The week of Eurovision has started with expressions of support for the Palestinian people. The guest singer Eric Saadeof Swedish-Palestinian descent, performed in this Tuesday’s semifinal with a kufiya —a traditional scarf Palestine and the Middle East. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has decided not to share his appearance on its official channels. The same organization has forced the representative of Ireland to delete from his body his messages for the ceasefire and the freedom of the Palestinian people.
From Publicwe have refused to publish any information about the festival in this edition, which allows the presence of the Israeli state while committing a genocide in Gaza. However, we echo the latest events to spread the pro-Palestinian protests by the most critical participants.
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To fallback.
The executive director of Eurovision 2024, Ebba Adielsson, has expressed disappointment over Saade’s decision to wear a Palestinian headscarf on stage. “We find it sad that he uses his participation in this way,” she said.
The singer had already shown his discontent with the organization because of the presence of Israel at the festival. In a subsequent interview, Saade highlighted that the handkerchief belonged to his father and criticized the fact that the EBU consider your ethnicity “controversial.” “From my point of view, it is pure racism,” she said.
The representative of Ireland, Bambie Thug, also denounced in the subsequent press conference the censorship he received from the EBU. The singer, who identifies himself as non-binary gender, the words were painted Ceasefire (ceasefire) and Freedom for Palestine (Freedom for Palestine), encoded in the alphabet Oghaman ancient Celtic language.
As he revealed to the media, the organization forced him to delete those messages and only keep a third symbol that he had painted and that corresponds to the words crown the witch (Crown the witch). “It was very important to me because I am in favor of justice and peace. Unfortunately, today I had to change those messages,” lamented the artist.
