Eurovision expresses disappointment over performer wearing pro-Palestinian symbol

The musician was seen wearing a keffiyeh on his arm, a symbol commonly used to show support for Palestine.

In reponse, a representative of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement: “All performers are made aware of the rules of the contest, and we regret that Eric Saade chose to compromise the non-political nature of the event.”

Despite facing criticism for its decision not to exclude Israel and worldwide protests condemning the organizers’ choice, the competition maintained its stance.

“Politics does influence the event from time to time,” said Paul Jordan, a contest enthusiast and researcher who was part of its communications team from 2015 to 2018, in an interview with CNN.

However, he noted, “the presence of Israel has become such a big issue (that) I think it’s going to overshadow the event.”

The news comes during Israel’s seizure and closure of the Rafah crossing in Gaza, which has raised concerns that already-scarce food and medical supplies will be further depleted and lead to a “catastrophic” humanitarian disaster.

anarchist,
@anarchist@lemmy.ml avatar

Yeah. “Apolotical” bull fucking shit. If you look at 99% of eurovision songs, you’ll see that’s what they want - art without voice, a sort of generic smoothover that’s is too afraid to even hint at a belief

Atomic,

I’ll add Eric Saade’s own response

Den sjalen fick jag av min pappa som liten grabb, för att aldrig glömma var familjen kommer ifrån. Då visste jag inte att den en dag skulle kallas ‘politisk symbol’. Det är som att kalla Dalahästen för politisk symbol. I mina ögon är det bara rasism. Jag ville bara vara inkluderande och bära något som är äkta för mig – men EBU verkar tycka att min etnicitet är kontroversiell. Det säger ingenting om mig, men allting om dem. Jag säger som årets ESC-slogan: United by music”.

Translated;

I got that shawl from my father as a little boy, to never forget where the family comes from. I didn’t know then that it would one day be called a ‘political symbol’. It’s like calling the Dala horse a political symbol. In my eyes, that’s just racism. I just wanted to be inclusive and wear something authentic to me – but the EBU seems to find my ethnicity controversial. It says nothing about me, but everything about them. I say as this year’s ESC slogan: United by music”.

letsgo,

OK now let’s try that with a different symbol:

I got that symbol of spirituality from my Indian father as a little boy. I didn’t know then that it would one day be called a ‘political symbol’. I just wanted to be inclusive and wear something authentic to me – but the EBU seems to find my ethnicity controversial. It says nothing about me, but everything about them.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

I’m sorry your* family symbol is shared by Hamas. But to pretend that everyone will see that symbol and NOT think you’re pro-Palestinian is at best massively naive. You’re a grown-up now, so you have to start thinking and acting like one.

*addressing Eric, not Atomic.

5in1k,

You’re comparing a kefiya with a swastika?

letsgo,

Hang on a sec, let me check what I wrote…

No.

5in1k,

Checking what you wrote, yes.

letsgo,

Where exactly?

5in1k,

Are you purposely being obtuse? You wrote two sentences, do you want me to repeat those sentences? Do you have reading comprehension issues even deciphering your own words?

letsgo, (edited )

While it is true that there are (a) a comparison, (b) a keffiyeh, and ( c ) a swastika in my comment, the comparison is not between the symbols but between Eric wearing the former, and a hypothetical other performer wearing the latter, and both being supposedly unaware that their symbols would be regarded as political statements.

Atomic,

The shawl is not the official or adopted symbol for hamas.

Unlike the swastika which was THE symbol for nazism. It’s a symbol they used to identify party alignment, who is and isn’t a nazi. Same thing cannot be said for the shawl.

crapwittyname, (edited )

Palestine ≠ Hamas.
Since your entire argument hangs on us accepting the opposite, you should probably find a new one mate.

letsgo,

True, but it seems fairly easy to find images of Hamas fighters wearing the keffiyeh. So it’s not entirely inaccurate to say it’s shared by Hamas.

Crazazy,

Second semifinals are today and I kinda hope there will be a riot going on in Malmö. Or at least make sure the EBU has to make more statements tomorrow

Amaltheamannen,

Worth nothing that the artist in question was born in Sweden to Palestinian parents and wore a scarf given to him by his Palestinian dad.

NigelFrobisher,

And yet Russia is excluded.

SuddenDownpour,

Inspired by an Israeli perspective of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and its emotional aftermath on Israelis according to Golan and its songwriters, it is set to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.

Genocide perpetrators are allowed to participate with explicit propaganda. Everyone else is forbidden from even alluding to the crime. Absolute scum would be better off below the soil.

