Eurovision | A reference to Putin, a suggestive video of the monument – Five controversies have often been linked to the legacy of the Soviet Union

of Israel participation in this year's Eurovision is unclear, as the European Broadcasting Union Ebu is currently considering whether to break the competition song October Rain the rules of the competition with their lyrics. Although the song has not yet been performed publicly, its name “October rain” can easily bring to mind the terrorist attack by the extremist organization Hamas on October 7, which started the Gaza war.

The ongoing war and Israel's actions in it have also sparked a wave of international protests aimed at preventing Israel's participation in Eurovision. Israel's public broadcaster Kan reported on Wednesday that the country is completely excluded from the competitionif Ebu does not accept October Rain – song.

Eurovision the rules of the singing contest state that the contest is a non-political event. Still, in the history of Eurovision, political issues have been dealt with for several years.

One can also ask how a non-political competition based on the mutual competition of nation-states can be at all. Block voting has also been continuously seen, i.e. that neighboring countries receive large amounts of votes from each other.

This has been seen especially since the 1990s, when, after the Cold War, the countries of the Eastern Bloc have become part of the Western European Community after the merger of Ebu and the Eastern European radio organization OIRT. The countries that were formerly under the influence of the Soviet Union have still remained united – and even the largest Kohuts still know how to relate to the history of the Soviet Union and the strong imperialist aspirations of its heir, Russia.

For example in 2009 there was a buzz about Georgia's Eurovision song. After Russia occupied Georgian territories the previous year, Georgia sent a disco song to Eurovision the following year We Don't Wanna Put Inthe lyrics of which Ebu asked Georgia to change the obvious Vladimir Putin – because of references. Georgia did not agree to this and withdrew from the competition.

The same also flared up in Eurovisa relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been overshadowed by the countries' long-standing dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenia's 2009 Eurovision song Jan Jan's the introduction video, i.e. the postcard, showed the We Are Our Mountains monument located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, i.e. the introduction video implied that it belonged to Armenia. The region belongs to Azerbaijan, but its population is largely ethnic Armenian.

Azerbaijan objected, and in the finals, an edited version of the video was shown in which the monument was no longer visible. Armenia responded by showing images of the monument on the screen during the scoring.

In Azerbaijan, 43 viewers voted for Armenia Jan Jan -singing, which is why they had to later for police interrogations. Ebu showed serious concern and changed the rules of the contest so that the broadcasting company participating in the contest is held responsible for maintaining the secrecy of the vote – but did not ban Azerbaijan Broadcasting Company from Ebu or Eurovision.

If that had happened, Azerbaijan would not have won the 2011 competition either. The following year, Armenia withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest held in Azerbaijan for security reasons. In 2015, the representative song of Armenia Don't Deny i.e. “Don't deny” received criticism from Azerbaijan because it was interpreted as referring to the Armenian Genocide in 1915. Along with Turkey, Azerbaijan has denied the genocide. The Armenian song was renamed and performed in Eurovision under that name Face the Shadow i.e. “Meet the shadow”.

Russian and Ukraine have been frosty even before Russia's major attack on Ukraine in 2022. It caused Excluding Russia About Eurovision.

But already the Ukrainian song of 2007, Vjerka Serdjutška Dancing Lasha Tumbai sparked a protest mood in Russia, as the song was considered to refer to the 2004-2005 protests on Maidan Square in Kyiv. The demonstrations, called the Orange Revolution, were a pro-Russian protest Viktor Yanukovych victory in a presidential election widely seen as fraudulent. Yanukovych lost in the re-election To Viktor Yushchenko.

Dancing Lasha Tumbai The criticism directed at the song concerned the words Lasha Tumbai, which were considered phonetically modified versions of the English words Russia Goodbye.

In the year In 2016, demands were heard to exclude Ukraine from the competition, when Jamalan performed song 1944 referred to the deportation of the Crimean Tatars during the Soviet rule in May 1944.

Russia had occupied the Crimean peninsula in 2014, which the Ukrainian song was said to be taking a stand on. However, Jamala said the song refers to her own family's experiences in 1944. Ukraine was allowed to participate and eventually won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.

Tight the situation was also visible in the following year's singing competition. Russia's 2017 Eurovision representative Julia Samoilova was not allowed to enter the competition held in Ukraine because he had performed in occupied Crimea and went there through Russian territory.

Also the winner of the 2022 National Qualifiers of Ukraine Alina Pash lost his visa due to the fact that he was suspected of going to Crimea through Russian territory. Kalush Orchestra, who came second in the qualifying, represented Ukraine at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest and won the competition.

Already in the previous one in Russia's ally Belarus was disqualified from the competition because its competition piece Ya nauchu tebya i.e. “I will teach you” was against the rules of the singing competition. Offered as its replacement Pesnya pro Zaytsev -song, i.e. “Song about hares” didn't pass Ebu's screen either.

Both songs were seen as defending the persecution of dissidents in Belarus. Since Belarus did not deliver an acceptable competition copy to Ebu by the deadline, it was excluded from competition.

In the summer of 2021 Ebu expressed concern About the status of BTRC, the Belarusian broadcasting company, and separated it from Ebu for a period of three years. In principle, BTRC could therefore apply for the reinstatement of its membership next summer, when it would be able to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in spring 2025. Also the Russian broadcasting company VGTRK and the Pervyi kanal television channel broke up From Ebu in 2022.

in Finland The Eurovision Song Contest has caused intense debate, especially in those decades when the success was consistently weak and no reason could be found. One of the most memorable songs was Come on the competition song performed in 1982 Sleep wellwho didn't get any points in Eurovision.

The song's lyrics reflected the Cold War. They criticize the nuclear arms race between East and West. Perhaps, however, the name is based on a Finnish saying, which is poorly translated into other languages, and with that the whole song remained a mystery to the international audience.

Especially when it came from a small, few-known Finnish country on the northern edge of Europe.