The Eurovision Song Contest Was Traditionally a Campy Joy – Yet It Has Become a Calculated Tool to Sanitize Conflict.
A new term came to light a couple of months into the intensive bombing of Gaza by Israel. Known as WCNSF, it means “Child casualty without any family left”. This designation is found only in Gaza, according to health professionals like paediatricians. Normally, it is rare for physicians to treat a young patient who has seen the death of their entire family. Yet, there has been absolutely nothing ordinary regarding the devastating conflict in Gaza, where entire family lineages have been wiped out and the number of young amputees is greater than that of any other place in the world. Nothing normal about scores of doctors coming back from a sea of ruins with accounts of children being deliberately targeted.
An Unimaginable Crisis In Spite Of a Reported Truce
Gaza remains a profound humanitarian disaster. Vital medicines and equipment are being blocked those in need, and groups like Amnesty International contend that atrocities are ongoing. Officials rejects these allegations, just as it disavows everything it is accused of. Meanwhile, while traumatised orphans are now enduring frigid conditions in temporary shelters, there is a piece of uplifting information: apparently nothing is going to stop the Eurovision from pursuing its professed goal of “unity and cultural exchange.” Organizers will continue to extend a prestigious stage for Israel, despite the fact that a number of European countries have now withdrawn in objection. Since this, it seems, is what unity manifests as.
The contest, notably prohibited Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza seems treated differently.
A Double Standard
Forget the fact that Israel was criticized for questionable voting tactics last year in what seems to have been an bid to inject politics into Eurovision. Forget the fact that a toddler was reportedly killed in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Forget the fact that aggression from Israeli settlers and systematic expulsions in the West Bank have surged. Overlook the situation that foreign reporters are still denied freely reporting in Gaza. None of this, evidently, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s self-proclaimed spirit of unity.
The Pageant Proceeds Against a Backdrop of Staggering Tragedy
Eurovision reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – nearly twice the current lifespan of someone in Gaza today. The broadcast will air, but it will never be able to restore the whimsical pleasure it once represented. A competition that was originally built on peace has now become a transparent instrument to sanitize military aggression.
