Far-right shadows loom over Euro 2024 in Germany
As Germans dream of a Euro 2024 summer fairytale, the rise of a far-right political party and its ultranationalist ideology threatens to turn it into a political nightmare.
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When ARD—Germany’s public broadcaster—conducted a survey last week asking more than 1300 Germans if they preferred to have more “white players” in the German national football team, it was clear that something was deeply wrong.
The survey, which was commissioned for a documentary that aired a week before Germany is scheduled to host its biggest football tournament since the 2006 World Cup, revealed that the majority of Germans (65 percent) were against such racial divisions. Two high-profile members of Germany’s national team came out against the survey, including Joshua Kimmich, who called it “racist.”
“Anyone who’s grown up with football knows this is absolute nonsense,” Kimmich said. “Football in particular is a good example of how you can unite different nations, different skin colours and different religions. That’s what our team is all about. I would miss a lot of players if they weren’t here. This is absolutely racist and has no place in our changing room.”
Kimmich’s views were shared by Germany’s head coach, Julian Nagelsmann, who added he was “madness” that a public broadcaster would conduct such a survey.
“This question is insane,” he added.
Nevertheless, 21 percent of respondents agreed with the survey’s question, most of whom identified as supporters of Germany’s far-right AfD party. The poll reflected the divide among political parties in Germany.
It also underscored a worrying shift in Germany’s socio-political discourse.
Earlier this week, the AfD defeated German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left SPD to second place in the European Parliament elections. Despite a list of scandals including allegations of money laundering, collusion with Russia and China, as well an AfD leading candidate downplaying the crimes of the Nazis, the far-right party performed far better than expected and are now demanding a vote of confidence against Scholz and new elections.
Some 95% of AfD voters said “so many foreigners were coming to Germany,” and as many as 94% voiced concern that “the influence of Islam in Germany is becoming too strong.”
The AfD’s strong showing comes as Germany’s party landscape undergoes its biggest upheaval in decades, with new populist parties competing to fill the vacuum left by the decline of mainstream parties that dominated the post-reunification era.
Germany’s problems don’t end there. Last month, the alleged leaders of a far-right plot to overthrow Germany’s government went on trial in Frankfurt. The defendants, among them German prince Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, planned to storm the parliament building and arrest lawmakers and politicians before installing a new post-coup government.
The coup plot was the latest example of how far-right extremists pose the biggest threat to German society and its security. In June 2019, a far-right extremist assassinated a regional politician who was a member of former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party. A few months later, a far-right terrorist tried but failed to force his way into a synagogue filled with worshippers on Yom Kippur. He went on to kill a woman on the street and a man at a nearby kebab shop, broadcasting his murders on a gaming site.
In January, more than 100,000 across Germany protested the AfD after reports emerged that the party’s members discussed mass deportation of migrants, asylum seekers and German citizens of foreign origin at a meeting with neo-Nazis.
While the AfD, which was founded in 2013, first gained traction in 2015 after a wave of migrants and refugees arrived in Germany, its popularity rose sharply following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to economic woes such soaring inflation, and high energy bills. It is also important to note that the AfD’s support is strongest in the less prosperous eastern states of Germany.
As expected, Germany’s political turmoil is bleeding into sports, as evidenced in the ARD documentary and survey.
“Racism exists, and it’s a problem, but it’s not our most important problem,” an AfD politician argues in the ARD documentary. “Nothing very important.”
German football has never shied away from political affiliations. Many of the country’s top clubs boast unabashedly left-wing fanbases, while others diverge to the right. While some of these clubs maintain extremist elements, many of the clubs from Berlin’s football community joined the mass demonstrations agains the AfD party, many of them carrying slogans such as “No football for fascists!” and “Football welcomes refugees.”
This broad football culture will likely be on display during the 2024 European Championships, which begin on Friday. It is likely that the AfD and other far-right elements will attempt to capitalize on any German success to fuel nationalistic fervour, while opponents will attempt to undermine that narrative at every turn, setting the stage for football to become the latest battleground for Germany’s ideological clash.
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Thanks for shining the light on the darkness of intentional ignorance.