Eurovision Used to Be a Campy Joy – But It Has Become a Calculated Tool to Whitewash War.
A new acronym came to light a few months after the start of the intensive bombing of Gaza by Israel. Known as WCNSF, it stands for “Injured child with no living relatives”. This acronym is found only in Gaza, according to health professionals like paediatricians. Normally, it is uncommon for medical staff to attend to a young patient who has seen the death of their whole family. Yet, there has been no semblance of normality concerning the genocide in Gaza, where whole bloodlines have been obliterated and the number of children who have lost limbs is greater than that of any other place in the world. No sense of normalcy in many doctors coming back from a landscape of rubble with accounts of children being deliberately targeted.
A Hell on Earth In Spite Of a Reported Truce
The Gaza Strip continues to be hell on earth. Essential medical supplies are being blocked those in need, and major human rights organizations contend that violations are ongoing. The Israeli government disputes these allegations, consistent with how it disavows all charges it is implicated in. But while traumatised orphans are now suffering from the cold in makeshift tent camps, there is some ostensibly positive news: apparently nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from advancing its professed goal of “togetherness and cultural exchange.” The contest will continue to extend a blood-red carpet for Israel, even though at least four European countries have now withdrawn in objection. Since this, it seems, is what international harmony manifests as.
The contest, notably banned Russia from competing in 2022 over the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza is entirely distinct.
A Selective Vision
Overlook the circumstance that Israel was alleged to have used irregular participation methods last year in what could be seen as an bid to manipulate Eurovision. Set aside the news that a three-year-old girl was reportedly killed in Gaza just days ago. Neglect the data that settler violence and forced displacement in the West Bank have escalated. Overlook the situation that international journalists are still blocked from freely reporting in Gaza. None of this, apparently, should be seen as a barrier of Eurovision’s much-touted ethos of unity.
The Contest Continues Against a Backdrop of Staggering Tragedy
The contest marks seven decades next year – roughly two times the projected longevity of an individual in Gaza today. The broadcast will air, but it will find it impossible to reclaim the camp joy it once represented. A competition that was originally built on harmony has now become a transparent instrument to provide a cultural veneer for conflict.
