I Love Eurovision
Yes, and I don’t care who knows it. Eurovision, the annual display of xenophobia, nepotism and geopolitics masquerading as a song contest is one of the great annual events.
I wonder why Germany gave so many points to Turkey (and, for similar reasons, Spain to the UK). Is it because there are lots of immigrants who tend to vote for their own country automatically in large numbers or is it because the immigrants have become or are becoming accepted?
I’m sure there’s a way of predicting the baseline votes for some countries. Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and the BeNeLux have pissed off or invaded most people, and so aren’t going to get many votes. The Baltics and Balkans vote for themselves, as do the Scandies. While you can’t guarantee that state A will receive votes from state B, I’m sure if you approached it from the opposite point of view and looked at the chances of a state allocating its vote to another state there’d be a way.
Can anyone explain to me what was going on with the drums this year? Just about every act seemed to have percussion as the principal or only instrument, including the faintly surreal sight of an 80-year old drummer for Moldova.
I found myself wondering about the Israeli vote, both given and received, in the contest. The high level of immigration, the fact that immigration to Israel isn’t from one country, the desire of Israel to be accepted as Western… it all makes it very interesting. I was pleased to see Israel doing well. There is undoubtedly a rise in anti-Semitic activity and Israel doing well has to offer some comfort. It led me to think, though, about the relationships between Judaism and Israel. If a positive perception of Israel causes a positive perception of Judaism, is it not logical to assume that a negative perception of Israel will cause a negative perception of Judaism?
What, then, for Zionism? Zionism, so far as I understand it, and my knowledge of it is limited, is political action based on the religious belief that Israel is the homeland for Jews appointed by God. Israel exists as a state and is never going to stop existing as a state, so the persistent pressure of some of the more extreme pro-Zionist groups do seem to be asking for trouble.
I am no apologist for suicide bombings and the like, but if Israel is going to make a point of its being the only democracy in the Middle East (well, maybe with the addition of Iraq now) then it would do well to act like a democracy. Three-storey high bulldozers being used to demolish houses (regardless of whether you consider collective punishment to ever be justified) are going to anger people. The question is whether people are angered against just a political entity, the state of Israel, or against a people and religion, the Jews, they view as being forever linked with the state of Israel.
In any case, Kilroy-Silk almost certainly hates Eurovision, which is reason enough to like it.
xD.
May 22nd, 2005 at 5:15 pm
Dave-O,
Zionism need not involve religion and usually doesn’t. Theodor Herzl was basically secular and wanted to build a version of Vienna in Palestine rather than resurect David’s Kingdom. Hardliners like the Revisionists under Jabotinsky certainly adopted some pretty fundamentalist, messianic language but it was more like a secular fascism than religious fundamentalism. The impression is compounded in the talk of a ‘historical homeland’ which sounds like its religious but often is just [pseudo] historical or the treatment of the Bible as a historical document. Interestingly there are some Orthodox religious groups, including some living inside Israel, who deny Israel’s right to exist on the basis that apparently Jews can only return to the promised land once God forgives them and can’t just take it back by immigration and force when they feel like it.
Finally theres the whole element of territorial maximalism and the desire to establish Eretz Israel from the Mediteranean to the Jordan River and the Sinai to the Golan [see for example Mr. Sharon, Butcher of Sabra and Chatilla] which is often bound up in the language of redemption through working the land etc but again has more in common with an often leftist nationalism as embodied in the Kibbutz than anything else.
peace out,
Pabs
May 23rd, 2005 at 6:52 am
That is all very true, but if you ask your average Joe on the street, they don’t know that. While the philosophy behind it may be different, Zionism is, in the popular mind, a connector of the State of Israel and Judaism.
I suppose what I’m saying is that the actions of the State of Israel lead to an anti-Semitic response in some instances.
xD.
May 24th, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Dave,
Agree with Pabs. It’s serious error to think (as you appear to) that “being Jewish” and “Judaism” are necessarily the same thing. Of course not; or how else could you be, say, a Jewish atheist? Ditto for “being Jewish”=”supporting Israel”, as Pabs covered.
If Israel’s actions lead to antisemitism, it’s our job as progressive types to very clearly differentiate. There should be no equation made on our part between Jewishness and what Israel does – even if Israel’s rulers attempt to claim otherwise. What you’ve written in this post, I’m sorry to say, simply adds to the confusion.
May 24th, 2005 at 10:37 pm
Fair enough. I certainly don’t connect Jewishness and Judaism as you suggest I do; I merely say that some would.
xD.
May 24th, 2005 at 10:38 pm
Nice to think that my blog has any influence, though…
xD.