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TheGuardian: Madonna makes call for Israel-Palestine unity at Eurovision

Rychu

Rychu

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In her much-anticipated and politically contentious performance at Eurovision in Israel, Madonna made an apparent call for peace in the region.
As she and guest star Quavo sang the lyrics "Not everyone is coming to the future / Not everyone is learning from the past", a pair of her dancers – one wearing a costume bearing a Palestinian flag, another with an Israeli flag – embraced as they climbed a set of stairs at the climax of the performance.
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Earlier, in an interstitial portion of the performance between the songs Like a Prayer and Future, she spoke to figures wearing gas masks, asking:
"They are so naive – they think we are not aware of their crimes. We know, but we're just not ready to act. The storm isn't in the air, it's inside of us. I want to tell you about love and loneliness. But it's getting late now. Can't you hear outside of your Supreme hoodie, the wind that's beginning to howl?"
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The Tel Aviv performance ended with Madonna whispering the words "wake up", also printed on a big screen behind her, as she and Quavo collapsed backwards from the stage. The BBC commentator Graham Norton said that there was a "slightly muted response to Madonna in the hall" following the performance.
It is unlikely that organisers were aware of the political aspects of Madonna's performance as she rehearsed it behind closed doors.
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Madonna made reference to the political tensions in a statement earlier this week, saying: "I'll never stop playing music to suit someone's political agenda, nor will I stop speaking out against violations of human rights wherever in the world they may be. My heart breaks every time I hear about the innocent lives that are lost in this region and the violence that is so often perpetuated to suit the political goals of people who benefit from this ancient conflict. I hope and pray that we will soon break free from this terrible cycle of destruction and create a new path towards peace."
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More at https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/18/madonna-makes-call-for-israel-palestine-unity-at-eurovision

Lock if old. I thought this was interesting because Eurovision is a very non-political event.

EDIT: Apparently this is untrue, sorry. I'm American but I heard that Eurovision doesn't like being associated with political things.
 
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hurroocane

hurroocane

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Rychu said:
I thought this was interesting because Eurovision is a very non-political event.
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Pwwwaahahah

edit: since you're sincere I'll add a bit
We all like to pretend it's apolitical but nothing can be and politics creeps in at every possible point. Bloc voting, political songs, various dynamics between countries and current events - it's all there, always.
 
The Fabled Englishman

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Rychu said:
Is this untrue? I'm American so I wouldn't know but I've heard that Eurovision dislikes being associated with politics.
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Er, the voting in Eurovision is basically a crash-course in European geopolitics.

Eurovision may technichally ban 'political' lyrics but it's been a site of contestation for all sorts of inter-state spats. Only two years ago, you had the Russian withdrawal over the Ukraine issue.
 
cyba89

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Rychu said:
Is this untrue? I'm American so I wouldn't know but I've heard that Eurovision dislikes being associated with politics.
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xxh7r.jpg
 
catboy

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On paper it is intended to be apolitical, but much like any international event (including the olympics) it unavoidably cannot be.
 
Brhoom

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This ignorant cunt thinks the solution to a a problem as old as her is having two dancers wear the flags while insulting our ears with her raucous vocals?

Retire, you old hag.
 
Wackamole

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Would be nice if countries wouldn't vote politically for once. That's so backwards.
Vote for you favorite fucking song.
However, if you can make a statement about injustice, be my guest. Missed that part in the Madonna show (who at 61 still sings just as good live as she was when she was 31) but i didn't mind the scarfs protest (was that iceland?).
 
Deleted member 27995

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Brhoom said:
This ignorant cunt thinks the solution to a a problem as old as her is having two dancers wear the flags while insulting our ears with her raucous vocals?

Retire, you old hag.
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Following on. The speech and gesture is patronising. Especially considering Palestinians are having their homes stolen, children killed and being forced to live in apartheid conditions.
 
TaySan

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Calling for Palestinian-Israel unity is misguided when one side in particular was never Interested in peace from the beginning. A two state solution died years ago.
 
Inuhanyou

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Why doesnt she just not perform and say she is abstaining from israeli events for their horrible human rights?

This seems a bit overelaborate no?
 
rhandino

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Brhoom said:
This ignorant cunt thinks the solution to a a problem as old as her is having two dancers wear the flags while insulting our ears with her raucous vocals?

Retire, you old hag.
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Whew, end HER and her both sides bullshit!

zoN8BsL.jpg


A reminder that she recently jumped to defend Michael Jackson with the "innocent until the contrary is proved" shit too!

Maybe she is going senile after all.
 
Typhon

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rhandino said:
Whew, end HER and her both sides bullshit!

zoN8BsL.jpg


A reminder that she recently jumped to defend Michael Jackson with the "innocent until the contrary is proved" shit too!

Maybe she is going senile after all.
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Both sides bullshit? I don't think anyone with half a brain doesn't know the Israeli's are the aggressors and occupiers. Sounded pretty pro Palestine to me.

It's more the we get from our own damn governments that's for sure.
 
Qikz

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Typhon said:
Both sides bullshit? I don't think anyone with half a brain doesn't know the Israeli's are the aggressors and occupiers. Sounded pretty pro Palestine to me.

It's more the we get from our own damn governments that's for sure.
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You'd be surprised at the hoops people jump through to defend Israel.
 
Jeb

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Fuck her for attending the whole thing to begin with.

Palestinians homes are being stolen, innocents are getting killed and over a million are trapped in an open air prison that is set to be uninhabitable by 2020.


Fuck her for participating and fuck who ever watched or supported this charade.
 

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Inuhanyou said:
Why doesnt she just not perform and say she is abstaining from israeli events for their horrible human rights?

This seems a bit overelaborate no?
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Not really. The problem is nobody is talking about what's happening over there. So what Madonna did, what Hatari did, was the right thing to do. They're creating a dialogue, starting a discussion, getting people talking.

