Inspired by FC Barcelona’s Dani Alves, Germans Say No to Racism With #BananaSelfies · Global Voices
Anne Hemeda

Photo by Justus Blümer via Flickr. CC BY 2.0
People from around the world, including Germany, are posting photos of themselves with bananas on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to protest racism following an incident during a football match in Spain in which someone in the crowd threw a banana at FC Barcelona player Dani Alves.
The Brazilian footballer responded by picking up the fruit and eating it. The banana thrower was banned from the stadium for life.
This heralded an international wave of solidarity and a new selfie trend using the hashtags #WeAreAllMonkeys, #SayNoToRacism and #BananaSelfie. It began in the world of sport, as here in a photo of young players for the football club 1. FC Köln with player Mišo Brečko:
Anti-Rassismus Workshop des #effzeh KidsClub mit Miso #Brecko #weareallmonkeys #SayNoToRacism pic.twitter.com/m3wjQ7r4df
— 1. FC Köln (@fckoeln) 30. April 2014
Anti-racism workshop at #effzeh Kids Club with Miso #Brecko. #Weareallmonkeys #SayNoToRacism
The trend then took off in the world of politics, seen here in a photo of politician Kai Gehring and his fellow party members from the 90/Die Grünen coalition, who at the same time called for protests against right-wing extremism on May Day in Germany:
love bananas, hate #rasism – heute Flagge zeigen für ein vereintes weltoffenes Europa! #1MaiNazifrei #bananaselfies pic.twitter.com/YrhHJysB5z
— Kai Gehring (@KaiGehring) 1. Mai 2014
love bananas, hate #racism – fly your flags today for a united, open-minded Europe!
Protesters also took up the selfie trend during May Day anti-racism protests:
Wir sind in #Altenessen. #weareallmonkeys #spd #essen pic.twitter.com/yu8yo2diPn
— SPD Essen (@SPD_Essen) 1. Mai 2014
We're in #Altenessen. #weareallmonkeys #spd #essen