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[akwyz]

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[megumi-fm]

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[sarcasticscribbles]

BOYCOTT EUROVISION FOR ISRAEL PARTICIPATION.

I am the Eurovision gay this time of year, I love this show. Not only is my country hosting 2024 but it's also in a city I love, but I can't watch as people sing about peace and love while Palestinians are getting killed by one of the participants.

I've complied a couple of petitions, open letters and information regarding Eurovision: Eurovision isn't the highest priority regarding Gaza, but this show is marketing & tourism for countries, Israel is using it to pink wash their politics

According to SVT, Swedish television network in charge of Eurovision 2024 in Sweden Malmö, Eurovision is apolitical, and therefore Israel qualify. They refer to any calls for boycott meaningless ( via )

SVT statement:

[ID: "SVT statement on the debate over Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest

Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is generating debate and today a number of Swedish artists have called on the EBU to cancel Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. It is the EBU’s decision which public broadcasters may take part in the event, and as the host broadcaster, SVT follows the EBU’s decisions. The humanitarian suffering in this deeply complex conflict is devastating. Nobody can be left unmoved by the current situation in Gaza, or by the Hamas attack in Israel. We are also concerned about these developments. We understand and respect that groups of people wish to make their voices heard. As the host broadcaster, SVT has an ongoing dialogue with the EBU about the challenges of producing Europe’s largest TV-production in times of unrest. We are humbled by the task and are working to ensure the project can be carried out in the best way possible, with the vision that music unites." END ID]

Eurovision has always been political, and was created as a celebration of peace after WW2. Songs are statements, and EBU took action by banning Russia and Belarus for the invasion of Ukraine. It's a way to show sympathy and solidarity, which Gaza is in need of now.

Why Eurovision is so important to Israel is the opportunity of pink washing, and appearing liberal and LGBTQ-friendly, that the show encourages. This leads to great marketing and tourism for the country, alqueerian on twitter did a great thread about it:

[ID: Tweet from @ alqueerian on X formerly known as Twitter. Tweet: "A really quick thread on pinkwashing and why it’s wrong: pinkwashing is a term that was coined by LGBTQ Palestinians to specifically refer to the use of homophobia as a justification for israeli war crimes, ethnic cleansing, mass displacement, starvation etc." END ID]

Full thread

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Here are a couple of petitions, open letters and links to encourage the ban of Israel in Eurovision

And if all fail: we boycott

Here are two petitions for the ban of Israel: Petition 1

Petition 2

A list of emails and contact information for broadcasters regarding Israel participation: copy, paste and send. Document

It's created by verilybitchie on YouTube who also made a great call to action video I can recommend

[ID: Screenshot of verilybitchie youtube video "Genocide at the Eurovision Song Contest". The video is showing an article by Chris Lockeyer, news reposter, titled "Israel to compete at Eurovision despite boycott threats" The article says: "The European broadcast Union said its member organisations approved Israel's participation in the competition and it remains aligned with other competition organisations on its stance." The article is from December 19th, 2023. END ID]

And for Swedes, I think it's extra important for us to speak up; here's what we can do:

Open letter via Björk & Frihet, a charity in Skåne offer letters to sign but also have pdf version to print at home!

[ID: Photo from Björk & Frihet, a swedish charity offering open letters to sign to send to the government. "Stoppa folkmordet" as the letters are ladled, means "stop the genocide" END ID]

This is also a letter regarding the contest being held in Malmö, a city with a long history fighting for Palestine! Sign here

[ID: Vote for Swedes in Malmö to sign to protest Israel's participation in Eurovision. END ID]

Meanwhile, don't forget your daily clicks to help Palestine while we wait for EBU to stand by their words and prove we are united by music!

