This can be read as a continuation of the previous parts; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest-grand_28.html
Brexit.
Another of themes that emerged at this year's Song Contest was Britain's decision to leave the European Union (EU). The Brexit.
The United Kingdom: This year they were represented by SuRie with the song; "Storm."
Brexit has emerged as almost an existential issue in Britain. People are asked to divide themselves into poorly defined camps. Which camp they choose reflects not just their position on Britain's relationship with the EU but deep questions of identity which cover a wide range of political and social issues.
It might just be that I've spent a large part of my life disagreeing with my country but I really do not understand this. Whether Britain is a member of the EU or not really does not affect my opinions on things like immigration or gay rights. Let alone my sense of self.
The two main camps dividing Britons at the moment are; Brexiteers and Remoaners.
Brexiteers are people who very passionately support Brexit and what it to happen. Often regardless of cost. Remoaners are people who passionately want Britain to remain in the EU and just can't stop moaning about the fact Britain is leaving.
The artist biography in support of the entry makes clear SuRie's strong links to Belgium. She was a backing vocalist and dancer for Belgium's 2015 entry "Rhythm Inside" by Loic Nottet. She was also the musical director for Belgium's 2017 entry "City of Lights" by Blanche.
The EU is of course partly based in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. As such SuRie comes across as the arch Remoaner. Someone who is far more loyal to Belgium, Brussels and the EU than to Britain.
The rest of SuRie's biography reads like someone is having a bet over how many times you can get the word; "Royal" into a few short paragraphs. SuRie's musical career began singing for His Royal Highness Prince Charles at the Royal Albert Hall. She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and has recently been made an associate of the Royal Academy of Music.
Immediately prior to the 2016 referendum Britain's Song Contest entry was "You're Not Alone" by Joe and Jake. The main message of the entry was that the EU need not worry about Britain leaving. The Queen would step in to make sure that Britain would vote to remain part of the EU.
As such this year's song with its Royal links puts forward the idea that the Storm of Brexit would not last forever. The Queen will step in to overturn the referendum result and make sure that Britain remains part of the EU. The sort of desperate measure every Remoaner clings to.
With lyrics such as; "I still believe in chasing rainbows" the songs read like a Remoaners existential crisis. Apparently now Britain has left the EU people who once supported gay rights now have to oppose gay rights.
The racism element of every Remoaners existential crisis was represented by efforts outside of the Song Contest. At Britain's request a Special Rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) Tendayi Achiume declared that Brexit had made Britain more racist. On May 12th (12/5/18) the day before the Grand Final.
I must say that it's nice the UN gives Britain exactly what it pays for. It would be nicer if they could employ someone with a brain.
The opening lyric of the song is; "Hey Brother." That is a pretty clear reference to the 2013 song; "Hey Brother" by Swedish DJ Avicii.
The video for Avicii's Hey Brother tells the story of two brothers growing up in 1960's America. The older brother goes off to fight in the Vietnam War and is killed. As a result the video features lots of photographs and archive footage of the Vietnam War.
However is you look really closely you'll notice that the first photograph shown is actually of a Swedish solider from World War Two wearing full Nazi uniform. A little nod to the fact that Avicii is Swedish and Sweden's experience in World War Two is very different from America's experience in World War Two.
As fascism was on the rise across Europe Sweden was allied with Nazi Germany. While Nazi Germany was invading Poland in 1938 starting World War Two Nazi Sweden was invading Finland in what's known as; "The Winter War." Nazi Sweden were rapidly defeated in this war by Soviet Russia. From then on they took a position of neutrality.
In their own entry this year Sweden suggested that their current aggression against Russia stems from the fact they'd much rather be back in the late 1980's/early 1990's when the Berlin Wall was still in place and the Cold War raged. Britain was reminding everyone that Sweden's current aggression towards Russia stems from the fact they still haven't come to terms with 1938.
