A protest concert against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Festival, and rejecting the music contest itself for “becoming part of a propaganda apparatus that normalizes genocide,” gathered several dozen people this Friday in the center of Vienna.
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Palestinian flags waved among the crowd in Maria Theresa Square, far from the Wiener Stadthalle, the venue where the final of the public television song contest will be held on Saturday night, which Spain and four other countries are boycotting due to the Israeli presence despite its deadly military involvement in Gaza.
“Every day in the Gaza Strip Palestinians are killed, vital aid supplies are withheld amid destruction, and recognized humanitarian organizations are banned. At the same time, the violence of the occupiers in the West Bank and Jerusalem intensifies. However, Israel is offered a stage at the Eurovision Festival as if there were no famine, ethnic cleansing, or occupation,” say the concert organizers, a committee of professionals and representatives of NGOs from various fields. They are supported by Roger Waters, former Pink Floyd bassist and controversial for alleged pro-Russian sympathies in the war in Ukraine, and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
The manifesto – also signed, among others, by Spain’s Minister of Youth, Sira Rego, and singer Miguel Ríos – argues that “art and culture are not apolitical; they can also serve as resistance” and that “just as the international boycott movement contributed to the fall of apartheid in South Africa, today it is necessary to boycott Israel, even in the artistic field.” The text also accuses the festival of maintaining a double standard: “Eurovision excluded Russia from the competition, but international law apparently does not apply in Israel’s case.”
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Support for Israel
On Thursday, in this same square dedicated to Empress Maria Theresa, there was an event supporting Israel under the slogan ‘A show of solidarity,’ attended by about 200 people
The Song Protest concert coincided with Nakba Day, as the organizers emphasize, a committee of professionals from various fields. May 15 commemorates the violent expulsion of about 750,000 Palestinians during the creation of the State of Israel and the First Arab-Israeli War in 1948.
On Thursday, in this same square dedicated to the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, an event supporting Israel was held under the slogan ‘A show of solidarity’ attended by about 200 people, mostly Austrians. On Saturday, the day of the Eurovision final, pro-Palestinian organizations have called for a demonstration at 2 p.m. in another area of Vienna.
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