The Eurovision Song Contest Used to Be a Campy Joy – Yet It Has Become a Strategic Method to Sanitize Conflict.
An recent acronym came to light a few months following the onset of the intensive bombing of Gaza by Israel. Known as WCNSF, it stands for “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This acronym is unique to Gaza, according to doctors such as child health specialists. Typically, it is unusual for physicians to attend to a child who has been bereaved of their entire family. But, there has been no semblance of normality about the genocide in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been wiped out and the number of child amputees is greater than that of any other region in the world. No sense of normalcy in many doctors returning from a devastated terrain with reports of children being systematically aimed at.
An Unimaginable Crisis Regardless of a Announced Cessation of Hostilities
The Gaza Strip continues to be hell on earth. Critical healthcare resources are failing to reach those in need, and groups like Amnesty International contend that violations are ongoing. The Israeli government has denied these claims, just as it refutes all charges it is implicated in. Meanwhile, while traumatised orphans are now enduring frigid conditions in improvised encampments, there is a piece of uplifting information: nothing is going to stop the international singing competition from continuing with its stated mission of “unity and cultural exchange.” The contest will continue to roll out a blood-red carpet for Israel, despite the fact that at least four European countries have now pulled out in protest. Because this, it seems, is what unity looks like.
Eurovision, of course excluded Russia from competing in 2022 due to the “grave situation in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza appears to be treated differently.
A Double Standard
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was criticized for unfair vote practices last year in what seems to have been an effort to manipulate Eurovision. Ignore the report that a young child was reportedly killed in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Neglect the data that attacks by settlers and systematic expulsions in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Disregard the condition that global media are still prevented from unfettered access in Gaza. None of this, it would seem, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s cherished spirit of unity.
The Pageant Proceeds Against a Backdrop of Profound Human Cost
Eurovision turns 70 next year – almost double the average life expectancy of an individual in Gaza now. The show may go on, but it will likely never recapture the whimsical pleasure it once represented. An institution that initially championed peace has devolved into a cynical way to whitewash war.