As a Miss Germany contestant, Büsra Sayed wore a hijab on stage. This had never happened before — and the far-right AfD didn't like it. Her response went viral.
What happened after Büsra Sayed appeared at Miss Germany?
In March, Büsra Sayed entered the Miss Germany pageant and even made it to the final round.
For the past few years, the pageant has come to be about more than just physical appearance. Today it's all about empowerment, with successful women entering the competition to be recognized primarily for their personality and achievements. Büsra Sayed, 27, is an entrepreneur: She sells and wears hijabs.
She also wore a hijab from her own collection on the stage of the Miss Germany pageant. This drew a lot of attention in Germany's media, as Sayed was (alongside one other candidate) one of the two first women in the history of the competition to wear the Muslim headscarf.
Just a few days later, the topic came up in the German parliament.
"Many great, new people have joined my community, and I'm very, very proud. And our 'AfD Blue' hijab [that she spontaneously added to her inventory, the ed.
] is now almost sold out," she says.
The entrepreneur emphasizes that the reels weren't at all meant to boost sales. She has been using her newly acquired attention to fight against discrimination.
"The more people stick together in a diverse society and the higher the level of equality, the more people will fight for this newfound equality," Sayed writes on Instagram, calling for honest dialogue.
Büsra Sayed fights hate with love Of course, not all reactions have been positive. AfD supporters also pop up in her comments. But that's nothing new for Büsra Sayed.
"I started getting hate comments and encountering discrimination from early on. And back then, the younger me didn't know how to deal with it," she told DW.
"I was completely paralyzed by shock, I didn't have a witty comeback and felt afraid. But for me, it was clear I had to find a way to deal with it, because it's not going to stop from one day to the next, unfortunately." Normally, she tries to counter hate with love — "but where I draw a line is threats of violence. I report them to the police, of course." At the invitation of Rasha Nasr, a Bundestag member representing the Social Democratic Party , she recently visited the German parliament.
And of course, there's a reel about it.
The last couple of weeks have brought their fair share of excitement to Büsra Sayed. After taking time to digest everything, she feels positive looking back at the experience.
"It gave me — and many other people as well — hope to see how many people spoke up and showed solidarity. You generally hear just negative voices, because they're normally louder," she says. "We definitely need more of this solidarity. We have to be visible and fight together against the right." This article was originally written in German.
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