ER Editor: The Eurovision Song Contest is a perfectly dreadful event, which we hadn’t seen in years until recently. It did produce the likes of Abba in 1974 (see image below) and so might have had some merit back in the day. Now it curiously involves all sorts of countries that are clearly NOT in Europe. Like Israel and Australia. And is very politicized. The songs are homogenized, Sony-label type of fare with highly woke messages. For 2024, Iceland is using it to make a statement of exclusion about Israel. Unheard of, yet perfectly logical given the ‘exceptional’ treatment of Russia for the last 2 years. Cajonies to little Iceland.
AND … Russia’s going to put forward its own equivalent contest, called Intervision. Which could end up involving a pile of countries. This from Sputnik from last month —
BRICS Countries Support Russian-Proposed Intervision Song Contest: Official
The project of a new global popular song contest was previously presented at the 9th International Cultural Forum – the Forum of United Cultures – which took place in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg on November 16-18. The presentation took place at the session “Musical Culture.”
BRICS countries have reportedly voiced their backing for the Intervision song contest.
TV music contest Intervision is seen as a possible alternative to Eurovision. It has also been supported by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and China, Russian media has reported, citing Special Representative of Russian President on International Cultural Cooperation, Mikhail Shvydkoy.“Great interest was aroused by the presentation of a popular song contest on television, which was proposed by the Traditions of Art Foundation and supported by [Russian federal] Channel One. The idea of holding such a competition, which was discussed by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin with the Chairman of [China] Xi Jinping, was supported by our Chinese colleagues. During the forum, our partners in the CIS, SCO and BRICS reacted to it with interest,” the official was quoted by the media as saying.
In addition, Channel One’s director general reportedly proposed to hold the first competition next year, noting that Russia counts on the active participation of the BRICS countries. He also invited “all other countries to join this initiative.”Moreover, according to the outlet, Shvydkoi stressed that the new project isn’t designed to be an antithesis of the already existing music TV contests. It is also assumed that the participants of Intervision will perform songs in national languages: “The rules and principles of voting are being worked out,” he clarified.
Seriously, what is the West for?
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Iceland wants Israel disqualified from Eurovision
The country should face the same treatment as Russia after it launched its military operation in Ukraine
RT
A group representing musicians in Iceland has called on the Nordic country’s broadcaster RUV to withdraw from the next year’s Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is allowed to participate.
More than 19,400 people, mostly women and children, have been killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza, the latest figures from the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave suggest. The IDF launched its attacks on Gaza in response to an incursion into Israel by Hamas on October 7, which left some 1,200 dead.
“We all have a duty to take a stand against war and the killing of civilians and innocent children,” the Association of Composers and Lyricists of Iceland (FTT) said in a statement on Facebook last week.
The FTT called on the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RUV) “not to participate in Eurovision in 2024 unless Israel is denied participation in the competition on the same grounds as Russia in the last competition.”
“We owe it to the nations that act with military force to not share with them in an event that is always characterized by joy and optimism,” the musicians said.
A petition urging Iceland to boycott Eurovision 2024, which is scheduled to take place in Malmo, Sweden in May, had also been started, gathering more than 9,300 signatures. The island nation has a population of some 372,000.
The statement by the FTT was made in the wake of the RUV’s board meeting. However, the issue of withdrawing from the Eurovision was reportedly not considered during the gathering.
The European Broadcast Union (EBU), which stages the Eurovision, said in a response to several media outlets that it’s “a competition for broadcasters – not governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has participated in the Contest for 50 years.”
The union argued that its stance “is aligned with other international organizations that have similarly maintained their inclusive stance towards Israeli participants in major competitions at this time.”
The EBU made similar statements after the launch of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. However, as pressure from Kiev’s backers on the union mounted, it changed its stance, arguing that “the inclusion of a Russian entry… would bring the competition into disrepute.” Russia ended up missing the Eurovision in 2022 and 2023.
On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that Moscow was going to stage its own song contest with “partner countries” as a replacement for the Eurovision. The first iteration of ‘Intervision’ is going to be held in Russia next year, he said.
Source
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Featured image source, Eurovision 2024: https://eurovisionworld.com/eurovision/2024/event
Featured image, performance: screengrab here
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