Front Burner - Eurovision’s charged political history

Episode Date: May 14, 2024

Eurovision might best be described as “the Olympics meets American Idol”: a singing contest where countries face off for the number one spot in musical glory. It’s incredibly campy, silly, and mostly very fun.But this year’s Eurovision — which wrapped on the weekend — was dogged by controversy, as organizers faced protests for allowing Israel to compete amid the ongoing war in Gaza.The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, insists the contest is “non-political”. But our guest today argues that geo-political ideals and tensions have coursed through this competition since its inception in 1956.Tess Megginson — a PhD candidate studying central and eastern European history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — explains.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcriptsTranscripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Jamie Poisson. So for the uninitiated, maybe the easiest way for me to describe Eurovision is a cross between the Olympics and American Idol. A singing competition where countries from many parts of the world, not as the name would actually suggest, just from Europe, face off for the number one spot in musical glory. But that description doesn't really capture the uniquely unhinged, campy delight of Eurovision.

Take this Norwegian number about a grandma eating wolf. Or these Latvian pirates from 2008. Or this 2013 rap dubstep number from Montenegro performed by two guys in spacesuits. Or, or this Irish entry headlined by a screaming puppet of a turkey with backup dancers that are also dressed like turkeys. And at one point, the turkey actually apologizes for Riverdance. Eurovision is bananas. It is often cringe. It is very, very, very fun. I mean, this year's runner-up was a guy named Baby Lasagna.

It has also catapulted a few of the biggest names in pop music to global superstardom. ABBA performed for Sweden in 1988. She won, obviously. The slogan is united by music, and it's supposed to be, in Eurovision's own words, apolitical. This year's competition, which wrapped on the weekend, was anything but. This demonstration has sprung up outside the Eurovision arena arena with demonstrators now being taken away by the police. With Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza raging on, activists demanded that Aden Golan, the Israeli entrant, be banned from the competition.

Last week, pro-Palestinian demonstrators brought thousands of people to the streets of Malmo, Sweden, where the contest was being held. Eurovision united by genocide! Malmo, where we are from, is against genocide and we don't support the Eurovision Song Contest. Israel should not participate in Eurovision, just like Russia got boycotted from the competition. Israel should as well. The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision,

resisted calls to exclude Israel and reiterated that it's a non-political music event and said it's not a contest between governments. But Eurovision, despite what its leaders say, has always had geopolitical ideals and tensions coursing through it, right from its very inception in 1956. Today, we're going to look back at the history of the singular singing battle and the politics of what's happening today. My guest today is Tess Megenson. Formally, she's a PhD candidate studying Central and Eastern European history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Informally, she's basically a Eurovision expert,

and she has watched literal decades of Eurovision contests. She also happens to be Canadian. Hi, Tess. Thank you so much for being here. Hi, Jamie. Thank you so much for being here. Hi, Jamie. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited for this conversation today. So as you'll know well, most Canadians, and I would put myself in this bucket, don't really know much about this competition. So to the uninitiated like me, can you just explain what Eurovision is and how it works? So Eurovision is an annual song contest held for members of the European Broadcasting Union. So that's every country that's in the European broadcasting area.

So that includes countries in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, which is why we're seeing Israel performing in it. And during the contest, viewers are able to vote for their favorite song as long as it's not from their own country. That popular vote is combined with the votes from specialized juries from each EBU member that participates in the contest that year. And then whoever gets the most votes wins the contest and is able to host the contest the following year. And I know that we're going to get more into some of the serious politics after this. But first, just tell me some of the more like light, silly ways that you see alliances between different countries play out in the voting. Because as you mentioned, you cannot vote for your own country. Yeah, you find so much about European dynamics by watching the contest.

So there's a couple of fun ways that we see this. One of them is called block voting. So this is kind of this idea that certain regions and certain countries in Europe always give each other top votes. So the worst offender is usually Greece and Cyprus. They'll often give each other their top votes and have even received boos for doing so before. Hello, Hobig and Cyprus. against Cyprus. And now our 12 points go to Greece. Greece, 12 points.

