The Politics of Eurovision: Crises and tactical voting

Although a singing competition, politics is present in the voting and on the stage itself.  The stage has been used to sing about political messages several times even though the organisers require songs to be apolitical. Most famously was Jamala’s 2016 song “1944” which referenced Stalin’s mass deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944. While there was original uncertainty over whether or not the song could be performed, it was allowed and ultimately won the competition that year. 

Other notable political songs have been “Lasha Tumbai” (Ukraine 2008 entry), which, although at first glance, was an over-the-top nonsense song sung by a star headed tin man character, coincidently phonetically sounded closely to “Russia goodbye” when sung on stage. In 2009 with the contest being held in Moscow due to Russia’s win the previous year, Georgia’s entry “We Don’t Wanna Put In” was required to be changed. In protest, Georgia withdrew from the competition that year. In 2015, Armenia’s entry “Don’t deny” was required to be renamed after it called for recognition of the Armenian genocide. 

This year is geared to be a particularly politically heightened edition as Israel has been allowed to perform despite the ongoing assault of Gaza and potentially genocidal actions, as highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur. Earlier in the year, Israel was required to change their original entry “October Rain” as the song lyrics referenced the Hamas attacks. Already during the first semi-final Eric Saade, Sweden’s entry, performed wearing a keffiyeh around his wrist in protest. 

Eurovision has also served as a very important progressive space. In 2014, Austria’s entry Conchita Wurst’s historic win with the drag performance “Rise like a Phoenix” was heavily praised for its representation of diversity. Several performances such as Diva by Dana International (Israel 1998 – first transgender performer), Ryan O’Shaughnessy (Ireland 2018 – featured an onstage same-sex love story interpreted by two male dancers), and a 2015 audience kiss cam which featured a same-sex kiss, have also allowed queer representation on live broadcast which ultimately could not be censored during broadcast in countries such as Poland which have strict anti-LGBT laws. 

Finally, Eurovision has in its own way bolstered European soft power. The most famous example remains ABBA after their 1974 win with Waterloo. Eurovision is also widely watched across the world every year. Last year, 45 million unique viewers across 232 countries and territories watched content on the official YouTube channel during the week of the Live Shows. Moreover, “outside the participating countries, viewers in the United States, Canada, Kosovo, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Mexico, Hungary, Slovakia, UAE, Türkiye, and Chile cast the most votes online.” 

In sum, as we head into this year’s Eurovision edition, the contest can easily be written off as a kitsch superficial event. However, Eurovision serves as an extremely valuable annual meeting place for Europeans to come together whether through a screen or at Eurovision watch parties. It serves as an opinion poll on different European issues, reflects on-going geo-political tendencies, bolsters European soft-power, and it is a stage for political messages and progressive change.