[ID: Iceland's Hatari holds up Palestinian flags during Eurovision in Tel Aviv, May 19, 2019. END ID]

[queerbauten]

The way Joost called out the EBU’s heavily-charged “incident with a female crew member” statement… chef’s kiss, five stars

[cottagecoreangryqueer]

I've seen via blogs I follow that Joost Klein (the singer who was unjustly disqualified from Eurovision this year) has been absolved by the Swedish judges and I just want to say that the EBU's statement about "standing by his disqualification because there was an investigation pending" is absolute horseshit, as we all know. But there is an example that many people don't know about that proves how ridiculous this whole thing is.

A couple years ago, I think the year of Bulgaria's last entrance, they brought a "super group" with artists from different countries. Well, the singer was a man who was in a wanted list by the Spanish police because of domestic violence charges. But he wasn't disqualified, was he? Also, this isn't a well kept secret that nobody knew about at the time, it was in the Spanish press during the competition.

Anyway, fuck the EBU and fuck what they've done to Eurovision, never watching again unless many things change (which obviously include Is**el's being kicked out).

[thestarlitnights]

lmao so it turns out the ebu disqualified joost klein for nothing. the prosecutor believed he didn't have the intention to cause fear, therefore he was cleared and the case was closed.

what a joke. the ebu disqualifying someone who turned out to be innocent all along and not charged with anything in the end TOTALLY won't bite them in the ass later.

[g0dtier]

lol EBU banned the dutch participant from eurovision on the day of the fucking finale for "making a threatening gesture at a camera woman", conveniently the day after the israeli participant was told that she wouldn't have to answer any questions (you know about what) that made her uncomfortable and he responded with "why"

the camera woman was filming him while he had explicitly said he didn't want to be multiple times, and he made a move for the camera. there was no touch involved in the incident yet she apparently pressed charges and he was fully banned despite the outcry of how much bullshit that decision is

eurovision's main sponsor atm is morrocanoil, a israeli company btw 🤡🤡

[thebitchezzz]

So I’ve been seeing people ask Eurovision to ban Israel this year, considering that they banned Russia after their attacks on Ukraine.

In case you don’t know or don’t remember, that’s the band Hatari who represented Iceland (my country) in 2019 holding up the Palestinian flag. (In 2019 Isreal hosted Eurovision)

Rúv who’s in charge of Eurovision in Iceland was fined five thousand euros, and Icelandic people were afraid we wouldn’t get participate the next year. (I don’t if that was something the ebu was considering, just rumours or paranoia)

So while I personally believe they absolutely should ban Israel this I don’t think they will. At all. But what do I know…

[dandruffaromatics]

BAN ISRAEL FROM EUROVISION 2024

Let me tell what has been happening in italy lately. Last week, we had the sanremo festival, a very popular song contest, sponsored by RAI, the national broadcaster. Among other things, sanremo serves to select the italian candidate for eurovision.

A couple of participants at the festival said "stop the genocide" on stage, when possible. One of the songs has lyrics like "how is everyone saying all is normal? You bomb hospitals over imagined lines in the sand". So ofc the israeli ambassador was like "as a representative of the bombing hospitals club I feel attacked". And complained to RAI. RAI like a good lapdog sent a communication to be read on a morning news program, stating generic support to the victims of antisemitism and the victims of Oct 7. In itself a very tame statement, the contents of which we can probably all agree on. But the context makes it chilling. In the middle of a genocide perpetrated by israel againist the palestinians, RAI feels the need to "amend" the song criticizing the bombing of hospitals. And ofc, the quiet part is "genocide is justified because of october 7".

There have been several protests in front of RAI HQs in Turin and Naples. Police charged, people got hurt.

I don't think I need to give a proper retelling of Israel's crimes towards the palestinians here. Or explain the historical context which led to the October 7 attacks.

There is one thing that we can do that would at least give a signal in the right direction, and that is ban israel from the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Right now the EBU is hiding behind a finger, saying that the competitions is between broadcasters not governements and other bs like that. Unfortunately for them, they have the recent precedent of Russia being excluded. With the right amount of pressure, the same can happen for Israel. I know that worrying about the eurovision song contest seems frivulous right now. But the events in italy are proof that israel cares about this kind of international recognition.

