Long jump champion Malaika Mihambo says she has started fearing for her life given the rise in popularity of the political right in Germany.
The championship athlete told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung last week that her fears began after the results of Germany’s national elections last month, when the populist right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) won nearly 21 percent of the vote, becoming the strongest party in the country’s east. The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) came in first place nationwide, however, with 28.5 percent.
When asked if she feels that her life is now in danger, Mihambo said, “Of course, but fear doesn’t help.”
Mihambo is a distinguished athlete, having been the long jump champion in the 2020 Olympic Games as well as the world champion in the sport in 2022. Last summer, she took home the silver medal for the long jump from the Olympics. She was born in Heidelberg in 1994 to a Tanzanian father and a German mother.
“One of the weaknesses of democracy is that parties can stand for election that reject its fundamental values,” Mihambo explained. She added that the experience of the Third Reich in Germany shows that allegedly anti-democratic parties such as the AfD “have no place in a democracy,” and that they should not be tolerated.
The athlete believes that the “horrors” of the Nazi era could yet return through the success of parties such as the AfD, which she claims espouse views that run contrary to Germany’s constitution. “National Socialism [the ideology of the Nazi Party] has perhaps been dealt with intellectually, but not yet emotionally, and not by enough people,” Mihambo added. She further called for “mindfulness and vigilance,” as well as “clear boundaries where they are needed.”
Mihambo offered no specific examples of how the AfD is either anti-democratic or unconstitutional, however.
Mihambo attributes the right’s success not to factors such as immigrant crime or frustration over national policy regarding Ukraine, but rather to “fake news” and disinformation on social media. “In the age of populism it is also about how you present information and disinformation,” she said. “There is also a danger that disinformation which fuels fear, anger, and hatred will not be corrected.”
“Thanks to the Internet, anyone can express an opinion these days and present it as objective, even if it’s not based on the truth at all,” she warned.
The world champion did not spare her own profession from criticism, either, claiming that professional sport represents “the capitalist-imperialist system.” She said that despite this, it nevertheless offers “a shared sense of community” and also teaches social values such as “tolerance, fair play, and peaceful cooperation.”
