It was the Stockholm daily newspaper Sweden “Expressen” that started an international avalanche of news. The paper revealed in the last weekend edition (January 27/28) that more than 1,000 Swedish musicians and bands are demanding that Israel be excluded from the Eurovision finals, which will take place in Malmö, southern Sweden, in 2024: the reason for this is the ongoing Middle East conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza.
The country of ABBA and IKEA has now published the complete list of all those calling for a boycott of “Expressen”. For example Eric Saade, Marlena Ernman, Timbuktu, but also Medina and Jacqline, who are competing at the regional “Melodifestivalen” this year. World star Robyn is also there. The full list of artists, including many local and regional acts, who have signed and submitted a petition to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) can be viewed on the Expressen web platform.
There have already been calls to exclude Israel from the entire Eurovision 2024. In Iceland, more than 500 artists signed another petition calling on the island’s candidate RÚV to withdraw from the competition. The artist Silvia Night wrote an open letter to the EBU in which she called for a ban on Israel. In Finland, too, 1,300 artists signed a letter calling for the exclusion of Israel.
Also in Iceland, more than 500 artists signed a petition calling on RÚV to withdraw from the competition, while Silvia Night signed an open letter to the EBU calling for a ban on Israel.
That’s not all: the UK “representative” Olly Alexander has also publicly expressed his opinion against Israel.
The Swedish petition states:
“For more than 100 days, we have witnessed the Israeli army committing what leading human rights organizations have described as serious war crimes. The Eurovision Song Contest began as a peace project with the aim of uniting countries and citizens through music. Allowing Israel to participate not only undermines the spirit of the competition, but also the entire public service mission. It also sends the signal that governments can commit war crimes without consequences. That is why we appeal to the EBU: exclude Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.”
The answer from the Swedish host broadcaster SVT came immediately:
“It is the EBU that decides who takes part in the competition and as the host country, SVT refers to what the EBU decides. The human suffering in this extremely complex conflict is horrific. The conditions in the Gaza Strip and Hamas’ attacks in Israel cannot leave anyone untouched. We are also concerned about the developments. We understand and respect that groups make their voices heard.” It also says that the SVT is in dialogue with the EBU. They hope to be able to hold the Eurovision gala in the “best way, with the vision in to unite the music.”
The city manager for the mega event in Malmö, Karin Karlsson, also has her say in “Expressen”:
“We cannot influence whether Israel is there or not, that is the responsibility of the EBU. But we have always said that everyone is welcome in Malmö!”
Are there threats of cancellations from the host country Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Spain?
It can be assumed that this secondary conflict within the international pop camp will drag on for the weeks and months until the Malmö show, if it does not escalate with counter-boycotts. Are there threats of cancellations from the host country Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Spain? The national competitions are currently underway in most European countries. Then the respective winners will also have to position themselves, even if they only see themselves as apolitical musicians.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with denouncing the suffering of the Palestinian population at a techno-hit event like the ESC. Just like you can “artistically” attack Israel’s right-wing politics. But as with the BDS movement, with sinister grumbling brothers like Roger Waters at the top, a conflict is being fueled that is at least three sizes too big for pop starlets. So far, these mass boycott notes seem like a self-righteous move by simple-minded lemmings, with many following along out of a misunderstood “spirit of resistance” without really being interested in the complex Middle East conflict.
The 1970s battle of the pop and rock scene against the Vietnam War was also a highly political affair. However, this was fought out with protest (songs) and “colorful creativity”, and not with boycott demands against Israeli colleagues – who often enough themselves oppose the line of their government.
In the case of the Malmö ESC, you have to have a lot of imagination to assume that Israel’s emergency government would be influenced by the boycott alarm at a pop festival in Sweden.
And anyway: No Swedish Cardigans clone seems to be interested in shady regimes like the one in Azerbaijan, for example. In the ESC participating country, the army expelled the local Armenian population from the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the summer of 2023. Another brutal action that left over 100,000 people deprived of their homes.
But this human rights violation doesn’t seem to interest those willing to boycott one syllable: probably not boycott-hipster-compatible enough!