Over 400 Irish artists have signed an open letter urging our Eurovision entry Bambie Thug to boycott the Contest due to Israel’s participation.
407 high-profile Irish musicians, artists, dancers, writers and poets asked Bambie to “heed the call from Palestinians to boycott the competition” in the letter released last night on the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign website. They include Derry Girls actress Siobhan McSweeney, singer and Senator Frances Black, and Erica-Cody – who was one of the artists Bambie beat in this year’s Eurosong.
The Contest gets underway in three weeks time in Malmo, Sweden. Ireland have been drawn in the Tuesday semi-final, and Bambie is currently floating just inside the top ten of most betting odds, with prices between 33/1 and 66/1.
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The letter states that, while Bambie said their heart “has and always will be with the oppressed”, they will be “standing with the oppressor” by participating in the show. The letter calls for Bambie to heed the call of Palestinians who have urged people to boycott the Contest, and to stand “on the right side of history”.
On Friday, Bambie Thug appeared on the Late Late Show, opening up on their decision not to boycott this year’s song contest over Israel’s participation. They said: “I stand with anyone doing the boycott. I think if I wasn’t in the competition, I would also be boycotting. There are a lot of moving parts.”
Within the letter, the artists also highlight the importance that global events like the Eurovision can have to act as a vehicle for “art washing its crimes against the Palestinian people”. It concluded: “History will celebrate you if you withdraw from Eurovision 2024. We urge you to do the right thing.”
The full letter can be read below, and the full list of signatories can be viewed on the IPSC website:
Dear Bambie Thug,
We are writing to you as Irish artists, writers and poets, many of us queer and trans. Firstly, we congratulate you on being selected to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. This is an honour and recognition of your talent and artistry.
However, we are asking you to withdraw from Eurovision 2024, to heed the call from Palestinians to boycott the competition due to the participation of Israel. We welcome that you have chosen, along with other participating artists, not to be silent. However, while you say “My heart and solidarity has and will always lie with the oppressed” – by participating in Eurovision you will be standing with the oppressor. Palestinians have called for artists to withdraw from the contest, and if your wish to stand in solidarity is sincere, then you should listen to them. None of us with the privilege of living in safety knows better than Palestinians, a people who are experiencing the most extreme colonial violence, that of genocide, and who for 7 decades, have been subjected to systematic apartheid, occupation, siege, ethnic cleansing, dispossession, mass incarceration and murder. Words from the stage will be meaningless as you will have ignored the Palestinian call to boycott.
You speak of the “unifying power of music”, but no performer that crossed the Palestinian picket line has achieved anything other than becoming a participant in Israel’s project of artwashing its crimes against the Palestinian people, and Eurovision will be no different. Indeed, Israeli president Isaac Herzog has said, “it’s important for Israel to appear in Eurovision.” It is clear that the Israeli state views Eurovision as an opportunity to cover up its genocidal crimes against the Palestinian people and we really hope that you refuse to be part of that by withdrawing, an act that would be powerful and would resonate with millions.
What is being perpetrated in Gaza is a clear case of genocide. At least 32,663 people, including more than 13,000 children, have been murdered. Thousands more are missing under the rubble. The health system has been destroyed and the majority of people there forcibly displaced and now experiencing forced starvation, while Israel blocks thousands of aid trucks from entry. Hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers and entire communities are being ethnically cleansed, with thousands of people detained without charge and subjected to torture and abuse in Israeli dungeons. To participate in any enterprise that provides cover for and normalises such gross human rights violations is simply unconscionable.
For almost six months, all over this island, thousands of people have held marches, vigils, and solidarity actions. The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) national demonstrations have brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets. The majority of people in Ireland support the boycott of Israel and want the government to sanction that state. Support for and solidarity with the Palestinian people here is both huge and consistent.
The arts community is also showing deep solidarity. In March, all the Irish artists to perform at SXSW Music Festival in Texas withdrew due to its sponsorship by the US military and weapons manufacturers. We applaud their rejection of the Festival’s complicity with the US and Israeli war machines. This moment demands such principled solidarity.
You have the chance to be on the right side of history and to be remembered as an artist of conscience, who, in a time of genocide, chose to do no harm, to truly stand with the oppressed. History will celebrate you if you withdraw from Eurovision 2024. We urge you to do the right thing.
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