So the Eurovision is over, a contest I’ve never really had any interest in. But funnily enough, this year, 2024, would have been the first time I ever watched the Eurovision, but I didn’t.
The reason my interest was piqued this year was because of Ireland’s entry for this year. Firstly, the Irish entry, Bambi Thug, was from Cork, my home city, so that was interesting to me. I’m not normally the kind of person who thinks that because someone is from Cork I’m automatically interested, but, well, I suppose Bambi Thug could have helped with the international perception that the only part of Ireland is Dublin, and that other places, like Cork, are, I don’t know, don’t exist?
The other reason I became interested is because Bambi Thug is non-binary, and, because Ireland has a quiet callous and cruel history towards LGBT people, and I still think we need to do better for gay and trans people, I thought it was great that Ireland was sending a non-binary contestant, I hoped this would help Ireland become a less bigoted country.
And lastly, I was quite intrigued that Bambi Thug sounds like what would happen if Nine Inch Nails and Slipknot had a baby. Ireland never sent anyone like that to the Eurovision before, what was going on?
But I didn’t watch, and the reason was simple. The Eurovision allowed Israel to participate. “The Eurovision is non-political” they said. Well let’s unpack why that’s horseshit.
Let’s say I was in conversation, and I asserted, “I think killing six year old girls is bad.” The only sane responses to this would be, “Yes, I agree” or “Why are you stating the obvious?” What would not be a sane response would be, “Why are you getting political?” Or let’s say I stated, “I think killing starving people as they desperately try to get a bit of food is wrong” the only correct responses would be, “Yes, correct statement, can’t disagree,” or again, “That’s obvious, why even mention it?” What would not be a sane response would be, “Oh, there he goes with the politics again!”
I am referring to just two, just two, of the horrific atrocities that Israel has committed this year alone. The first tragedy I’m referring to is the killing of Hind Rajab.
She made a phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent, saying, “I am so scared. Call someone to come get me, please.” But after two weeks of searching, her body was found, along with the bodies of some of her relatives and two Red Crescent rescue workers sent to rescue her.
The second horror I’m referring to is what is known as the “Flour Massacre”, where starving people were gunned down for the crime of, being starving and trying to get flour to eat.
But maybe I’m getting “too political” by talking about people desperately trying to get food and being shot dead for it. Why do I have to talk about politics that much?
But, I suppose, maybe the Eurovision just has a set of principles that I don’t agree with. And, if they feel that any regime, no matter how bad, has the right to compete in the Eurovision, I suppose, fair play to them for sticking to their……
Oh, wait.
Russia was kicked out of the Eurovison. I guess instead of having principles that other people might not agree with, it’s just having no principles. That’s great!
To be clear, I agree with the decision to exclude Russia. Their invasion of Ukraine is unacceptable. But it boils my blood that they will exclude Russia and then when asked to exclude Israel they hide behind, “Sorry, we don’t do politics!”
I’m ashamed that Ireland wouldn’t even do a simple thing like boycott the Eurovision, if the Irish government were unwilling to boycott, for example, food or medical supplies coming in from Israel, I would have better understood, these things are necessary. Even in that instance I’m not convinced that we couldn’t get those things from other countries, but I would have understood it better.
But Ireland wouldn’t even boycott a singing contest. And it doesn’t have to be that way. It doesn’t have to be that way at all.
Since we’ve talked so much about music already, have a listen to this:
That’s Christy Moore, one of Ireland’s most successful artists, and unfortunately, when people have had a few drinks, and by a few drinks I mean many drinks, and by many drinks I mean all the drinks, they have a tendency to launch into, “Black Is The Colour”, one of his very successful songs, but their profound inebriation means they have neither the ability to hit correct notes or sing with anything approaching any kind of rhythm. Meaning…..
Stay on topic!
So basically, in this song Christy Moore is singing about the Dunnes Stores Boycott. In the eighties a Dunnes worker called Mary Manning refused to handle South African foods in protest of Apartheid. She was suspended, and the resulting solidarity with her started a chain reaction, resulting in a massive boycott of South African goods. Here she is being interviewed on the Late Late Show. (For non Irish readers, The Late Late Show is an Irish talk show that has existed since before the birth of the universe):
What is remarkable about Mary Manning, as you can hear from this interview, is that she went from somebody who at first didn’t even understand what the union’s boycott of South Africa was even about to someone who became incredibly dedicated to standing up for the people of South Africa. We can all change. I have such bad social anxiety that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to go to a protest, and now I have already been to two protests against the genocide in Gaza, and I hope to go to many more. (Though anxiety and other mental health issues are often tricky things to manage, so be careful to mind yourself.)
The strike helped pave the way for Ireland becoming the first country in the western world to legislate for a complete ban on South African goods:
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/workers-blood-fruit-fight-recalled-in-film/30409554.html
So yeah, how did Ireland fall so far? We were the country that said no to the brutality of South African apartheid, and now Ireland doesn’t even have enough spine to boycott a goddamn singing contest. Makes you feel like giving up doesn’t it?
