Iceland’s Eurovision entry has caused a stir by criticising this year’s host, Israel, for its treatment of the Palestinians
prevail!” screams the man on stage, as two leather-clad women gyrate in cages behind him. On a pedestal above, a man in a black leotard slices the air with a staff shaped like a toilet plunger. Meet Hatari , a self-described “anti-capitalist,[bondage-discipline-sadism-masochism] techno band”.
The politicisation of Eurovision is nothing new. The victory of a bearded drag queen from Austria upset social conservatives in Belarus and Russia in 2014. Russia was also peeved about Ukraine’s win in 2016 with a song about Josef Stalin’s deportation of Crimean Tatars. In 2017 Ukraine banned Russia’s candidate, who had performed in Crimea; this year Ukraine’s act withdrew to avoid a ban on singing in Russia.
No one has yet pulled out of this year’s event over the host country. But some fear Israel will not allow in contestants who have voiced pro-Palestinian views. Hatari think they might be banned by Eurovision’s organisers. The rules state that “no lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political, commercial or similar nature shall be permitted during the Eurovision Song Contest.” Save them for the wrestling match.
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