Reflecting on Past Years’ Eurovision Cheers

Eurovision is currently working to address the international controversy stirred by Israel’s participation. Eurovision has experienced similar controversies in the past, often associated with the legacy of the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia.

Israel’s participation in this year’s Eurovision remains uncertain, as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is deliberating whether Israel’s competition song “October Rain” violates the competition rules with its lyrics. The song’s title could potentially evoke memories of the October 7 terrorist attack by the extremist organization Hamas, which initiated the Gaza war. The song has not been publicly performed yet.

The ongoing war and Israel’s role in it have also triggered international protests aimed at preventing Israel’s participation in Eurovision. Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported that Israel could be entirely excluded from the competition if the EBU rejects “October Rain”.

Eurovision’s competition rules state that it is a non-political event, but political issues have been a part of it for several years. Questions arise about how a non-political competition based on the competition between nation-states can exist, especially considering the block voting observed, where neighboring countries give each other large numbers of votes.

This trend became particularly noticeable since the 1990s when Eastern Bloc countries joined the Western European Community after the merger of the EBU and the Eastern European radio organization OIRT. Countries formerly under the influence of the Soviet Union have remained united, with lingering ties to the history of the Soviet Union and Russia’s imperialist pursuits.

Notable controversy arose in 2009 when Georgia’s Eurovision song was seen as a critique of Russia, which had occupied Georgian territories the previous year. The EBU asked Georgia to change the song’s lyrics, which seemed to reference Vladimir Putin, but Georgia refused and withdrew from the competition.

Similarly, conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region have caused controversies in Eurovision. In 2009, Armenia’s introduction video for its Eurovision song showed the “We Are Our Mountains” monument located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, implying it belonged to Armenia. Azerbaijan protested, and an edited version of the video was shown in the finals. In response, Armenia showed images of the monument during the scoring.

Azerbaijan and Armenia’s tensions continued, with controversies over songs that were perceived as references to the Armenian Genocide in 1915. Russian and Ukraine’s relations have also been strained in Eurovision, even before Russia’s major attack on Ukraine in 2022.

Many controversies also arose from songs believed to reference political events, such as Ukraine’s 2007 song “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”, which was seen as a reference to the 2004-2005 protests in Kyiv, and Ukraine’s 2016 song “1944”, which referred to the deportation of the Crimean Tatars during Soviet rule in May 1944.

In 2017, Russia’s representative was barred from the competition held in Ukraine because she had performed in occupied Crimea and entered through Russian territory. Similarly, Ukraine’s 2022 National Qualifier winner lost her visa due to suspected travel to Crimea through Russian territory.

In 2021, the EBU expressed concern about the status of the Belarusian broadcasting company BTRC and suspended it from EBU for three years. The Russian broadcasting company VGTRK and the Pervyi Kanal television channel also left the EBU in 2022.

In Finland, the Eurovision Song Contest has sparked intense debates, particularly during periods of consistent weak performance. One of the most memorable songs was the 1982 competition song “Sleep well”, which received no points in Eurovision. The song’s lyrics criticized the nuclear arms race between East and West during the Cold War.