This issue is much worse than you may think!
Spread this, please!
Eurovision once symbolised a Europe committed to peace, dialogue, and cultural exchange. It was not born as a glitter show. It was created in 1956 as a deliberate peaceโbuilding project โ a cultural instrument to rebuild trust in a Europe shattered by war.
EBU, the European Broadcasting Union own historical summaries describe Eurovision idea as:
โa symbol of European unity after the warโ
โa cultural bridge between countries that had recently been enemiesโ
โa peaceโbuilding experiment using television technologyโ
Academic research confirms this: Eurovision was an early experiment in reconciliation, designed to reduce conflict, not inflame it.
That is why the EBUโs current behaviour is so shocking. An institution founded to promote peace now rewards one war, punishes another, and creates division inside Europe. Here is the background:
The EBU insists Eurovision is โapolitical.โ But its actions prove the opposite. Russia remains excluded because of its invasion of Ukraine โ a decision many Europeans supported at the time. Yet the same EBU now embraces Israel without hesitation, despite a far broader and more destructive pattern of state violence: its genocide in Gaza, the attack on Iran, the longโdocumented system of apartheid, its new selective death penalty, and the ongoing war in Lebanon. The severity of these events is undeniable.
If Russiaโs actions justified exclusion, how can Israelโs far more extensive and longโrunning policies be compatible with participation in a supposedly valuesโbased cultural event?
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