SO. Contact your national broadcaster, and/or the swedish broacaster (this year's host). Contact your country's candidate if they are already known. If there are protests at the broadcasters' HQ join them. Share this post and others like it.

And, should everything fail, do not watch eurovision this year.

[limelocked]

So the charges against joost finally fucking dropped according to local news

Hope people blow up on EBU all over again for not that And it’s handling of the Israeli delegation (letting them participate and also letting them do whatever harassment they fucking wanted towards other delegations it fucking seems)

[eurovision-facts]

Eurovision Fact #741:

Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS has confirmed that they will not be pursuing libel charges against the EBU for the disqualification of Joost Klein in the 2024 contest.

[Sources]

"Dutch broadcaster won’t press libel charges against Eurovision over Joost Klein incident," nltimes.nl.

"Joost Klein gaat EBU op dit moment niet aanklagen: 'Geen tijd om hiermee bezig te zijn'," rtl.nl.

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Rob Picheta at CNN, via The Advocate:

(CNN) — Switzerland’s Nemo won a chaotic and politically fraught Eurovision Song Contest, triumphing in a competition overshadowed by controversy and booing over the presence of Israel. The typically jovial event – one of the most watched in the world’s cultural calendar – descended into turmoil in recent days, as organizers in host country Sweden tried and failed to contain anger aimed towards Israel’s delegation. But Nemo, a favorite throughout the process, won over crowds with a stunning rendition of “The Code,” a genre-bending anthem about their journey towards accepting their non-binary identity. “I hope this contest can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person,” Nemo said after accepting the trophy.

“I have to say this whole experience was really intense and not just pleasant all the way. There were a lot of things that didn’t seem like it was all about love and unity, and that made me really sad,” Nemo said. Their win – the first for a non-binary person – was Switzerland’s first triumph since Céline Dion won in 1988. Malmö hosted the competition on the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s Eurovision breakout, but the event quickly found itself facing political controversy, and tension grew in the hours leading to the final. Protesters said the event was “artwashing” Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since being launched in the wake of the militant group’s October 7 attacks on Israel. But organizer the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) defended Israel’s presence, and insisted the contest is non-political – a line that became increasingly untenable as artists, broadcasters and fans clashed over the presence of Israel’s singer Eden Golan. Golan was booed by some members of the crowd during her performance, while a few turned their backs or left the arena, but more attendees cheered the Israeli performance.

And outside the arena, police surrounded a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters, keeping them separate from crowds arriving for the event as they chanted “Free, free Palestine!” and “Boycott the Eurovision.” Ireland’s Bambie Thug meanwhile told CNN in the build-up to the event that it was “the wrong decision” not to exclude Israel, as Russia had been two years ago. [...] Just hours before the event, it was thrown into added turmoil when the EBU disqualified the Dutch entrant for a backstage incident involving a female crew member. The EBU said police were investigating the incident involving the singer Joost Klein and that it would not be appropriate for him to participate. Some fans made their anger at the decision clear during the final by booing EBU representatives when they appeared onscreen.

The 2024 Eurovision contest featured controversy, mainly over Israel’s participation and Joost Klein’s disqualification that wasn’t merited.

Still, some good history was made, as Switzerland’s Nemo won it. Nemo is the first nonbinary winner of the competition’s history.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Switzerland’s Nemo is first nonbinary singer to win Eurovision Song Contest

PinkNews: Nemo becomes the first non-binary artist to win Eurovision – as the UK’s Olly Alexander comes 18th

[honey-whiskey-666]

The Dutch commentators have indirectly confirmed that the lady that filed the charges agaibst Joost Klein was Keren Peles. She is allegedly the one who filmed him without permission. Peles wrote Israels song Hurricane.

fuck the ebu

[because-its-eurovision]

I really hope more delegations call for a re-evaluation of the jurys like Norway is doing. KEiiNO, Subwoolfer and Alessandra all got more than 100 points less from the jurys than the public. But I'm also hoping that Finland will not be one of the first delegations to agree with Norway because certain people would call them bitter

