Eurovision Used to Be a Campy Joy – However It Has Transformed Into a Cynical Way to Gloss Over Warfare.
A new acronym came to light a couple of months into Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Labeled WCNSF, it means “Injured child with no living relatives”. This term is found only in Gaza, according to doctors like paediatricians. Normally, it is rare for doctors to care for a child who has been bereaved of their entire family. But, there has been no semblance of normality regarding the widespread destruction in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been wiped out and the number of young amputees is greater than that of any other region in the world. No sense of normalcy about numerous doctors returning 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. Critical healthcare resources are not getting in those in need, and international watchdogs contend that atrocities are continuing. Officials disputes these allegations, consistent with how it denies everything it is implicated in. But while 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 from continuing with its professed goal of “unity and artistic sharing.” Eurovision will continue to extend a prestigious stage for Israel, even though a number of European countries have now withdrawn in objection. Because this, it seems, is what global togetherness looks like.
Eurovision, of course prohibited Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “grave situation in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza seems completely different.
A Double Standard
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was accused of questionable voting tactics last year in what could be seen as an bid to politicise Eurovision. Forget the fact that a three-year-old girl was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza recently. Forget the fact that attacks by settlers and coerced removal in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Forget the fact that foreign reporters are still prevented from unfettered access in Gaza. All of this, it would seem, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s cherished spirit of unity.
The Show Goes On Amidst Staggering Tragedy
Eurovision marks seven decades next year – roughly two times the average life expectancy of a person in Gaza at present. The event will proceed, but it will find it impossible to reclaim the pure, unadulterated fun it historically embodied. A competition that was originally built on peace has now become a cynical way to sanitize military aggression.