NeuronautML, (edited )

“Guys please, can you just ignore the dead children for one minute? They’re already dead, it’s not like they care anyway.

We’re trying to make money here and your empathy for your fellow human beings is just mucking it all up. Please, please try to follow the apolitical rules we laid out and for the duration of the show and just stfu and give us money ok ? That’s all we want. Bring the money and leave your messy politics at home. Your complaining makes other people not want to give us more money.

Remember why we’re doing this. For culture and money. But mostly money. Thanks!”

CAVOK,

Typical no win situation. Can’t pick a side without being criticised, can’t not pick a side for the same reason.

Only thing that both the Israeli government and Hamas can agree on is that the Palestinian people is expendable.

Zehzin,
@Zehzin@lemmy.world avatar

They can pick the side not doing a genocide.

Ooops,
Ooops avatar

Hamas plans a genocide of Jews on one hand -without limited success so far, but not for a lack of trying- and actively helps with worsening the situation in Gaza on the other because they can use deaths there for their propaganda. Israel isn't shy about killing as many Palestinians as possible either, because not reacting to Hamas terror isn't an option, but any reaction will produce a negative reaction and tons of propaganda anyway. So why not go all in?

So which side are you talking about? The one commiting genocide or the genocidal one? No, Palestinian civilians are sadly not a valid side you can chose as they are de facto governed by Hamas in Gaza... unless you have a plan to separate one from the other somehow. Please then go on and tell the plan to world leaders unsuccessfully looking for such a solution for many, many years now.

Or in short: Pretending there are easy sides, with one being right and one wrong, is not a solution but indeed part of the problem.

Zehzin, (edited )
@Zehzin@lemmy.world avatar

unless you have a plan to separate one from the other somehow

Spoken like a true zionist bombing civilians because everyone on Gaza is Hamas. Specially children, journalists and aid workers.

Ooops,
Ooops avatar

Thank you for perfectly demonstrating my point. You are an idiot thinking this is a team sport, "your" side is right and everybody not sharing your exact opinion is wrong and the enemy.

And because everyone is the same on that "other side" I somehow become a zionist bombing civilians in your alternative world view, although I could impossibly qualify for that definition by any degree.

And also because everything on your side needs to be righteous you twist reality to fit your view. I explicitly asked how to effectively separate Palestinian civilians in Gaza from their de facto Hamas governmemnt. Yet somehow in your brain that question translated to the exact opposite of what I actually said: That somehow every civilan in Gaza is part of Hamas.

Seriously... how fucked up is your delusion that things you read instantly transform to mean something completely different, just so they fit the imaginary point you are trying to make?

Zehzin,
@Zehzin@lemmy.world avatar

ok

keep defending the genocide, warrior

Devi,

You seem to be speaking as if genocide is the goal of every war. It's really not, and in fact it's against international law which most countries stick to.

Genocide is quite rare through history because generally once you have complete dominion over a people you stop and start to rebuild. In the Iraq war (which was quite an extreme war with quite a lot of rule breaking) they allowed the people to eat, they allowed aid trucks free access, there were even British hospitals that treated Iraqis. Most importantly they took measures to reduce civilian casualties, like avoiding conflict in populated areas.

This 'war' is not following any of those rules. The people are not allowed to leave, aid providers are being directly targeted, any supply of medical equipment is prevented from access.

Anyone at this point sitting on the fence going "Well both sides are in the wrong" is either misinformed or evil.

brainrein,

You are of course right, both sides have done terrible things to each other. For over 100 years. Many Zionist immigrants and later Israelis have been victims of Palestinian violence. And throughout all that time, there have always been at least 10 times more Palestinians who have fallen victim to Zionist violence.

But yes, when two groups lay claim to the same piece of land, then hatred and violence ensue, including blind violence against civilians, because people can be really shitty, we know that.

But there is also the question of who is in the right in this conflict, whose claim to the land is more valid. In my sense of justice, in this conflict the Palestinians are the natives who should have owned the land from the start.

And the Zionists immigrated to Palestine with the declared aim of establishing their own Jewish state there. And like real Europeans of the time, they gave practically no thought to what the people living there thought about it.

I think we have to keep in mind that, regardless of the violence, the Palestinians have been subjected to terrible injustice for over 100 years by the Zionists, by Israel and by their European allies around the world.

Don_alForno,

In my sense of justice, in this conflict the Palestinians are the natives who should have owned the land from the Start.

I disagree.

