of European Broadcasting Union (EBU)The body responsible for organizing Eurovision, confirmed a few weeks ago His decision not to exclude Israel As a participating country in the largest music event at European level. but, His position has not helped to silence the protests. Previous complaints from Finland and Iceland were joined by an open letter signed by more than 1,000 Swedish artists, accusing event organizers of hypocrisy.
This is not an easy task since the protest is in the country where this year’s music festival is being held. Laureen wins with “Tattoo” in 2023. To be precise, the Swedish artist is not among the more than 1,000 people signing this kind of manifesto.
The open letter was published in full in a Swedish newspaper aftonbladet You can read the complete Spanish translation at the end of this article. All of the signature artists accused the organizers of the show of double standards by not taking the same action against Israel as they did against Russia several episodes ago when Russia was excluded from the war against Ukraine. It is accused of being.
The artists’ complaint alleges that dozens of journalists have been killed in the Gaza Strip and hundreds of foreign correspondents have been denied access in “one of the greatest attacks on press freedom in modern times.” Contains facts.
You can read it below Full text of the open letter:
For more than 100 days, we have seen the Israeli military commit what leading human rights organizations have described as grave war crimes.
More than 25,000 Palestinians were killed, including more than 10,000 children. Israel’s brutal war in Gaza has destroyed critical civilian infrastructure, caused inhumane living conditions and forced the displacement of 85 percent of the population.
What is happening in Gaza is a humanitarian disaster, and the International Court of Justice in The Hague recently decided to continue proceedings against Israel for violating the Genocide Convention.
Nevertheless, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) intends to allow Israel to participate in the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest.
The EBU has justified its position by saying that the Eurovision Song Contest is a contest between public service companies and not between states.
However, the EBU decided to exclude Russia from the contest in 2022 due to the invasion of Ukraine, and in 2021 Belarusian member companies refused to participate in the contest because Belarus violated the EBU’s press freedom regulations. It was done.
In just under four months, around 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed and foreign media outlets denied access to Gaza. This is one of the greatest attacks on press freedom in modern times.
We believe that by allowing Israel to participate, the EBU is displaying a flagrant double standard that undermines the organization’s credibility.
The fact that countries that prioritize humanitarian law welcome participation in international cultural events trivializes violations of international law and obscures the suffering of victims.
As cultural experts, it is our duty to do everything possible to pressure influential actors like the EBU to bring about change and counter artwash. We hope that both the EBU and this year’s host channel, SVT, will maintain a consistent stance against participating countries that violate democratic values and human rights.
The fact that Israel’s indiscriminate war in Gaza was preceded by heinous war crimes committed by the designated terrorist organization Hamas does not exempt the country from its obligations under international law as a democratic state.
We who signed this are 1,000 artists who believe that music is a unifying force. The Eurovision Song Contest began as a peace project with the ambition to unite countries and peoples through music.
Allowing Israel to participate would undermine not only the spirit of competition but the entire mission of the public service. It also sends a signal that governments can commit war crimes without consequences. We therefore call on the EBU to exclude Israel from the Eurovision 2024 song contest.
Eurovision 2024 is currently unaffected by these protests and may be moved to a live music event being prepared in Malmö for the entire week of May.