The Eurovision Song Contest Used to Be a Whimsical Delight – But It Has Become a Calculated Tool to Sanitize Conflict.
An recent term surfaced a couple of months after the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Referred to as WCNSF, it stands for “Injured child with no living relatives”. This designation is specific to Gaza, according to health professionals including paediatricians. Typically, it is rare for physicians to care for a child who has been bereaved of their complete family. However, there has been nothing “normal” concerning the devastating conflict in Gaza, where entire family lineages have been obliterated and the number of child amputees exceeds that of any other place in the world. Nothing ordinary in numerous doctors arriving back from a devastated terrain with accounts of children being deliberately targeted.
A Living Nightmare Regardless of a Announced Cessation of Hostilities
The Gaza Strip continues to be an utter catastrophe. Critical healthcare resources are not getting in those in need, and groups like Amnesty International contend that atrocities are continuing. Officials rejects these claims, just as it denies all charges it is implicated in. Yet as traumatised orphans are now suffering from the cold in makeshift tent camps, there is a piece of uplifting information: apparently nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from advancing its professed goal of “unity and artistic sharing.” The contest will continue to offer a blood-red carpet for Israel, although at least four European countries have now boycotted in dissent. Because this, apparently, is what unity looks like.
Eurovision, of course excluded Russia from participating in 2022 due to the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. But the crisis in Gaza appears to be entirely distinct.
Contradictory Principles
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was criticized for irregular participation methods last year in what seems to have been an attempt to manipulate Eurovision. Set aside the news that a young child was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Pay no mind to the evidence that settler violence and forced displacement in the West Bank have surged. Forget the fact that foreign reporters are still prevented from independent reporting in Gaza. This entire context, it would seem, should be allowed to get in the way of Eurovision’s self-proclaimed spirit of unity.
The Pageant Proceeds While Ignoring Profound Human Cost
Eurovision marks seven decades next year – almost double the current lifespan of someone in Gaza now. The show may go on, but it will likely never recapture the whimsical pleasure it historically embodied. An institution that once promoted togetherness has now become a cynical way to sanitize military aggression.