Yes, sometimes you’ll feel like giving up. And that’s normal. If it were easy to stand up to Israel and its genocide in Gaza, it would already be done. So, we could mourn the fact that Ireland used to stand for something, or we could reflect on the fact that, Ireland didn’t stand up to apartheid, not at first. It could quite easily have gone differently. Mary Manning could have given into the bosses at Dunnes. (Which would have been understandable, her job was on the line.) Or, she could have stuck to her guns, and apathy and indifference meant nobody else joined her fight for justice. Ireland didn’t start off as a country that stood in opposition to apartheid. We had to become it. We don’t have to be the country that doesn’t have the spine to even boycott a goddamn singing contest. But, at the risk of sounding cheesy, yes, I’m going to say it, change starts with you! So what can you do?
If you live in Cork, my home city, there’s a protest every week , on Saturday, at the Grand Parade at 1:00 pm against the genocide in Gaza. I admit I don’t get to them every week, but my aim is to get to one at least once a month. If you don’t live in Cork, there’s a good chance there’s protests near you that you can go to. And if you don’t live in Ireland, I think there’s a good chance that there’s protests near where you’re living, so look into it.
And since a boycott was such an important part of standing up to apartheid, boycott will be a key part of standing up to Israel’s cruel treatment of the Palestinian people. Here’s a list of products that are Israeli or have dealings with Israel:
https://boycott-israel.org/boycott.html
But an important note on boycotts, do not stop taking any medications you need even if they are from Israel! You’re no good to the people of Palestine if you become so sick or ill that you can’t protest, and by pushing yourself to this level, you risk experiencing protest burn out so that you are no longer willing to oppose Israel , as well as the simple fact that it would be horrible if you became seriously ill, so please, do not boycott Israeli medication!
How did you find this post? There’s a good chance it was on Facebook, so, spread relevant information in support of Gaza via Facebook or other social media. As is often the case, you tube is your friend, (not really, Google does not support Palestine, and the same could be said about other internet platforms, I don’t even want to think about what Facebook gets up to actually), but the point remains that you tube has many great channels that cover the genocide in Gaza. I quite like Owen Jones and Novara Media, so I often post their videos on Facebook. Here are some good ones:
Try to post content that might appeal to people who follow you on Facebook, or Twitter (I’m not calling it X) or any other social media. (I’ll admit I haven’t that figured out yet, a lot of my posts about Palestine don’t have any views!) If you think people will like longer form content, here are two great videos from Some More News and Shaun.
Worried that the internet has destroyed humanity’s attention span and that this’ll all be too much? No problem, you can just post up images that convey the point, like these:
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/bc/bcf5090c9244e724a61e9b2745879d4bcc1c0b7254ba941246e61c4c00a49268.jpg
Some will prefer long content, some short, some will prefer serious content, some humorous (it might sound offensive, but for some people, well crafted humour is actually the way to get through to people about how what is happening in Gaza is wrong).
Will you get it right all the time? No, you’re human and that’s fine. I don’t protest as often as I could. I’ve reduced but not eliminated my purchases from Israel, this is partly because I’m caught by the fact that I’m asthmatic and need inhalers from Israel, and it’s partly because there are so many products with an Israeli connection that sometimes I find it hard to keep track. A few weeks ago it was a really hot day and I stopped the bike to get some much needed water. I stopped at the Circle K, I have no idea whether or not the Circle K is in bed with Israel.
So you’ll get it wrong, sometimes because you’ve no choice, as in the case of medications, or sometimes you’ll just accidentally buy from Israel, or, perhaps there’ll even be cases that are more solvable than the first two, where you just really like an Israeli product.
The answer to all three is, do not fall for all or nothingism.
One of my favourite phrases in the English language is “perfect is the enemy of good”. And I think many of us have a tendency to give up on something when we can’t be perfect at something, which denies us the chance to be good at it. I will never be perfect at showing my opposition to Israel, just like I’ll never be perfect at showing my opposition to cruelty to animals (I’m vegetarian but haven’t managed to go vegan.) If you can do something, do it, even if you can’t do everything you would like. If you haven’t lifted a finger, then lift a finger, and see where things go from there.
I remember, when I was in my early twenties, I attempted to boycott Coca Cola and Nestle (for reasons that didn’t have anything to do with Israel, I was less aware of the Israel-Palestine situation at the time.) And some people noticed that I was wearing Nike shoes, which also is a company that is, we’ll say, less than ethical. (I was at an age when I was trying to in some small way make a difference at a time when I knew very little about the world. In any case throwing away a pair of shoes after they’ve been purchased doesn’t make any difference.) So, people who were tireless advocates for consumer boycotts of unethical products called me out on…..
No, that’s not what happened. People who were in no way engaged in any consumer boycotts were the people who started giving me grief about the Nike shoes. Some people, when they see that someone is trying to make a small difference, will automatically attack that person, because they don’t want to engage with the fact that they themselves are making no difference. And that’s why I think the biggest fans of “all of nothingism” are those that do nothing. They claim that it is better to perfectly not do anything than to imperfectly do something. Also, if you are dealing with such people, it’s probably in your best interest to separate yourselves from them, they’re only interested in destroying your confidence in yourself.
So, if you can, if it’s in any way possible, try to take a small step towards doing something to help the people of Gaza. Ireland doesn’t have to be the country that bends the goddamn knee to a goddamn singing contest. We were the country that stood up to apartheid! And if you’re reading this from overseas, look to your own country’s rich history for inspiration. And now I’ll leave you with the song that, in a better world, would have won the Eurovision. I know Macklemore’s not European, but neither is Israel!
Ponderings Of An Autist 
