On May 14, Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) with 534 points, narrowly beating out Australia’s entry, which garnered 511. Details of Saturday’s Grand Final were released, complete with full rankings and points awarded, by The Telegraph. However, the question everyone has been asking since the event ended is will Russia withdraw from the 2017 competition due to the political unrest between the two nations?
Will Russia withdraw from the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest due to Ukraine’s win this year?
The tension between Ukranian’s participant, Jamala and Russia’s Sergey Lazarev was palpable from the start of the competition, namely due to each of them having their own security team in order to keep them apart for safety reasons. The winning entry, titled 1944, details the time when the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, executed the deportation of the Crimean Tatars. It contained the line “They kill you all, and say ‘we’re not guilty’ which upset not only Russians but also many fans of the Eurovision Song Contest due to how politically motivated the lyrics were.
However, the EBU is not supposed to allow songs of an extremely political nature to enter the event. In 2008, when it was held in Russia’s capital city of Moscow, the nation of Georgia submitted an entry entitled We Don’t Wanna Put In. The song detailed the artists’ discontent with the country’s leader, Vladimir Putin, with the title being a play on words of his surname. The Georgian Public Broadcaster, GPB, informed Stefane & 3G that they either needed to alter the lyrics or pick a new song in order to comply with the rules of the ESC. They refused to take either of these actions, and subsequently withdrew from that year’s competition.
The winning nation of each year’s Eurovision Song Contest is given the opportunity to host the next year in their own country, and traditionally this is how it has been done. However, given the situation between Ukraine and Russia at the current time, especially in regards to Russians not even being allowed into the rival country whatsoever, ESC fans have been wondering exactly what would happen next year. If the Ukrainian government were indeed to block citizens of the opposing nation from entering their country, they would be disqualified from entering Eurovision as well as kicked out of the EBU for breaking rules. On the other side, however, there is concern that if Russians are let in, those headlining the contest, Jon Ola Sand and Christer Björkman, are almost asking for a political situation on their hands. The safety of both Ukrainians and Russians are being brought into play, and the question raised as to whether having both nationalities in the same place is a good idea at all.
Ukrainian officials behind the Eurovision Song Contest openly stated shortly before Saturday’s Grand Final that if Russia won the competition, they would not be back next year. Indeed, 2016 marked their return from 2014, with member station NTU citing financial difficulties last year and not participating. Now, that they have won the event, for the second time since their debut in 2003, it is possible that Russia will do the same next year. Their entry, Sergey Lazarev, ended up in third place despite winning the public vote while Jamala won the jury vote. The tally is ultimately made up 50/50 of both.
Given that Eurovision was created in 1956 to reunite a post-war Europe, it is a bit nonsensical and seemingly trouble-causing to allow such an entry to compete. The backlash from Jamala’s song, as well as the nationality and fan wars that have arisen as a result, with individuals online tossing extremely vicious insults back and forth, goes to show that all this entry has done is cause trouble. There is no question that Ukraine’s entrant deserves respect and sympathy for having a personal connection to this matter, given that one of her family members was involved, but at the same time, Eurovision is not the place to display such feelings. Also, knowing that one’s home nation will be made host if they win and entering a song directly attacking another country that is currently part of the contest is asking for conflict.
Do you think Russia will return to the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, or will they withdraw due to their conflict with Ukraine? Should Jamala’s song even have been permitted entry to this event, given the clear political bias it showed, the graphic lyrics, and the section in Crimean Tatar? Sound off below to let us know your thoughts! For more CDA News, follow our tweets on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Opinion by Lorelai Zelmerlow
Photo Courtesy Anna Velikova (EBU)