The Eurovision Song Contest Was Once a Whimsical Delight – However It Has Become a Calculated Tool to Whitewash War.
An recent acronym surfaced several months after the start of the military campaign against Gaza. Known as WCNSF, it stands for “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This term is specific to Gaza, according to medical experts including paediatricians. Normally, it is unusual for doctors to attend to a child who has been bereaved of their whole family. But, there has been absolutely nothing ordinary about the widespread destruction in Gaza, where whole bloodlines have been wiped out and the number of child amputees surpasses that of any other place in the world. Nothing ordinary in many doctors coming back from a sea of ruins with testimonies of children being deliberately targeted.
A Hell on Earth Regardless of a Supposed Ceasefire
The Gaza Strip continues to be hell on earth. Critical healthcare resources are not getting in those in need, and international watchdogs have stated that violations are ongoing. The Israeli government rejects these accusations, just as it refutes each claim it is charged with. Yet as grieving children who lost parents are now enduring frigid conditions in improvised encampments, there is a piece of uplifting information: nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from continuing with its declared purpose of “unity and cultural exchange.” Eurovision will continue to roll out a welcoming platform for Israel, even though at least four European countries have now boycotted in dissent. Since this, we are told, is what international harmony looks like.
Eurovision, of course banned Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. But the crisis in Gaza is treated differently.
Contradictory Principles
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was alleged to have used irregular participation methods last year in what appears to have been an effort to manipulate Eurovision. Forget the fact that a toddler was allegedly fatally struck in Gaza just days ago. Pay no mind to the evidence that attacks by settlers and forced displacement in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Overlook the situation that international journalists are still denied independent reporting in Gaza. None of this, apparently, should be permitted to obstruct of Eurovision’s self-proclaimed spirit of unity.
The Show Goes On Against a Backdrop of Profound Human Cost
Eurovision marks seven decades next year – roughly two times the projected longevity of a person in Gaza now. The show may go on, but it will never be able to restore the whimsical pleasure it historically embodied. A contest that was originally built on peace has transformed into a transparent instrument to whitewash war.
