Eurovision Was Traditionally a Campy Joy – But It Has Evolved Into a Calculated Tool to Sanitize Conflict.
A freshly coined term emerged a few months into Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Labeled WCNSF, it signifies “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This designation is unique to Gaza, according to health professionals such as child health specialists. Typically, it is uncommon for medical staff to care for a minor who has been bereaved of their whole family. However, there has been no semblance of normality regarding the genocide in Gaza, where complete genealogies have been eradicated and the number of children who have lost limbs is greater than that of any other place in the world. Nothing normal in scores of doctors arriving back from a sea of ruins with reports of children being deliberately targeted.
A Hell on Earth In Spite Of a Reported Truce
Gaza remains hell on earth. Critical healthcare resources are failing to reach those in need, and groups like Amnesty International assert that genocidal acts are ongoing. Officials rejects these claims, just as it disavows all charges it is implicated in. Meanwhile, while grieving children who lost parents are now enduring frigid conditions in temporary shelters, there is some ostensibly positive news: apparently nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from continuing with its stated mission of “togetherness and cultural exchange.” Organizers will continue to extend a blood-red carpet for Israel, despite the fact that several European countries have now boycotted in dissent. And this, it seems, is what international harmony looks like.
The contest, notably banned Russia from competing in 2022 because of the “grave situation in Ukraine”. However, the situation in Gaza seems treated differently.
Contradictory Principles
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was accused of questionable voting tactics last year in what could be seen as an effort to inject politics into Eurovision. Ignore the report that a young child was reportedly killed in Gaza on a recent Sunday. Pay no mind to the evidence that attacks by settlers and coerced removal in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Disregard the condition that international journalists are still blocked 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 Against a Backdrop of Staggering Tragedy
Eurovision reaches its seventieth anniversary next year – nearly twice the current lifespan of a person in Gaza today. The event will proceed, but it will never be able to restore the camp joy it once represented. A contest that once promoted togetherness has devolved into a cynical way to whitewash war.
