The winner of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest is the Swiss non-binary rapper Nemo. His performance of The Code was the most convincing for the juries from several countries, but not for the people. The highest number of popular votes went to Croatian singer Marko Purišić (337 points), Israel’s Eden Golan (323 points), and the Ukrainian duet (307 points). Many people were visibly disappointed and felt that the victory was stolen. “No, he convinced the ‘jury’, the people didn’t even vote him in the top three,” was just one of the comments on social media in relation to the victory. Another user also pointed out: “The people from the background decided – as always.”
After the second semi-final night of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, Croatian artist Baby Lasagna (Marko Purišić), who performed the song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, and Israel’s Eden Golan came first and second in the betting. This was confirmed in the finale of Eurovision, as people voted accordingly, but unfortunately, the expert jury has a big say. The Slovenian representative Raiven, with her song Veronika, landed in 23rd place with 27 points.
Despite anti-Semitic protests and other forms of pressure, Israel was seen as one of the favourites
As Israel was not banned from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, despite the request of pro-Palestinian activists in Malmö, Sweden, a city where many Muslim migrants have found a home, anti-Semitic protests took place ahead of the second semi-final night and Saturday’s final. The well-known environmental activist Greta Thunberg was, of course, also present at the protest. Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in the streets before the Israel representative Golan’s performance on Thursday. The Swedish police estimated that as many as 12,000 people took part in the protest. The rampant anti-Semitism caused 1,500 Jews living in Malmö to leave the city during the Eurovision Song Contest, as reported by the media outlet Visegrad24.
The anti-Semitic protests also happened before Saturday’s final act. Thunberg joined the protesters this time as well, and she was later detained, alongside others, after the protesters clashed with the Swedish police. Several thousand people gathered at Saturday’s protest against Israel’s participation in Eurovision. Protesters waving Palestinian flags set off smoke flares in the colours of the Palestinian flag and, according to the Anadolu Ayansı media outlet, chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Among the chants, the message “Israel is a terrorist state” could also be heard.
As a result of the demonstrations, the Israeli intelligence service Shin Bet ordered the 20-year-old Golan not to leave her hotel room. Despite being booed during rehearsals and performances on the big stage, the song’s performance was received very well by many fans of the Eurovision Song Contest. In fact, the bookmakers ranked her song ahead of the Swiss performer. Although the Croatian representative seemed to enjoy a lot of support before the final act, in the end, it was the non-binary rapper Nemo who triumphed, singing a song about a journey he “started with the realisation that he does not identify as a man or a woman,” according to the national media outlet’s web portal MMC. Nemo came out well ahead in the jury vote (with 365 points), followed by France, Croatia in third place and Israel in 12th place.
People would have given the win to the Croatian, the Israeli singer would have come second
The people – who many believe should have been the decisive factor in choosing the winner – disagreed with the jury’s decision. The Croatian singer received the most votes, followed by the Israeli, the Ukrainian duo, and then the Swiss.
The Slovenian jury, composed of musician Lea Sirk, singer and choreographer Matevž Česen, singer Filip Vidušin from the LPS group that represented Slovenia at the Eurovision in 2022, singer Maja Keuc and musician and producer Martin Štibernik, awarded the most points to France (12), 10 points to Switzerland, 8 points to Portugal, 7 points to Armenia, 6 points to Croatia, 5 points to Luxembourg, 4 points to Serbia, 3 points to Italy, 2 points to Greece and 1 point to Ireland. Apparently, not even the Slovenian public agreed with the jury’s order. The Slovenian public gave the most votes to Croatia (12), Israel (10), Ukraine (8) and France (7). The Slovenian public also gave 6 points to Cyprus, 5 points to Serbia, 4 points to Switzerland, 3 points to Italy, 2 points to Ireland and 1 point to Sweden.
Examples of comments from internet users that show that the majority is not satisfied with the winner of the expert juries are:
– “Is the world going to hell and our expert jury with it?”
– “Eurovision has clearly shown the difference between Europe’s socialist elites, who control the media, and the silent majority of Europeans. Israel and Ukraine are the undisputed winners of Eurovision, and Switzerland was put in first place by the people’s national juries. In Slovenia it was the same, with Israel coming second in the popular vote and receiving zero points from the depoliticised.”
– “This year’s selection of Pride parade promotions – I mean, Eurosong. This was all arranged in advance.”
– “Europe and Slovenia have shown today that there are fewer of you extremists, you just have more time. After today, I am even more convinced: the light will find a way and the darkness will retreat. Ordinary people want freedom. Darkness will be defeated.”
– “It does not get much worse than this!”
Eurovision has therefore shown that there are two parallel Europes: the first is the dark Europe of the elites, the Islamists, and the radical left, which is in the minority, but the louder Europe is the Europe of the people, which seems to have nothing in common with the first Europe.
S. K.