Our 12 points go to Cyprus. You can also see it with the Baltic countries, Balkan countries, Nordic countries. The UK gets very angry about this because it doesn't receive these kinds of votes from any allies in the country. And actually, we saw this in the contest on Saturday

when they ended up receiving zero points from the popular vote. Now, United Kingdom, you have received zero points. This is kind of typical in the contest. The UK and Germany will usually receive very few votes just due to their power and influence on the continent. It's kind of a way for everyone else to give their opinion on them in the continent. They're like, you guys have too much clout elsewhere, so we're not going to vote for you here. Is that sort of the idea? Basically, basically. And there's also five countries plus the host country that don't have to actually compete in the semifinal, they automatically get to go to the final because they're the biggest donors. So the UK, Germany,

France, Italy, and Spain all automatically get a place in the final, which also kind of causes resentment amongst the other participants. Okay. So Eurovision describes itself as a political, but this year, I think arguably more than ever, maybe I'd love to hear your take on that. The politics of it were really on display. There were big demonstrations in the streets of Malmo, Sweden, where people were protesting against the Israeli finalist, Idan Golan, because of Israel's ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza. Crowds of over 10,000 people took to the city streets chanting Free Palestine, calling for boycotts and divestment from Israel.

Putting on a show like Eurovision just feels wrong when these things are happening. So I'm showing my support for Palestine and I hope that the countries and the leading people of the countries will react in some way. Greta Thunberg, the climate activist, was there protesting, and actually she was seen being escorted away by police right before the final. There were also calls for a Eurovision boycott. But Israeli media actually reported last month that Golan was told by the Shin Bet, Israel's security service, not to leave her hotel room when she was in Malmo. And can you just recap a bit for me how all of this dissent played out in the final days of the competition, both on the streets of Malmo as well as inside on the stage and in the audience?

Yeah. So as you mentioned, there were large pro-Palestine protests in Malmo leading up to the contest and as well during the contest. And officially, the EBU and Eurovision said they would not clamp down on these protests outside the arena because of a right to freedom of opinion, freedom of speech. Of course, inside the arena, that was a very different situation. On stage, contestants were pretty limited with what they were allowed to do without getting either a fine from the EBU or getting disqualified from the contest. Although on Saturday, we did see a lot of quick statements after performances about love and peace and overcoming hate. As well as in the audience, we did see booing from the audience Bambi Thug representing Ireland.

As well as in the audience, we did see booing from the audience during the Israel performance. This we can only know through social media videos because on the actual broadcast, you couldn't hear the booing or any chants of Free Palestine like we could see in the social media videos from audience members. social media videos from audience members. Another thing was they clamped down on which flags were allowed to be waved during the performance. So this isn't a completely new thing, but only flags from participating countries as well as LGBTQ flags were allowed to be waved during the performances. So that way there were no allowed to be waved during the performances. So that way, there were no Palestinian flags being waved. You mentioned the booing in the audience. I saw people on social media talk about how Eurovision used like anti-booing technology. And can you just tell me more about those allegations? Yeah, they've admitted to using it previously, which is why people are accusing them of using

it again this year. So it actually started because of Russia's participation in the contest after they invaded Crimea in 2014 and then also introduced homophobic legislation. There were loud calls to ban them from the contest. So in 2015, Eurovision admitted that they'd be using the sound-reducing or anti-booing technology so you couldn't hear the audience boo Russia during their performance and then also when they gave their votes later in the contest.

Russia, Lagushy! Our lovely twins, they are through and their lovely blonde hair. Russia have a 100% success rate in qualifying for the final. Ooh, audience don't seem to like that. And I saw that Eurovision spokespeople have said that they didn't actually censor sound from the audience and that Sweden's national broadcaster just had evened out the levels for TV viewers to achieve a better sound mix, which I guess they said is typical for TV productions with an audience. So I just want to put this story in a bit of historical context, because Israel has faced a lot of backlash for

