Eurovision Used to Be a Campy Joy – However It Has Transformed Into a Calculated Tool to Sanitize Conflict.

An recent initialism came to light a couple of months after the start of the military campaign against Gaza. Known as WCNSF, it stands for “Wounded child, no surviving family”. This acronym is specific to Gaza, as stated by health professionals including child health specialists. Ordinarily, it is uncommon for medical staff to attend to a child who has lost their entire family. But, there has been absolutely nothing ordinary about the genocide in Gaza, where entire family lineages have been wiped out and the number of young amputees exceeds that of any other region in the world. No sense of normalcy about scores of doctors arriving back from a sea of ruins with reports of children being intentionally shot at.

A Hell on Earth In Spite Of a Announced Cessation of Hostilities

Gaza remains an utter catastrophe. Critical healthcare resources are being blocked those in need, and groups like Amnesty International have stated that genocidal acts are continuing. The Israeli government disputes these accusations, consistent with how it denies each claim it is accused of. But while traumatised orphans are now freezing in improvised encampments, there is some ostensibly positive news: apparently nothing is going to stop the Eurovision song contest from pursuing its declared purpose of “unity and cultural exchange.” Eurovision will continue to offer a blood-red carpet for Israel, despite the fact that a number of European countries have now boycotted in dissent. Since this, it seems, is what international harmony resembles.

Eurovision, of course excluded Russia from participating in 2022 because of the “unprecedented crisis in Ukraine”. Yet the conflict in Gaza seems treated differently.

A Double Standard

Disregard the reality that Israel was accused of irregular participation methods last year in what appears to have been an bid to politicise Eurovision. Forget the fact that a young child was reportedly killed in Gaza just days ago. Neglect the data that settler violence and coerced removal in the West Bank have increased dramatically. Disregard the condition that foreign reporters are still blocked from independent reporting in Gaza. None of this, it would seem, should be allowed to get in the way of Eurovision’s self-proclaimed spirit of unity.

The Pageant Proceeds While Ignoring Unimaginable Suffering

Eurovision marks seven decades next year – roughly two times the projected longevity of someone in Gaza today. The show may go on, but it will likely never recapture the camp joy it was formerly known for. A contest that was originally built on peace has now become a blatant mechanism to provide a cultural veneer for conflict.