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Welcome To Eurovision Wars
Eurovision Wars is a series of podcasts exploring geopolitical themes as they emerged on the Eurovision Song Contest stage. You can listen to Seasons 1 and 2 in full on Spotify, covering such topics as the Russia-Ukraine War, and the long-running dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia. For Season 3, the podcast moves to its new home at ESC Insight, and will focus on the many controversies of Eurovision 2024. In particular, hosts Phil Doré and Ana Oppenheim will attempt to contextualise the fierce rows over the Israeli entry for Malmö 2024.
In episode four , we arrive in Malmö for the sixty-ninth edition of the Song Contest. Tensions are high all round, and several artists are looking at their moment in the global spotlight as an opportunity to speak to the world on the issue of the day. How were those protests made, what impact did they have, and how did they fuel the narrative of Malmö?
Our Principles Of Discussion
Before we go on, a quick reminder of the principles we are holding to in this series. Discussing Israel and Palestine is inevitably difficult and polarising, so in episode one, we introduced three ground rules to frame our podcasts.
Be willing to keep more than one thought in your head.
It can be true that the founding of the state of Israel was in response to centuries of antisemitism and the horrors of the Holocaust, and also that its founding was marked by massacres and forced displacement of the local Arab population. Likewise, it can be true that Israelis have a right not to be victims of Hamas terrorism, and Palestinians have a right not to be bombed by Israeli warplanes. These are not contradictory.
Explanation is not justification.
When we say that decades of oppression against the Palestinians contributed to October 7th, that is not to justify the atrocities of that day. Likewise, in describing those atrocities, this does not render the mass destruction inflicted by Israel on Gaza acceptable.
If one side in a conflict commits a war crime, that doesn’t mean the other side gets a free war crime.
Because, unbelievably, that point still has to be made.
Eurovision stage concept for Malmo 2024 (EBU / SVT)
If we are to fully understand how the Eurovision Song Contest became so controversial in 2024, then this inevitably leads to difficult conversations. But these are conversations we absolutely need to have as a community.
You can find previous Eurovision Wars episodes on ESC Insight here.
You were gloating while announcing that Amnesty International has declared the Israel action in Gaza as genocide. You just neglect to mention that this report was made without Israel’s contribution. A report based on 1 side’s story cannot be considered as balanced or even objective.
You accuse KAN of intentionally politicising the contest. This a bit turning the events upside down. Israel submitted a song, which reflects a national tragedy. Was it intentionally political? Not sure about that, and definitely not more than the political statement that was 1944(Ukraine 2016). The EBU thought it was a political message and the original song became a political song. If we’re honest, it was never about the song but over Israel’s participation in general.
And if we are talking about politicising the contest, here is a thought for you and for everyone else: Pro-Palestinians groups have hijacked the contest for their own goals and they absolutely don’t care about the contest.
Eric Saade and the keffiyeh incident-
Here is where you just neglect/forget to mention one detail about the keffiyeh. The keffiyeh is related to Yasser Arafat, founder of the PLO and later the head of the Palestinian authority, who always wore a keffiyeh in public appearances. It is a political symbol through and through. Eric Saade can say it is just a memory from his father but there is no doubt that his father told him what the keffiyeh means. His explanation is at best a pretence of innocence. You know what, he knew exactly what he was doing, because you don’t make efforts to hide your actions, unless you are aware what they mean.
At least I can take comfort in the fact that for the time being, Eric Saade won’t be invited to Eurovision stage. I am quite sure that if he will be invited, he will be thoroughly searched to make sure this is not repeated.
The fact that you accept the explanation and neglect to mention that fact says quite a lot about you.
It can mean that you don’t know about the meaning of the keffiyeh, which suggests you haven’t done your research very well. It can mean that you left this detail out on purpose, because this will discredit the Palestinian, and this is something you absolutely avoid at all costs. The 3rd option is that you do not know who Yasser Arafat is and his place/significance in Palestinian history, which I leave it to other people to think what says about you, if you don’t know who he was.
If anything the keffiyeh incident just affirm my suspicions that Pro-Palestinians groups have hijacked the contest for their own goals.