their participation in Eurovision since they joined in the 70s, right? So this isn't new. So tell me about that. Yeah, so Eurovision has had Israel participating since 1973. They were actually the first non-European country allowed into the contest. They've had a lot of success in the contest when it comes to getting good results through the votes, but they've also faced a lot of controversy, as you mentioned. So just five years after they joined, so in 1978, they win the contest for the first time. As I mentioned, the EBU also has members in the Middle East and North Africa. So even though these countries don't participate in the competition,

they still air the contest. So in 1978, one of the countries airing the contest was Jordan. And during the broadcast, they actually showed flowers instead of showing the Israeli song. And then when it became clear Israel was going to win the contest, they just ended the broadcast and said that Belgium had actually won and even though they had come second. So this is kind of the first instance we see of this controversy surrounding Israel being in the contest. Fast forward to 2005, and Lebanon's actually set to join the contest as a participant, perform a song.

But since they refused to show the Israeli entry, they had to withdraw from Eurovision since that would violate EBU rules. And then kind of the most recent example we see of this very loud call to boycott the contest to have Israel removed is in 2019, because they had won the contest the year before. So they're hosting it in Tel Aviv in 2019. And artists and performers from across Europe are signing petitions to have the contest moved or to boycott the contest. Well, those ticket holders are arriving for the Eurovision final, they're walking past this group of protesters who say it shouldn't be happening here at all.

What Israel really is, it's not glitter and happy songs. It's actually daily robbery and killing of people who are just trying to get back their rights. In the end, it is held in Tel Aviv, but Iceland's broadcaster ends up getting fined because their performer holds up a Palestinian flag during the contest. So fast forward to today, what has Eurovision said about all these calls to ban Israel from this year's competition? They are claiming that if they were to ban Israel, it would be political because they have not actually violated the rules of the EBU. Originally, of course, Israel's participant had a song that was clearly political and referencing the ongoing war in Gaza. And when the EBU requested them to change it, they did.

So at this point, they feel that Israel's being cooperative with maintaining this idea of being apolitical or nonpolitical in the contest, so they don't see a reason to ban them. Tell me a little bit more about the song. I think it's called Hurricane, right? Yeah. Tell me a little bit about how it was changed and why. Yeah, so the original song was called October Rain and had, you know, references to children dying and this kind of very clear war imagery. And so when this was presented to the EBU and Eurovision, they told them to change it. And so after a couple of rewrites and resubmissions, they ended up with Hurricane, which is a song that we all heard in the contest on Saturday. But of course, as we see, even with this kind of non-political song, so to speak, that they ended up performing, it was still met with boos and with

chants of free Palestine from the audience. So a lot of observers have made comparisons between how the European Broadcasting Union is approaching this situation with Israel and how they've previously dealt with Russia, because they actually banned Russia from Eurovision in 2022 after they invaded Ukraine. And the EBU has said that that ban was because Russian broadcasters were breaking rules to do with public broadcasting and that, like you said, Israel's public broadcaster met all the rules. They also said that as a non-political media organization, they're not there to make comparisons between different wars. But can you just give me a little more context about the Russia case? Yeah. So an important thing to note with that

is that there have been loud calls to remove Russia from the contest since their invasion of Crimea in 2014. And it really wasn't until the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, as well as UN sanctions and louder calls to boycott from actual European countries participating in the contest, that they're kind of forced to remove Russia from the competition. They were very reluctant to do so. Following the invasion, Eurovision officials decided to let a singer represent Russia. But they have since reversed that decision, saying that letting Russia compete would, quote, bring the contest into disrepute, end quote, meaning disgrace. then free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections.

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And why do we start in the 70s? Yeah, the 70s is really when we see these politics and political performance really ramp up. So in 1974, Portugal actually uses their Eurovision entry to start the Carnation Revolution. So when the song is broadcast over the radio, that was the signal to start a coup to overthrow the government. There were two songs used to do the two signals for the coup. And the first was the Eurovision song. So really, Eurovision brought democracy to Portugal, you could argue. And then tell me a bit more about because the 70s was a pretty big decade, right? Like Eurovision was involved in a lot of stuff. Yeah. So the next year in 1975, Greece withdraws from

the contest because of Turkey's participation after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus a year earlier. In 1976, Turkey withdraws because of Greece's participation because their song had an anti-war message, which Turkey viewed as a criticism of their presence in Cyprus. Also, in the late 1970s, we see the creation of an Eastern European song contest called Intervision. So since Eastern European countries under Soviet influence and control were allowed to participate in Eurovision just due to public broadcasting rules. They create their own song contests, and they actually have a much wider geographic and political scope of countries participating.

