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isunshoweronce again... when will rich text editor return from the war.
anyway, today i'm here to talk about ~politics~. uh, for those of you on dw who don't follow me anywhere else (which is most of you), i'm like, really really into eurovision. both from a "i just enjoy watching it" perspective and from a "i think there's a really rich poli sci academic discourse to get into about it" perspective. this post is mostly going to deal with the latter thing. because if you haven't noticed. uh. gestures at the whole palestine situation.
israel has been participating in eurovision for as long as i've been watching it (which is about 8 years now), and i think first entered in the 70s. they're a bit of a staple, they've won a few times and have--from a poli sci perspective--legitimized their existence and tied themselves to a european culture despite their location in part THROUGH their participation in and thriving at eurovision. people have been uncomfortable with this for a long, long time. personally i've never felt right about their being there--partly for the same reason as, like, why the hell does australia participate, but also from the human rights perspective. but for a long time i shrugged it off as "well, nothing i can really do about it" and quietly disliked their entries from my american, non-voting sideline.
this year is different, though. i can't really do that this year. there have been, online, several organic calls to boycott the contest--because despite the generally-agreed-upon human rights abuses the IDF has been perpetuating in gaza, the ebu (governing body who runs the contest) refuses to suspend israel's right to participate. they suspended russia in 2022 following a significant outcry from other participating countries and this year the threats haven't been so significant. pro-palestine eurovision fans have been keeping an eye on iceland, who say that they may pull out should the artist they select decide that that's what they want to do, but most other national broadcasters have basically said, "well, it's the EBU's decision and we have to stand by it." maybe this would have worked on people, had the EBU not originally allowed russia to participate in 2022 and then a bunch of countries (i believe all the nordics, plus the netherlands) threatened to pull out if russia was allowed. so everyone--myself included--is really mad at the ebu.
i know that this is such a first-world problem, but i really don't know whether or not i want to watch this year. on the one hand, i've been against israel's participation for a long time; a viewer-led boycott of the contest is unlikely to accomplish much, especially because the european population is so split on the issue; and the EBU won't kick out israel this year or next year or the year after that because their current primary sponsor is the israeli company moroccanoil. on the other hand, it's the internet-designated Right Thing To Do to not watch. the performative & shaming aspects of modern leftist politics is something i don't love but i'm not going to get into it right now. as a privileged white person in the us, it's my RESPONSIBILITY not to watch this year. right? right???
but i think it's worth bearing witness to the politics of the contest. the politics that the EBU tries so hard to deny. see, in order to appeal to as many viewers as possible, there is a strict no-politics-allowed rule in eurovision. this is, of course, bullshit. it's like the olympics: you get a bunch of countries to compete, ON TELEVISION, and expect it not to be political? lmaooooo. the EBU enforces this rule only when they think it will lose them their viewerbase in a big way (ie, the russia thing, but previously invoked it to prevent pissing off russia! this happened in 2009). there's a world in which it's a good plan to watch and, in large numbers, not vote for israel and they totally tank, or something. i'm not sure that's this particular universe. i really don't know what to do. i want to be in the right. i want to enjoy the things i enjoy without compromising my principles. i think that if we go around boycotting everything pretty soon there will be nothing left to boycott because nothing is morally pure. i think that there are plenty of israelis who disagree with their society's actions, just as i--an american--disagree with the us' ones, even as i know that both their and our state media spread propaganda that shouldn't be platformed. i think that the ebu might dismiss us now but if this picks up steam they might cave. i think the ebu doesn't believe the pro-palestine crowd is worth diverting real attention to. i don't know what i want to do this may. but i do know that as much as the ebu tries to deny it, the decision to allow israel to continue competing IS a political decision, and one that will, as the EBU says of political actions, throw the contest into "disrepute".
anyway, today i'm here to talk about ~politics~. uh, for those of you on dw who don't follow me anywhere else (which is most of you), i'm like, really really into eurovision. both from a "i just enjoy watching it" perspective and from a "i think there's a really rich poli sci academic discourse to get into about it" perspective. this post is mostly going to deal with the latter thing. because if you haven't noticed. uh. gestures at the whole palestine situation.
israel has been participating in eurovision for as long as i've been watching it (which is about 8 years now), and i think first entered in the 70s. they're a bit of a staple, they've won a few times and have--from a poli sci perspective--legitimized their existence and tied themselves to a european culture despite their location in part THROUGH their participation in and thriving at eurovision. people have been uncomfortable with this for a long, long time. personally i've never felt right about their being there--partly for the same reason as, like, why the hell does australia participate, but also from the human rights perspective. but for a long time i shrugged it off as "well, nothing i can really do about it" and quietly disliked their entries from my american, non-voting sideline.
this year is different, though. i can't really do that this year. there have been, online, several organic calls to boycott the contest--because despite the generally-agreed-upon human rights abuses the IDF has been perpetuating in gaza, the ebu (governing body who runs the contest) refuses to suspend israel's right to participate. they suspended russia in 2022 following a significant outcry from other participating countries and this year the threats haven't been so significant. pro-palestine eurovision fans have been keeping an eye on iceland, who say that they may pull out should the artist they select decide that that's what they want to do, but most other national broadcasters have basically said, "well, it's the EBU's decision and we have to stand by it." maybe this would have worked on people, had the EBU not originally allowed russia to participate in 2022 and then a bunch of countries (i believe all the nordics, plus the netherlands) threatened to pull out if russia was allowed. so everyone--myself included--is really mad at the ebu.
i know that this is such a first-world problem, but i really don't know whether or not i want to watch this year. on the one hand, i've been against israel's participation for a long time; a viewer-led boycott of the contest is unlikely to accomplish much, especially because the european population is so split on the issue; and the EBU won't kick out israel this year or next year or the year after that because their current primary sponsor is the israeli company moroccanoil. on the other hand, it's the internet-designated Right Thing To Do to not watch. the performative & shaming aspects of modern leftist politics is something i don't love but i'm not going to get into it right now. as a privileged white person in the us, it's my RESPONSIBILITY not to watch this year. right? right???
but i think it's worth bearing witness to the politics of the contest. the politics that the EBU tries so hard to deny. see, in order to appeal to as many viewers as possible, there is a strict no-politics-allowed rule in eurovision. this is, of course, bullshit. it's like the olympics: you get a bunch of countries to compete, ON TELEVISION, and expect it not to be political? lmaooooo. the EBU enforces this rule only when they think it will lose them their viewerbase in a big way (ie, the russia thing, but previously invoked it to prevent pissing off russia! this happened in 2009). there's a world in which it's a good plan to watch and, in large numbers, not vote for israel and they totally tank, or something. i'm not sure that's this particular universe. i really don't know what to do. i want to be in the right. i want to enjoy the things i enjoy without compromising my principles. i think that if we go around boycotting everything pretty soon there will be nothing left to boycott because nothing is morally pure. i think that there are plenty of israelis who disagree with their society's actions, just as i--an american--disagree with the us' ones, even as i know that both their and our state media spread propaganda that shouldn't be platformed. i think that the ebu might dismiss us now but if this picks up steam they might cave. i think the ebu doesn't believe the pro-palestine crowd is worth diverting real attention to. i don't know what i want to do this may. but i do know that as much as the ebu tries to deny it, the decision to allow israel to continue competing IS a political decision, and one that will, as the EBU says of political actions, throw the contest into "disrepute".
