The Eurovision Song Contest Used to Be a Whimsical Delight – But It Has Transformed Into a Calculated Tool to Sanitize Conflict.
A new term surfaced a couple of months after the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Labeled WCNSF, it stands for “Injured child with no living relatives”. This term is unique to Gaza, according to doctors like paediatricians. Ordinarily, it is rare for physicians to treat a minor who has lost their complete family. However, there has been nothing “normal” about the widespread destruction in Gaza, where entire family lineages have been wiped out and the number of children who have lost limbs surpasses that of any other region in the world. No sense of normalcy in scores of doctors returning from a landscape of rubble with reports of children being systematically aimed at.
A Living Nightmare In Spite Of a Announced Cessation of Hostilities
Gaza remains an utter catastrophe. Vital medicines and equipment are being blocked those in need, and groups like Amnesty International contend that genocidal acts are continuing. Authorities has denied these allegations, just as it denies everything it is charged with. But while traumatised orphans are now enduring frigid conditions in improvised encampments, there is some ostensibly positive news: apparently nothing is going to stop the international singing competition from advancing its declared purpose of “togetherness and artistic sharing.” The contest will continue to roll out a welcoming platform for Israel, although several European countries have now withdrawn in objection. And this, we are told, is what global togetherness looks like.
Eurovision, of course excluded Russia from participating in 2022 because of the “grave situation in Ukraine”. But the crisis in Gaza is treated differently.
A Double Standard
Forget the fact that Israel was criticized for questionable voting tactics last year in what appears to have been an attempt to inject politics into Eurovision. Ignore the report that a young child was reportedly killed in Gaza just days ago. Pay no mind to the evidence that settler violence and systematic expulsions in the West Bank have escalated. Forget the fact that international journalists are still denied independent reporting in Gaza. This entire context, it would seem, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.
The Contest Continues Against a Backdrop of Staggering Tragedy
Eurovision turns 70 next year – roughly two times the average life expectancy of someone in Gaza now. The broadcast will air, but it will find it impossible to reclaim the whimsical pleasure it historically embodied. A contest that once promoted harmony has devolved into a cynical way to whitewash war.