Avicii really helped to revolutionise modern dance music. Prior to his arrival the genre was really the musical equivalent of empty calories. By things such as including Aloe Blacc on the 2013 song; "Wake Me Up" Avicii introduced this soulful element giving the genre an artistic depth which continues to this day.
Avicii's contribution to popular music has been well noted and respected at the Eurovision Song Contest. Since his emergence in 2013 numerous nations have paid tribute to him with little references in their entries.
Sadly Avicii died in Muscat, Oman on April 20th 2018 (20/4/18) aged just 28. SuRie's song which was selected for Eurovision just a few weeks before is going to be considered as a factor in any investigation into his death.
Having killed a much loved and well respected star Britain's 2018 Song Contest was over before it began. Forcing them to resort to desperate measures.
Earlier in this long stream of posts I discussed Lithuania's entry. Their act ended with an apology for their act. Britain took things a step further. The main gimmick of the Grand Final performance was a performer acting out a stage invasion to pull SuRie off the stage midway through her act.
With SuRie representing the Remoaners this performer represented the Brexiteers. Although it was hard to hear that the time his performance featured some ranting about the Nazi Press. This was a loose reference to what is known as the; "Enemies of the People" saga.
On November 4th 2016 the British newspaper The Daily Mail ran the headline; "Enemies of the People." In reference to the Supreme Court's decision to require the UK Parliament to vote on formally triggering Brexit. This turned into a national saga with the Press Regulator receiving some 1,000 complaints and the head of the Judiciary calling on the government to censor the free press.
In the 1930's The Daily Mail was run by Lord Rothermere who was a close friend of both Hitler and Mussolini. In 1934 the newspaper famously ran the headline; "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" in support of British Nazi Sir Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists.
Sir Oswald Mosley's son Max Mosley is a huge supporter of the UK Labour Party's "Hacked Off" campaign to censor the free press. Ever since his was exposed taking part in Nazi themed sex games with prostitutes.
The performer was actually a British national of Greek heritage. However from his dark skin and the knotted headscarf/bandanna he wore over his head he seemed to be playing the role of a Sikh.
That obviously referenced Multiculturalism which in the UK exempts Sikhs who adhere to the 5 K's being prosecuted for carrying the Kirpan sword or dagger.It also referenced one of the main arguments that Brexiteers have for leaving the EU. Doing so would allow the UK to negotiate trade deals with members of the UK Commonwealth such as India.
Back in May 2017 UK Foreign Secretary (Senior Foreign Minister) Boris Johnson made a fool of himself at a Sikh Gurdwara (Temple) by suggesting Brexit would allow Scotland to export Whisky to famously teetotal Indian Sikhs. While wearing the required knotted headscarf.
The prospect of post-Brexit trade with the UK Commonwealth was also reflected by the inclusion of the Australian Nicole Blair as a songwriter. Alongside SuRie's much publicised travels to places such as Australia and Borneo.
The interruption also allowed Britain to have some fun at the expense of host Daniela Ruah. Something which emerged as a significant theme of this year's contest.
Daniela Ruah is an American born actress who appears to have no previous experience presenting live TV. Almost by design the Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most challenging jobs there is for a TV presenter.
The combination of really experimental technology and the sheer number of nations involved means that something invariably goes wrong. Forcing presenters to improvise and think on their feet to keep the show going.
Britain's act forced one of these unplanned interruptions. While Daniela Ruah was apparently in hiding one of the other presenters, Filomena Cautela was forced to do a series of impromptu interviews which other acts in the green room. A desperate effort to keep the mood light while everything descended into panic.
For those of us not tasked with keeping the show on the road the interruption gave us time to get up to speed with the terrorist attack which was unfolding in France.
Mainly though Britain was desperately appealing for the sympathy vote for an act that was already dead.
Voting at the Song Contest is done in two ways. There are expert panels from each nation. Then there is the public vote.
The expert panels cast their votes based on a dress rehearsal performance which takes the night before. So their votes had already been cast before SuRie's televised performance. That is why when organisers offered her the chance to perform again she refused.
