Since the late 1980s, I have been interested in the Eurovision Song Contest, and I have watched it yearly, missing only one. Drama, as well as the glitz and glamour, and camp have been part of the biggest song competition in the world, as it did last year. But this year might top it all, and because of this, I am currently quite happy that Finland didn’t win last year, after all.
The drama that I mean concerning last year’s ESC was the quite controversial win by Sweden over Finland. I even wrote about it in Rigged! Robbed! as it seemed that this stolen win dominated the national news and made headlines across Europe as well. Back at the time, which now seems to be such a long time ago, it was a huge drama.
But, this year, are we facing something that is on a completely other level?
The EBU (European Broadcasting Union) has said time and time again that the Eurovision Song Contest is a non-political event, bringing people together. That is why this year’s theme, again, is “United By Music”. The ESC organisation decided to grab the 2023 slogan as the permanent theme for the competition. Maybe in the time of upheaval, such as where we are currently living in, it is not such a bad slogan. At least, if you practise what you preach.
As said, the slogan is good and sorely needed, like the Eurovision was needed in the post-war Europe. But if the EBU themselves, as the organising entity is not upholding the rules for all of the competing countries, is Europe, or the Eurovision, united by music anymore? How could they be? Not when they continue to wear two masks that are swapped when it is the most convenient.
Would 2024 be the time when the EBU should finally cast aside the tattered cloak of calling the ESC a non-political competition completely, and just concentrate on what they have been doing with the ESC all along – making money, from any source no matter what.
I suggest you check out the Wikipedia article about the political controversies that have risen over the years in the Eurovision Song Contest. The world has changed a lot since the event’s creation back in 1956, and in recent years, so have people’s attitudes. We are more and more attuned to the events of the world via people on the ground, and not just what we see in the news once a day. Nothing, not even Finland, can remain neutral and impartial anymore.
But I digress. The biggest change on Finnish mentality about joining NATO in 2023 is not the topic of this post. What is, however, is the attitude of the people in Europe, and elsewhere, when it comes to holding the ESC, and the EBU responsible for maintaining a good-natured and entertaining competition.
This is exactly why the Eurovision fans are very much divided on issues about Russia being banned and Israel being allowed into the competition. “Complicated” and “not nearly the same issue” are phrases seen time and time again in the heated discussions at forums.
But is it complicated, or is it “complicated“?
When Russia declared war on Ukraine in 2022, the EBU was quick to ban Russia from competing in the ESC until further notice. A move that clearly wasn’t non-political. I suppose it was made in accordance with the EU sanctions policies against Russia and in (a moral) support of Ukraine.
But this year, we haven’t heard such ruling from the EBU concerning a participating country, which stands accused of genocide. It is an act that I feel can become the biggest hurdle that the ESC has faced, perhaps ever. This year, Sweden, the host country, has had to increase security for the venue partially because the EBU has decided to let Israel participate. If we face the unthinkable, and something happens in Malmö, what is the EBU going to do then?
This far, when it comes to political statements in the Eurovision Song Competition, maybe the biggest controversy was in 2019, when the ESC was hosted in Tel Aviv. In admist the calls for boycott from BDS movement, and the Icelandic performer Hatari showing their support for Palestine, the biggest surprise was the performance of Madonna. Even if KAN, the Israeli national broadcaster, warned against any public support for Palestine, these people still did it, and the TV crews were not able to stop it.
But this year, brandishing a Palestine flag on the stage or green room seems minuscule, compared to the ramifications of the EBU’s actions, or, rather, inaction, can have.
What this decision does is to send a message of disunity to the whole of Eurovision community; two years ago, the same organisation swiftly banned a country as a political move, and now an oppressor evidently carrying out genocide is allowed to participate as if nothing has happened. Not even when the performer is Russian-Israeli, and their song is called “October Rain,” and Israeli broadcaster KAN has vehemently refused to change any lyrics even if the EBU were to request that.
What concerns me the most is the echoes of colonialism behind this year’s controversy. Israel, a zionist colonialist project born from the ashes of the Second World War, is still considered as the golden child of Europe who can not do anything wrong. Anyone who even dares to wag a finger at them is immediately labelled as antisemitic. At the same time, the real issue that Israel was found on Palestinian land is conveniently labelled as “complicated” and being silenced.
At the moment, I do feel that we, the Eurovision community, stand at crossroads. Either we allow Russia back into the ESC and cast aside the tattered shreds of non-political agenda once and for all – or we demand, in unity, that the EBU upholds the same rules for each competing country. We simply cannot and should not allow favouritism and double standards based clearly on the nationalism and religion to get into this. More than this, we should not let any given country use the Eurovision stage to pinkwash their malicious agenda either.
It is the only way that the world’s largest and longest running song competition can move forward and really do what their catchphrase says: united by music.
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