One of my favorite facts about this is that in 1978, Canada actually participated in the Soviet song contest. But I would always argue that the most political decade of the song contest, other than the one we're currently in, is the 1990s. This is when we see Eastern European countries joining the contest after the fall of communism, as well as when we see newly independent states from the former Yugoslavia during the Yugoslav wars and the breakup of the country join the song contest. And we see a lot of songs about unity, coming together, peace, tearing down walls.

And it's also when we see the first country banned from Eurovision. So shortly after the 1992 contest, Yugoslavia is banned due to their war in Bosnia and the siege of Sarajevo. And this leads to my favorite moment in Eurovision history, which is in 1993 when Bosnia joins the contest is when all the country's juries come on air and they give their votes for their favorite songs. And so the Bosnian jury comes on air and they have to connect via satellite because most of the telephone lines are down in Sarajevo due to the siege of the city. And there's a crackling connection. There's a lot of static on the line. And initially the connection's lost. They're able to come back on the air and give their points. And the audience has the loudest round of applause of the night. Hello Sarajevo, we're hearing you. And it's this really beautiful moment of politics and political solidarity with a country under

occupation. And I do think it's one of those moments that makes Eurovision so exciting to watch. Wow, that must have been so moving to witness that at the time. It's really moving now to think about it. And then take me through kind of the late 2000s, early 2010s. There was quite a bit of drama and geopolitics involving Azerbaijan and Armenia, right? Who are two neighboring countries with a very long running conflict over territory. And how did Eurovision get tangled up in that? Yeah. So in 2009, Azerbaijan actually hid the number to vote for Armenia during the

televoting part of the contest. Some people in Azerbaijan were still able to find a way to vote for Armenia but reportedly they were brought in for police questioning later the next year in junior Eurovision which is the kids version of the contest Azerbaijan interrupted the broadcast when Armenia won so even the kids version of this contest gets extremely political and in 2012, Azerbaijan is hosting the contest after winning the year before, and they build a new stadium just to host Eurovision. But in doing so, they displace a lot of people from their homes. And there are calls to boycott the contest because of this. It's very similar to what we saw with the Olympics in Rio. Wow, that is so interesting. You know, I can't help but think what I did know about Eurovision kind of before this conversation was that it was really campy and ridiculous. Right. And that the music is often super corny. I've always kind of thought of it as as really very jokey. journey um i've always kind of thought of it as as really very jokey right but but given everything that we've been talking about here like give me your best argument for why we should take this

music more charitably more seriously yeah well i think you're right i mean when we're talking about eurovision being political we do need to acknowledge a lot of it is really fun blitz glamour i mean that's what kind of draws people into the contest. And then I would argue what makes them stay is the politics. I think because it's a stage where a lot of countries that don't typically have as much influence are able to perform and to kind of share their culture with not just Europe, but the world, this can often get political. I mean, even if you look

at Croatia this year, it was quite a fun song. You know, as you mentioned, the artist's name is Baby Lasagna. I know. But the song is about Croatians leaving Croatia to go elsewhere and have different job opportunities, which is actually a huge problem in Eastern European countries, right? This emigration to the West. So this is also quite a political message and quite a political song, even if it's a very fun performance with, you know, ridiculous dancing and costumes, it's still a really important topic that, you know, a lot of people are quite concerned about. So even those kind of more fun songs below the surface usually have some sort of message. Or, of course, the winner this year, Nemo, you know, wonderful song, wonderful performance,

and the first non-binary artist to win the contest. And the song is about their journey to discovering, you know, their gender identity, which is also quite a political thing. Yeah, yeah. Tess, this is great. Thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you so much. All right, that is all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.