The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) says the Eurovision Song Contest isn't political, and argues that Russia's ban in 2022 was "fundamentally different".
  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    51·
    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Pressure is mounting on European broadcasters to boycott Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest because of the war in Gaza.

    Flagging Russia’s earlier exclusion from the competition, the Swedish musicians said it was their “duty” as cultural practitioners to “bring about change and counter artwashing”.

    In Norway last month, semi-naked protesters knelt in the snow in front of the country’s public broadcaster NRK to also demand Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision.

    And in Spain, the leader of the left-wing party Podemos, Ione Belarra, has called on the Spanish Congress to debate the removal of Israel from the competition as part of “a pressure tactic to halt the genocide against Palestinian people”.

    She has registered a non-legal proposal to request the debate, which if approved would urge the Spanish government to “position itself clearly against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest”.

    The EBU has also said Russia’s ban resulted from “persistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service media values” by Russian broadcasters.

    The original article contains 666 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • noobnarski@feddit.deEnglish
      61·
      9 months ago

      I dont think so, as a German many people dont think that what Israel is doing is right, the government just doesnt want to be (unrightfully) called a nazi by Israel.

      As long as the institutions in charge can claim they couldnt do anything about it I wouldnt expect them to fight it too much.

    • gian @lemmy.grys.itEnglish
      31·
      9 months ago

      I suppose that, following this logic, half of the European countries need to leave then…

    • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.deEnglish
      474·
      9 months ago

      Yes it will. Voices critical of Israel and calling out Israeli crimes in the occupied areas and now in the war against Gaza are crucial to changing opinion in western countries. And a changing opinion in western countries puts pressure on western governments to stop helping Israeli crimes and start providing adequate humanitarian support and to start working towards the end of the occupation and equal rights of the Palestinians.

    • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      355·
      9 months ago

      Omg you’re so right! Brb I’m going to buy a bunch of Russian vodka, petrol, and a shitty Lada to drive around in.

      In fact, why boycott anything at all?

      • gian @lemmy.grys.itEnglish
        210·
        9 months ago

        In fact, why boycott anything at all?

        Exactly. In this specific case boycotting is useless.

    • Mrkawfee@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      337·
      9 months ago

      US and Europe provide cover for Israel to act with total impunity. The only thing left is boycotting them to show them what the world actually thinks of their genocide. Israel’s vanity is that it is a democratic Western country . They need to face the consequences by becoming a pariah state.

      • cosmicrookie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        61·
        9 months ago

        There seems to be some dissonance between the EU leaders and EU population when it comes to Israel and this is how people can highlight it

    • ShroOmeric@lemmy.worldEnglish
      136·
      9 months ago

      Well lets invite nazists then, people from the camps are dead already, what harm could cause? /s