So, whose arbitrarily picked amount of years to look back in time and say “see, our people were there first” are we following?

cybersin,

Massacring and forcibly evicting an existing population to create an ethnostate, which then subjugates the previous inhabitants under an apartheid regime, is generally seen as a “not very nice” thing to do. To suggest that territorial disputes can only be resolved through war is unimaginative, ignorant, and flatly incorrect.

Your question is unimportant because ethnostates and the forcible acquisition of territory are always fundamentally unjust.

A civilian population is being brutalized right now. The killing must stop for there to be any reconciliation.

Don_alForno, (edited )

Which one is that? Because Hamas sure tried. They’re just too weak.

Specal,

I don’t see the hamas entry for Eurovision

Specal,

You can’t claim to be non political and kick Russia out for invading Ukraine but let Israel stay in while committing genocide.

That in itself is a political statement.

CAVOK,

Russia wasn’t kicked out for invading Ukraine, just to be clear. Russia was kicked out because they no longer have a free press, which is a requirement for participation.

You can call it a pretense if you want, but that’s the official reason, not the war.

ugo,

Does Israel have a free press?

CAVOK,

Place 101 on the press freedom index. Just below Madagascar. “Problematic” is the grade, so yes, but not without issues?

NeuronautML,

Can’t live your life sitting on the fence being friends with everyone. You gotta embrace your values and accept the consequences that some people will disdain you for it. If you can live with both the disdain and your consciousness, then you’ve picked the right place, i believe.

Fences are for birds.

Not_mikey,

Hamas values Palestinians way more than israel, at least they signed a ceasefire deal to try and stop raffah from being bombed, while Israel ignored it and started bombing any way.

Both sides all you want, but one side has been pushing for a ceasefire for months, returning the hostages for a permanent stop to the slaughter, and one side has been ignoring those calls to continue there genocide.

CAVOK,

Hamas attacked Israel, counting on the response being disproportionate and bloody. They wanted dead Palestinians and the Israeli government complied.

Hamas aren’t the good guys here. Neither is the Israeli government, just to be clear.

cybersin,

Hamas attacked Israel, counting on the response being disproportionate and bloody. They wanted dead Palestinians

Yeah bro, they really just wanted to murder-suicide their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters Jonestown style. Trust me bro, they got what they deserved, bro.

It is disgusting to suggest they wished for the massacre of their people.

CAVOK,

Do you think that Hamas are so inept that they didn’t know what was going to happen after Oct 7? No, they knew, and counted on it to get support and to wreck any goodwill Israel had with their neighbours and the world.

Don’t take me writing this as support for Israel. I hate their right wing fascist government as much as I hate the terrorists in Hamas.

There are no good guys in this, and both are fine with the killing of innocent civilians.

cybersin,

I’d say the scale of civilian death achieved through the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is so extreme, it could not have been foreseen. It is a vastly disproportionate response.

No, they knew, and counted on it to get support and to wreck any goodwill Israel had with their neighbours and the world.

This is just wrong. The western powers have unwaveringly supported Israel from the beginning. Only just recently has the US decided to perhaps reduce the weapon shipments to Israel, after vast destruction and loss of life has already occurred.

CAVOK, (edited )

I’d say the scale of civilian death achieved through the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is so extreme, it could not have been foreseen. It is a vastly disproportionate response.

Agreed that it’s disproportionate. Somewhat conflicted on the “deliberate targeting” as I think it’s more of a “don’t care as long as we also hit something that might be Hamas”. Still certain that Hamas knew what would happen and already had a plan to use it for propaganda purposes.

This is just wrong. The western powers have unwaveringly supported Israel from the beginning. Only just recently has the US decided to perhaps reduce the weapon shipments to Israel, after vast destruction and loss of life has already occurred.

Israel already have all the weapons they need to flatten Gaza completely. Hamas tactics are kind of working though. Although most western governments support Israel, this is causing internal issues (protests etc) in those countries, which weakens those governments, which will translate to less support for Israel. I suspect it won’t do much in the short term, except perhaps strengthen the resolve of the Israeli government, which will only translate into more suffering for the Palestinian people.

The only people who can stop this suffering is the Israeli and Palestinian people, which they were trying to do before all this kicked off, and likely one of the reasons why one of the most pro-Palestine kibbutzes (Be’eri?) was hit so hard. Both Hamas and the Israeli government gain from this conflict, sickening as it is.

cybersin,

Somewhat conflicted on the “deliberate targeting”

Intentionally striking hospitals, aid workers, journalists, and families in their homes, is the deliberate targeting of civilians.

