate in Saxony-Anhalt. Having come from his native Senegal to study in Halle in the then GDR, Diaby is considered a model politician for a new, open and inclusive Germany. Perhaps this was precisely the reason why he repeatedly found himself the target of racist attacks in previous years – and not only himself but also his team.

“They accept blackmail or threats to stop working for me. Such methods are not in line with the principles of our Constitution and therefore the authorities should certainly do their duty. I can only repeat that I will not be intimidated because I know that the vast majority of people support me, I receive many messages of solidarity”, he states.

Diaby received many threats and attacks. In 2020, shots were fired at his constituency office and he also received written threats against his life. In 2023 a man, who had insulted Diaby several more times with racist characterizations, set fire to his office in Halle.

Diaby also blames the attacks on the AfD, whose members deliver speeches in the Bundestag filled with expressions of hatred for immigrants and minorities – which many embrace and decide to express through the use of violence.

“There is a small group of people in the country who incite hatred and fuel unrest. Its goal is to intimidate people into not doing their jobs. Even people working in the Federal Service for Technical Assistance in the Red Cross and even in the police force are victims of attacks. I think that this should not be the rule in our country. We must discuss what kind of society we want.”

A German problem

In Germany, there is growing concern that intimidation attacks against politicians are a new reality. In early May, SPD politician Matthias Eke was beaten up in Dresden and had to be hospitalized shortly after putting up two of his party’s posters ahead of the European elections.

Speaking to DW, Lotta Ralf of the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) says this is a pan-German problem, noting that there is a lot of discontent in society towards politics and the state – a condition exacerbated by the fact that society has been faced with within 4 years with successive crises, such as the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, but also the rising cost of living. Then verbal attacks or even violence are seen as legitimate means of escape from this feeling of helplessness – and very often the first step is online comments.

“In social media, obscenity has been normalized. It is incredibly easy to express yourself in a certain way on the internet and thus receive some kind of validation. In addition, we are dealing with platforms where false information spreads very quickly, the logic of black and white prevails and all this is reinforced even more by sharing and reposting”.

Collapse of democratic foundations

But as more people decide to withdraw from the public eye, fearing possible attacks, democracy is at risk. The same is true when projects that focus on protecting and promoting democracy are underfunded. As part of the budget negotiations, 180 organizations wrote an open letter to Chancellor Olaf Solz warning that if these projects end, civil society will be weakened for decades and democratic culture will be eroded.

“The consequences will endanger democracy. And of course this is a significant problem especially at the level of local politics, which is the foundation of our democracy and where many political offices are occupied voluntarily. If more and more people decide to retire, then the democratic foundations will crumble,” says Lotta Ralph.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas