![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This week has been the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. As has been the case in many years, Israel is a finalist. This has been hugely controversial because of the bombing of Gaza. Also Malmö is a pro-Palestinian context not least because there are a large number of Swedes and recent immigrants from the region. Of note, there was a large public celebration in Malmö among some residents following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Fear of retaliatory attacks or in response to Israel being there led Malmö to heighten security by more heavily arming its local police and by bringing in police support from neighboring Denmark and Norway. Tensions have been high for months and I picked up on this when I was there in April.
There is a lot of anger among the Eurovision Song Contest community that Israel has not been banned. Fans and participants see this as hypocritical since Russia (also a regular contender) was banned by the governing body, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), shortly after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. The EBU includes a variety of countries that are not actually in Europe (like Australia) and it is only members of this broadcasting union that can compete in Eurovision - this is why the US is not in it even though a place like Israel is despite the name sounding like it is only European countries that can participate.
EUB's explanation for Russia's exclusion and NOT Israel's exclusion concerns the status of the broadcasting organization representing the respective countries. Russia's membership is through VGTRK and Channel One, both of which are government run networks. When Ukraine, who is also a member of the EBU, petitioned for Russia to be excluded, it pointed out that these same networks were arms of the government and were transmitting Russian propaganda in support of this war. In other words, they were an arm of an invading government engaged in political propaganda. My way of understanding this rationale is that the EBU holds Eurovision to be a celebration of art and music that is non-political so a political agent/broadcaster engaged in war propaganda was in violation of this stance.
In contrast, the Israeli broadcasting organization KAN is a private company and not a state broadcaster. In the face of immense social media pressure by other member countries and artists to remove Israel, the EBU reiterated its position of not excluding the Israeli delegation because it was not in violation of EBU rules.
I should also add there was a moment when the Israeli song was being contested for being too political because it was overtly referencing the October 7 attack, which would have been in violation of EBU's non-political stance. This was resolved through a rewriting of the title and certain lyrics, but there are many who think that it remains too political still, but there are others who are critical of this since Ukraine (which won Eurovision in 2022) also included elements that could be construed as a response to the ongoing Russian invasion.
In other words, there have been several levels of decision-making by the EBU as to why the Israeli delegation is competing in the final. In the fact of this, many of the artists from other Eurovision finalists nations have been put under pressure by their local fan-based or other artists in their own country to pull out. One of these is Bambi Thug, representing Ireland (broadcaster RTE), who was accused of participating in "art-washing" by participating in a competition in which Israel is present. In this podcast interview they explain their stance on staying in the competition being related to the fact that if they and others withdraw, Israel has a greater chance of winning.
So what has happened so far. Sheer and utter chaos. This is what I am picking up from Twitter so it is not as well sourced as the above: Israel (and Ireland) have made it through to the final. The Israeli performer, Eden Golan, was heavily booed during her performance and asked political questions during her interview with the press including whether she feels guilty for putting other performers at risk by increasing the likelihood of a terrorist attack through her presence. The Dutch performer, Joost, who sat through Eden's portion of the interview with a Dutch flag on his head, has apparently been disqualified for apparently attacking a Swedish film team member who would not stop filming him after he asked her to stop. Initial rumors stated that this was a member of the Israeli film/production team who had been harassing him about his dead parents - and this is why everything in this paragraph should be taken with a grain of salt because it is emerging and not as well-sourced and people want to find scapegoats. Bambi missed their final dress rehearsal today because they were filing a complaint against the Israeli broadcast team for harassing comments made during their performance. The French performer, Slimane, who was apparently a fan favorite, lost his voice partially and this negatively affected the standings in the semi-final. There is a portion of his song he sings acapella and today he ended up making a bid for peace and instead of singing that part during dress-rehearsal. When Eden performed her dress rehearsal, audience members sang the now-disqualified Netherlands song "Europapa" to drown her out. The wikipedia page on Europapa states that "[t]he song has been described as an ode to Europe and a "letter" to [Joost's] late father, who taught him that the world has "no borders".
I think there has been more chaos with the EUB website, with voting, and with delegates who are supposed to cast votes making political statements and withdrawing. This all makes me sad and I cannot imagine the courage it takes any of these performers to perform live when they are being cast as national surrogates in a war that they cannot end or resolve through either their art or their silence. I cannot imagine the stress any of these people are under, worrying about an attack or harassment from others. I also don't know if Eurovision is going to survive this.
