Europe’s Fragmentation is Visible Even in Eurovision
By Johan Berg
I remember a dinner party that I attended in November 2021. Some Eurovision fans and I were gathered once again. Some, I had not seen for months, and some, I had never met before. Of course, our discussions were focused on the past, present, and future of the music competition we love. We were pretending to be Eurovision experts, to say the least. One person there, who obviously was rather right-leaning, said something that I regularly repeat to myself, as it was a rather surprising opinion to hear.
“Of course, countries like Russia should be allowed to compete in order to become more democratic.”
Three months later, Russia began their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Protests spread all over the world, and sooner or later the vast majority turned their back against Russia. After threats of boycotting Eurovision by several countries and broadcasters, the EBU finally joined in by banning Russia from the contest.
I have not had the opportunity to ask if that one person still believes in the thought of Russia competing to become democratised. But regardless of the answer, it does not change Russia’s relations with the outside world. Neither the Russian Federation nor its people have become more supportive of democracy during their twenty-three years of participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. A clear example of a conflict was shown in 2009 when Russian LGBTQ activists arranged a pride parade on the same day of the Eurovision Song Contest’s finale in Moscow. With the official explanation of pride parades being banned in Moscow, the parade was broken up and dozens of activists were arrested. Even in 2016, when Russia was among the favourites to win Eurovision, there were already fears about the risks of having the contest hosted by an even more aggressive Russia, which a few years earlier banned promotion of LGBT identities and illegally annexed Crimea.
Moreover, this is not the first time that a country with a far-right government leaves the competition, either after having been suspended by the EBU, or leaving voluntarily. Hungary justifies their hiatus by wanting to spread their national music to their citizens without any foreign influences. Turkey has earlier stated that “as long as bearded ladies are allowed to compete, we will not return to the competition”, referring to drag queen Conchita Wurst’s participation and victory in 2014.
Many already know how far-right governments view the world. Countries ruled by such governments are either opposed to organizations like the EU and NATO, or seek to participate only for their own gain. You could clearly see similarities with Donald Trump’s America First campaign, where he asserted that every decision made alone or in cooperation with others would mostly favour the United States. A further obvious example of this is Turkey, which only voted yes to Sweden’s request to join NATO after several requirements from both Sweden and the United States, such as the deportation of certain Kurdish citizens opposing Erdogan’s politics, or increased weapons import. Moreover, Turkey is one of the countries that tends to postpone decisions in COP with the purpose of favouring the fossil industry, something that also would favour Turkey itself. The Turkish delegation clearly had Turkey First in mind.
This theory, that far-right governments join international forums for their own gain, also applies to Eurovision. It is easy for countries to motivate participation in Eurovision since winning the contest means that you get to host the competition the following year. Along with that comes an opportunity to arrange a tourist campaign on your own terms, regardless of the accuracy of the country’s actual state. This has happened lots of times in recent years, with Israel’s hosting in 2019 as the both the latest and biggest example.
When Israel hosted the competition in Tel Aviv, they made sure to focus on Israel being an attractive and welcoming country, especially for the LGBTQ community. That being said: any mentions of Palestine or even waving a Palestinian flag would in Israel be considered "a threat to public order”, which is why these flags also are prohibited in the country. When the Icelandic group Hatari competed the same year, they held up Palestinian flags as the final scores were announced. The action taken by both the EBU and the Israeli broadcaster KAN was to fine the Icelandic broadcaster RÚV a sum of 5000 euros, just because Hatari held up flags. A similar action was made by Madonna who performed an interval act featuring two backing dancers wearing an Israeli and a Palestinian flag on their backs while holding hands. That performance is entirely scrapped from Eurovision recordings as a penalty from the same organisers. Despite the opposition wanting to highlight Palestine’s existence and suffering, Israel’s tourist campaign during Eurovision did work and resulted in both economic growth and a decision on a 10-year plan aiming for an even larger tourist market. This year, Israel’s purpose with their participation has been to play the victim in their conflict with Palestine, first trying to make their song named October Rain, referring to Hamas’s attacks the 7th of October. After some objections from EBU, the entry had become an ordinary peace entry, which technically could not be related to the attacks, if you force yourself to think so.
For many of us, Eurovision is not only an entertaining event where music is the main focus, but it is also an event where freedom, joy and solidarity get a bigger focus. But to believe that countries democratise because of as little as participating in Eurovision is naive. Far-right governments showing clear scepticism towards democracy do not care the least about Eurovision. Even if they did, they either see it as a threat or a possibility for self-promotion. They never see the contest for what we fans see it. Let us be realistic and swap the order. First, a country needs to work towards democracy and equal rights for its own people. I am certain that many European countries would gladly help with that if requested. After that, we can talk about them joining Eurovision and other international forums.
Johan Berg
Swedish Green Party, Eurovision fan & Eurovision critic.
