Eurovision Was Traditionally a Campy Joy – But It Has Evolved Into a Calculated Tool to Whitewash War.
A recent term emerged a few months following the onset of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Referred to as WCNSF, it signifies “Child casualty without any family left”. This acronym is specific to Gaza, as stated by medical experts including child health specialists. Typically, it is rare for physicians to care for a child who has lost their whole family. Yet, there has been no semblance of normality concerning the widespread destruction in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been eradicated and the number of young amputees is greater than that of any other place in the world. Nothing normal in scores of doctors returning from a landscape of rubble with reports of children being systematically aimed at.
A Living Nightmare Regardless of a Supposed Ceasefire
Gaza remains hell on earth. Vital medicines and equipment are being blocked those in need, and international watchdogs assert that violations are continuing. Authorities rejects these claims, consistent with how it denies all charges it is charged with. Yet as grieving children who lost parents are now suffering from the cold in improvised encampments, there is some ostensibly positive news: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from continuing with its professed goal of “togetherness and artistic sharing.” The contest will continue to extend a blood-red carpet for Israel, although a number of European countries have now withdrawn in objection. Since this, it seems, is what international harmony manifests as.
Eurovision, of course excluded Russia from competing in 2022 over the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza is treated differently.
A Double Standard
Forget the fact that Israel was alleged to have used unfair vote practices last year in what could be seen as an effort to inject politics into Eurovision. Set aside the news that a toddler was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Forget the fact that settler violence and coerced removal in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Forget the fact that international journalists are still denied independent reporting in Gaza. All of this, evidently, should be permitted to obstruct of Eurovision’s self-proclaimed spirit of unity.
The Pageant Proceeds Against a Backdrop of Unimaginable Suffering
The contest reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – roughly two times the projected longevity of someone in Gaza today. The event will proceed, but it will likely never recapture the whimsical pleasure it historically embodied. A competition that was originally built on harmony has transformed into a blatant mechanism to provide a cultural veneer for conflict.