This also makes me sad because Eurovision has been a source of such joy and fannish love for decades. ABBA got its big boost from winning Eurovision in 1974 and it really does showcase some of the cheesiest, goofiest and somewhat deeply earnest popular musical performances that would not otherwise make it out of their local contexts.
There is a lot of anger among the Eurovision Song Contest community that Israel has not been banned. Fans and participants see this as hypocritical since Russia (also a regular contender) was banned by the governing body, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), shortly after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. The EBU includes a variety of countries that are not actually in Europe (like Australia) and it is only members of this broadcasting union that can compete in Eurovision - this is why the US is not in it even though a place like Israel is despite the name sounding like it is only European countries that can participate.
EUB's explanation for Russia's exclusion and NOT Israel's exclusion concerns the status of the broadcasting organization representing the respective countries. Russia's membership is through VGTRK and Channel One, both of which are government run networks. When Ukraine, who is also a member of the EBU, petitioned for Russia to be excluded, it pointed out that these same networks were arms of the government and were transmitting Russian propaganda in support of this war. In other words, they were an arm of an invading government engaged in political propaganda. My way of understanding this rationale is that the EBU holds Eurovision to be a celebration of art and music that is non-political so a political agent/broadcaster engaged in war propaganda was in violation of this stance.
In contrast, the Israeli broadcasting organization KAN is a private company and not a state broadcaster. In the face of immense social media pressure by other member countries and artists to remove Israel, the EBU reiterated its position of not excluding the Israeli delegation because it was not in violation of EBU rules.
I should also add there was a moment when the Israeli song was being contested for being too political because it was overtly referencing the October 7 attack, which would have been in violation of EBU's non-political stance. This was resolved through a rewriting of the title and certain lyrics, but there are many who think that it remains too political still, but there are others who are critical of this since Ukraine (which won Eurovision in 2022) also included elements that could be construed as a response to the ongoing Russian invasion.
In other words, there have been several levels of decision-making by the EBU as to why the Israeli delegation is competing in the final. In the fact of this, many of the artists from other Eurovision finalists nations have been put under pressure by their local fan-based or other artists in their own country to pull out. One of these is Bambi Thug, representing Ireland (broadcaster RTE), who was accused of participating in "art-washing" by participating in a competition in which Israel is present. In this podcast interview they explain their stance on staying in the competition being related to the fact that if they and others withdraw, Israel has a greater chance of winning.
So what has happened so far. Sheer and utter chaos. This is what I am picking up from Twitter so it is not as well sourced as the above: Israel (and Ireland) have made it through to the final. The Israeli performer, Eden Golan, was heavily booed during her performance and asked political questions during her interview with the press including whether she feels guilty for putting other performers at risk by increasing the likelihood of a terrorist attack through her presence. The Dutch performer, Joost, who sat through Eden's portion of the interview with a Dutch flag on his head, has apparently been disqualified for apparently attacking a Swedish film team member who would not stop filming him after he asked her to stop. Initial rumors stated that this was a member of the Israeli film/production team who had been harassing him about his dead parents - and this is why everything in this paragraph should be taken with a grain of salt because it is emerging and not as well-sourced and people want to find scapegoats. Bambi missed their final dress rehearsal today because they were filing a complaint against the Israeli broadcast team for harassing comments made during their performance. The French performer, Slimane, who was apparently a fan favorite, lost his voice partially and this negatively affected the standings in the semi-final. There is a portion of his song he sings acapella and today he ended up making a bid for peace and instead of singing that part during dress-rehearsal. When Eden performed her dress rehearsal, audience members sang the now-disqualified Netherlands song "Europapa" to drown her out. The wikipedia page on Europapa states that "[t]he song has been described as an ode to Europe and a "letter" to [Joost's] late father, who taught him that the world has "no borders".
I think there has been more chaos with the EUB website, with voting, and with delegates who are supposed to cast votes making political statements and withdrawing. This all makes me sad and I cannot imagine the courage it takes any of these performers to perform live when they are being cast as national surrogates in a war that they cannot end or resolve through either their art or their silence. I cannot imagine the stress any of these people are under, worrying about an attack or harassment from others. I also don't know if Eurovision is going to survive this.
This also makes me sad because Eurovision has been a source of such joy and fannish love for decades. ABBA got its big boost from winning Eurovision in 1974 and it really does showcase some of the cheesiest, goofiest and somewhat deeply earnest popular musical performances that would not otherwise make it out of their local contexts.