Eurovision was one of the best opportunities to draw attention to what Israel is doing to Palestine, so why not go for it? It's much better than sitting on your hands and doing fuck all. It's even more important after Israel had the audacity to get Gal Gadot on a prerecorded message telling the world how awesome Israel is.
 
DavidDesu

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Winny（๑•̀ㅂ•́）و said:
Not really. The problem is nobody is talking about what's happening over there. So what Madonna did, what Hatari did, was the right thing to do. They're creating a dialogue, starting a discussion, getting people talking.

Eurovision was one of the best opportunities to draw attention to what Israel is doing to Palestine, so why not go for it? It's much better than sitting on your hands and doing fuck all. It's even more important after Israel had the audacity to get Gal Gadot on a prerecorded message telling the world how awesome Israel is.
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Yep, this.

I saw a few songs, it seemed fucking worse than normal and I never tuned in for Madonna, but fair play to her for raising the issues in such a big event watched across Europe and beyond. To pull the rug from under the organisers is a pretty bold move and I'm surprised they legit let her perform a song that they never saw in advance. That's better than her just not going there, we'd never have known about it and they'd have replaced her with someone else who would have done a regular performance.

I'm all for more big names showing that Israel cannot get away with war crimes and aggressively sterilise it's image abroad with big PR wins like hosting Eurovision.
 

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lame as fuck display, she should have done the right thing and just boycotted the event. it's super fucking insulting to show something like that when one of those flags is trying it's hardest to erase the other from existence.

in fact every one should have refused to perform there, the whole event was a complete embarrassment.
 

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mazi said:
lame as fuck display, she should have done the right thing and just boycotted the event. it's super fucking insulting to show something like that when one of those flags is trying it's hardest to erase the other from existence.

in fact every one should have refused to perform there, the whole event was a complete embarrassment.
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That depends on your intention. If you're just going to Eurovision to sing earnestly then, yeah, maybe you shouldn't really go - but going by the quality of the performances this year I'd be surprised if all the good acts didn't already refuse to.

Madonna and Hatari were clearly planning from the start to use Eurovision as a platform to send a message, not just to Israel but the world. Boycotting the event under those circumstances means nothing because they'd just get someone else in to do a generic performance and then no voices are heard.

Can't just keep brushing this shit under the rug like that.
 

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Winny（๑•̀ㅂ•́）و said:
That depends on your intention. If you're just going to Eurovision to sing earnestly then, yeah, maybe you shouldn't really go - but going by the quality of the performances this year I'd be surprised if all the good acts didn't already refuse to.

Madonna and Hatari were clearly planning from the start to use Eurovision as a platform to send a message, not just to Israel but the world. Boycotting the event under those circumstances means nothing because they'd just get someone else in to do a generic performance and then no voices are heard.

Can't just keep brushing this shit under the rug like that.
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surely she could have done something, ANYTHING, other than some lame let's be friends both sides bullshit. that imagery sends a clear message, regardless of her intention. it's the message that there's a conflict and both sides share responsibility and should come together, the reality is that there's no conflict, it's one sided occupation, oppression and genocide. you use a situation like that to condemn israel and show support for palestine, not to say come on guys be friends.
 

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mazi said:
surely she could have done something, ANYTHING, other than some lame let's be friends both sides bullshit. that imagery sends a clear message, regardless of her intention. it's the message that there's a conflict and both sides share responsibility and should come together, the reality is that there's no conflict, it's one sided occupation, oppression and genocide. you use a situation like that to condemn israel and show support for palestine, not to say come on guys be friends.
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Didn't you listen to the lyrics? The only reason anyone is even saying she "both sides"'d things is because she had two dancers, one wearing Palestine colours and the other wearing Israeli colours, embracing one another.

The actual lyrics, though? It literally opens with "They think we're not aware of their crimes, but we know. We just aren't ready to act. The storm isn't in the air, it's inside of us." The message she was sending was pretty clear and the crowd totally got what she was saying because it did not go down well. Like at all.
 

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Winny（๑•̀ㅂ•́）و said:
Didn't you listen to the lyrics? The only reason anyone is even saying she "both sides"'d things is because she had two dancers, one wearing Palestine colours and the other wearing Israeli colours, embracing one another.

The actual lyrics, though? It literally opens with "They think we're not aware of their crimes, but we know. We just aren't ready to act. The storm isn't in the air, it's inside of us." The message she was sending was pretty clear and the crowd totally got what she was saying because it did not go down well. Like at all.
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i think the message with the flags was MUCH more important and impactful than what was in the lyrics, and i think she did more harm than good with that message.
 
Hucast

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I don't think unity was the message. It was peace and recognition. Sadly israel's creation was meant to be an erasal of the palestinians. It wasn't and still isn't as easy as they wished tho. It won't ever be
 
ReplacementPelican

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Then best thing about Madonna and Quavo being there were when both were interviewed (separately) and just prattled on about how special music is and how it unites us like they were on fucking American idol or something whilst the interviewers just sort of smirked at the pretentiousness and bollocks of it all. This is why we shouldn't let Americans be on Eurovision. Or maybe the reason we should.
 
mutantmagnet

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mazi said:
surely she could have done something, ANYTHING, other than some lame let's be friends both sides bullshit. that imagery sends a clear message, regardless of her intention. it's the message that there's a conflict and both sides share responsibility and should come together, the reality is that there's no conflict, it's one sided occupation, oppression and genocide. you use a situation like that to condemn israel and show support for palestine, not to say come on guys be friends.
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*glances sideways*

Why do you think Israel is engaged in genocide?
 
Jeb

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To me, anyone who participated or supported this is endorsing ethnic cleansing.

Fuck em.
 
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