Why Eurovision won’t boot out Israel
Keeping the contest apolitical proves harder than ever
The rules of the Eurovision song contest are clear: no politics. That might not seem hard for a pop-music showcase, but when contestants represent their countries, politics tends to get involved. The victory in 2014 of Conchita Wurst, a drag queen from Austria, seemed to rebuke Russia’s homophobic government, which had invaded Ukraine. Two years later Ukraine won with a song by a Crimean Tatar about Stalin’s deportation of her ancestors.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Singing past Gaza”
Europe May 11th 2024
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- Protests against a Russian-style law threaten Georgia’s government
- Romania’s hard right looks strong in a year of four elections
- Why Eurovision won’t boot out Israel
- National days offer a study into the inner psyche of Europeans
From the May 11th 2024 edition
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