In Finland, there have been calls for a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel is involved. When Yle dodges the issue, the performers of the singing competition have found themselves in a difficult situation.
YThe performers of Leisradio's Eurovision Song Contest, i.e. the New Music Competition, were announced last week. Seven performers will compete for the place to represent Finland in the final on February 10: rock group Cyan Kicks, rapper Sexmane, pop singer Sara Siipola, indie musician Jesse Markin, double team Windows95Man – Henri Piispanen, rapper Sini Sabotage and duo Mikael Gabriel – Nublu. In the spirit of the wrapper's success, enthusiasm for the race is high.
Eurovision is a happy spring carnival for fans, but it has always had a political dimension as well. It has been seen both in the performances, in the points received by the countries as well as in various boycott demands. Russia has been banned from the competition since the war of aggression it started in 2022.
This year, Israel has been the target of boycott demands due to the Gaza war. Finnish music industry players at the address Yle was pressured to demand that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) exclude Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest, and if it fails, to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden.
Demands for a boycott have not spread very widely in Europe, at least so far. It may be because the subject is so divisive: Israel has not only its critics but also its sympathizers. The EBU has already announced that the country's participation will not be banned. Nobody seems to be ready for a boycott either – and they don't really want to talk about the whole thing.
This situation has left the performers gasping for breath when they are asked to be ready to participate in Eurovision. For the race's voters, the information is quite essential. Last week, the performers responded for HS as having gone through joint media training, that UMK is its own competition, which must be attended first and talk about Eurovision only later. Of course that's not true. Although Yle has come up with a new name for the competition, it is specifically about qualifying for Eurovision. It seems that we are going to the race with the lanterns turned off.
The editorials are HS's positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS's editorial department, and they reflect the magazine principle line.
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