I agree. I think some changes are for certain coming, because we did see those after the 2015 voting scandal, and it wasn't nearly as big as this. People were also angry back then, but it was mostly fans who went to see the split results after the contest, and the casual audience outside Italy probaby didn't know of care. In 2019 Norway got their huge televote points so early that many viewers probably didn't even realise they'd won it as the focus was on the top-3 after jury vote. But this time everyone could see how big the difference was between Sweden and Finland and that the latter won the televote. All over the official FB page, Instagram, YouTube comments, people are super pissed, and EBU knows that. They have to do something. Unfortunately it won't give Käärijä the trophy of 2023.

It might also be that the change in vote in 2016 was not mainly inspired by the need to make rankings more transparent, but to bring Eurovision closer to Melodifestivalen which has slowly been happening especially when Björkman was in charge. My personal wish is still not getting rid of the juries, but to make them less biased. How that could be achieved is something the EBU reference group should really think of, whether it would be bringing a demographic jury in alongside the professional one, raising the number of jurors from five to ten, making them evaluate the performances without telling them which country they are from, or something completely different.

[chantylay]

Here are the contacts for the Finnish act to let them know that we want them to officially declare that they will withdraw if Israel is allowed to participate. Please remember that this is not a harassment campaign. We want the artists and delegations to know they have our support in standing up to the EBU.

the EBU: https://www.ebu.ch/about/contact-us

YLE: phone 09 1480 5500 email tekninen.neuvonta@yle.fi please be aware of international charges if you call the phone number

Windows95man is on instagram as @windows95man that also highlighted as an existing URL on tumblr as I typed that. Finns of tumblr let me know if that account is genuine. His manager's email is lilli@allday.fi

Henri Piispanen is also on instagram @piispahenri

You have heard of acts that need to change lyrics for Eurovision, now get ready for the act that has to change his name: Windows95man (featuring Henri Piispanen), singing "No Rules" for Finland.

This song is so much fun. It's got a 90s synthpop vibe, but manages to thread the needle of sounding enough like the music of the time to be recognizable, but modernized enough not to sound dated. Lyrically, it's about the importance of being yourself even when it goes against arbitrary social rules. The vocals are probably not going to win over any juries (although Piispanen does manage a pretty impressive high note), but it's not that kind of song. Most likely, it will be this years joke act that bombs with the juries but comes top 5 in the televote for an overall left side finish (incidentally, it is my wife's new favorite song this year). I don't see this being left behind in the televote only semis.

Now lets talk about that staging. This was brilliant. How do you encapsulate the "No Rules" ethos without actually breaking any rules? You make the lead guy run around in nude-illusion underwear and plan your shots in such a way to make people wonder if he really is just wearing a t-shirt. The physical comedy is really well done on that front. It comes of as silly and charming more than lewd. The denim hotpants descending from the heavens is iconic, and I sincerely hope that between those giant blocks the Malmo stage is set to have, there is a spare rig that will allow the finnish team to replicate that moment. The denim egg poses a small problem with the shape of the stage, but I think if they leave it close enough to the LED wall, it won't be chronically blocking the view for audience members in the standing zone.

[warningsine]

Did you boycott Eurovision?

I haven't watched it and I have zero interest in it.

That being said, I recognize that it is one of the most political non-political events in the world.

What leaves me indifferent is people's performative activism.

For instance, I've seen the reactions on this site and none of these users mentioned Azerbaijan taking part in the contest.

At least, be consistent: if you think Eurovision should ban countries (instead of TV companies, because this is how it works; the Russian state TV was suspended because it breached EBU rules), shout about the Armenian genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh too.

Because with this logic, the UK should have been banned for its activities in Northern Ireland in the past.

Ireland should have been banned at the height of the IRA campaign.

Turkey should have been banned in 1975 (a year after the invasion of Cyprus).

Spain should have been banned while Franco, who bribed juries, was in charge.

Etc etc etc.