Eurovision Was Once a Campy Joy – But It Has Become a Cynical Way to Gloss Over Warfare.
An freshly coined acronym surfaced a few months after the start of the military campaign against Gaza. Known as WCNSF, it stands for “Injured child with no living relatives”. This designation is specific to Gaza, per insights from medical experts such as child health specialists. Ordinarily, it is unusual for medical staff to treat a young patient who has seen the death of their entire family. However, there has been nothing “normal” regarding the widespread destruction in Gaza, where entire family lineages have been obliterated and the number of child amputees is greater than that of any other place in the world. No sense of normalcy in many doctors arriving back from a landscape of rubble with testimonies of children being intentionally shot at.
A Living Nightmare In Spite Of a Reported Truce
The Gaza Strip continues to be hell on earth. Critical healthcare resources are being blocked those in need, and groups like Amnesty International assert that violations are ongoing. The Israeli government disputes these allegations, just as it disavows all charges it is accused of. Meanwhile, while young survivors are now suffering from the cold in makeshift tent camps, there is some ostensibly positive news: apparently nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from continuing with its professed goal of “unity and artistic sharing.” Eurovision will continue to offer a prestigious stage for Israel, although several European countries have now pulled out in protest. And this, we are told, is what unity looks like.
The contest, notably prohibited Russia from participating in 2022 due to the “grave situation in Ukraine”. However, the situation in Gaza seems treated differently.
Contradictory Principles
Forget the fact that Israel was accused of irregular participation methods last year in what appears to have been an attempt to politicise Eurovision. Set aside the news that a toddler was reportedly killed in Gaza recently. Neglect the data that attacks by settlers and forced displacement in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Forget the fact that foreign reporters are still prevented from unfettered access in Gaza. This entire context, it would seem, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.
The Show Goes On Against a Backdrop of Profound Human Cost
The contest reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – nearly twice the average life expectancy of someone in Gaza now. The broadcast will air, but it will likely never recapture the whimsical pleasure it once represented. A contest that was originally built on peace has devolved into a cynical way to sanitize military aggression.