Still certain that Hamas knew what would happen and already had a plan to use it for propaganda purposes.

When a faction commits war crimes, the propaganda writes itself.

Israel already have all the weapons they need to flatten Gaza completely.

Yet the US continues to send military equipment and munitions.

The only people who can stop this suffering is the Israeli and Palestinian people

Not entirely. Israel relies heavily on foreign (US) capital. Threat of divestment and/or sanctions would likely be quite effective.

Woozythebear,

Found the nazi

h3mlocke,

https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/437ff1ae-50cb-4254-b401-72d712b3ec27.webp

andrew_bidlaw,

Picking any side there is political and they’ve choosen the participation of one over a little sign of another.

BakedGoods,

Eurovision is and has always been political. They’re talking out of their asses. Also why the fuck is Israel in it? Australia I kinda get but those fucktard cultists over in Israel have built their whole identity on not being European.

EvilCartyen,

At least Israel is part of the European Broadcasting Union, who’re doing the show, for historical reasons. Australia makes no sense.

BakedGoods,

What part of Australia doesn’t make sense? The vast majority of Australians are of European descent and it used to be a British colony.

kommerzbert,

It’s not about the European descent at all. Australia just loves the ESC that’s why they’re allowed to participate

redd,
@redd@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

same would be true for US

Infynis,
@Infynis@midwest.social avatar

Isn’t Australia still part of the Commonwealth?

EvilCartyen,

Why is the commonwealth relevant for non-UK nations?

Microw,

They are not in the EBU.

CaptObvious,

I’m honestly glad that Eurovision is totally irrelevant in 90% of the world.

HerrVorragend, (edited )
@HerrVorragend@lemmy.world avatar

Only because those 90% are not allowed to compete /s

For real though, a similar worldwide system would be interesting to watch, I am sure.

pastermil,

So I guess we’re not free to wear what we want now…

VirtualOdour,

When you say now do you mean they lthat the rules they have for good reason still exist?

What is new beside a rule that’s been broken before getting broken again?

Flughoernchen,

I think their point is that it’s not a flag or something, which would obviously be political, but just a scarf. So they mean “Oh wow we’re not allowed to wear scarves anymore?”. Which is still a bit silly, as the political intention seems pretty apparent in this specific case.

VirtualOdour,

I mean the organizers were disappointed, if I remember correctly O’Brian did more than tell Winstin he was disappointed…

AllNewTypeFace,
@AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space avatar

‘yahuvision

Hugh_Jeggs,

Understatement of the year -

“Politics does influence the [Eurovision] event from time to time,”

  • Paul Jordan, May 2024
Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Cultural Genocide vision.

CaptObvious,

Cultural? It’s a full on genocide.

Linkerbaan, (edited )
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Yes of course, but that is the physical Genocide of Palestinians in Palestine. Committed by israel and made possible by America, Germany, and Britain.

But now Europe as a whole is banning all traces of Palestinian culture outside of Palestine in their “song festival”.

This incident is noteworthy because does not involve the Palestinian flag. The Keffiyeh is pure Palestinian culture. Anything that has any connection to Palestine is now banned. Just think for a moment how Nazi this is. This is full on top tier CCP shit.

Palestine is literally not allowed to exist in any shape or form. Not only the people but their entire culture is now wiped out. So that after israel is done wiping out all Palestinians from Gaza nobody will remember who they even were despite all the Palestinians in other countries around the world still living.

RandomGuy79,

If it wasn’t, it would be a gravel lot.

Linkerbaan,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

I read this dumb " if israel wanted to destroy Gaza all the houses would be rubble" meme for the last time a few months ago.

Now that almost every home has been destroyed I didn’t expect someone to be stupid enough to bring it up again.

RandomGuy79,

Its true that 70 percent or so has been destroyed but not all. You’ll just have to ask hamas to rebuild homes instead of tunnels. My point stands that if Israel wanted it flat it would be scrub and rocks.

Linkerbaan, (edited )
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Broooo it’s just 70% lmaooo Like just 2 in 3 houses has been destroyed!!! That’s not 3 out of 3!

You’re right tough, if israel just flattens all of Gaza and destroys all but 1 house then nobody could say that israel tried to destroy everything. Because there would be 1 house standing!

I wonder why I didn’t think of that before.

RandomGuy79,

Yes. It could have been much worse, and I am still not exaggerating, it’s you, eternally moving goal posts. It’s a terrible situation that your propaganda source loves fanning

Linkerbaan, (edited )
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

There is no Genocide in Ba Sing Se.

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