However judging by the reaction from on social media many viewers are not aware of that. So SuRie likely picked up a few public votes from viewers who felt sorry for her having her act ruined not realising that it was part of the act.
Britain ended up finishing 24th out of 26. Without the sympathy vote Avicii's killers were guaranteed last place.
At around 17:30 on 31/5/18 (UK date) I'm clearly going to be adding to this theme over the next couple of days. It may even have to be spread out across two parts.
Edited at around 15:00 on 1/6/18 (UK date) to add;
The Republic of Ireland: This year they were represented by Ryan O'Shaughnessy with the song; "Together."
This was in the style of possibly the worst type of break-up imaginable. The song is sung from the perspective of the person who was really happy in the relationship and hoping it would last forever. The other person has just announced that they've found someone else and are leaving.
The real meaning of course was to express Ireland's concerns over Brexit and its effects on the border between themselves and the British province of Northern Ireland. Those concerns are understandable because the economies of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are deeply interconnected.
In the past I've used that famous Irish export Guinness as an example. As the proudly advertise this brewed in the Irish capital Dublin. However much of the hops and barley they use to brew it is grown in Northern Ireland. Once the beer has been brewed it is then transported back across the border to be bottled. The finished product is then exported from ports in both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
That interconnectedness though is not limited to just private companies. It exists on a much deeper, structural level. There are a number of bodies and organisations funded by the EU, the Republic of Ireland and Britain to promote and facilitate these links.
These include the Centre for Cross Border Studies (CCBS) which is part of the EU's Transfrontier Euro-Institute Network. Intertrade Ireland which is operated by the Irish Department of Trade and Northern Irish Department of Economy. There is also the North West Region Cross Border Group (NWRCBG). They actually promote investment in the Northern Irish areas of Derry, Strabane, Limavady, Magherafelt and the Irish country of Donegal as a single economic area.
The biography in support of Ireland's entry makes a big deal of the fact it was written by "The Nucleus." This is something of a creative hub bringing together artists from across not just the island of Ireland but all of the EU. Rather like the CCBS, Intertrade Ireland and the NWRCBG bring together businesses.
The focus on the new writing team also signalled a break from the past.
The 1919-1921 Irish War of Independence was never really about Irish Catholics trying to expel English Protestants. Instead it was about establishing home rule. Fine Gael, the party of current Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, actually fought Fianna Fail, the current Irish opposition to keep Ireland as part of Britain only with devolved political powers.
That meant that when Ireland was partitioned there wasn't really any of the mass expulsions or ethnic cleansing often associated with civil wars. Obviously ethnically English Protestants were free to move to the north if they wanted to and vice versa. However most people couldn't be bothered and just stayed put.
So despite all the romanticism there is actually quite a large ethnically English Protestant population within Ireland. In recent years this group has seemed to have undue influence over Ireland's Song Contest entries. That pro-British stance has coincided with the most successful nation in Song Contest history having a bad run of form.
Despite this great signalling of change it seems that group still has quite a lot of influence. Let's just say the mood in Dublin was different when the border was first introduced in 1921.
Beyond expressing a general anxiety over Brexit there were only a couple of things in Ireland's entry making any specific political statement.
One of the lyrics is; "There were troubles in the water, you swore it was nothing." That expressed a desire for any potential border to be placed in the Irish Sea between mainland Britain and the island of Ireland. A border between the Republic and the North would violate the Good Friday Agreement creating a risk that the violence of "The Troubles" would return.
Another lyric is; "There’s a (suspicious) smile on your face." That seemed to be a little warning to Northern Irish Unionists such as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who are demanding a border between the Republic and the North.
The DUP in particular draw a huge amount of their support from the farming community. Their leader Arlene Foster proudly reminds everybody that she is a farmer's daughter.
In 2011 the filming of the video for "We Found Love" in Northern Ireland was shut down by a farmer after Rihanna appeared topless in one of his fields. That farmer, Alan Graham is an active member of the DUP.
The warning to those Northern Irish Unionist was to not be too rigid on the issue. After all wrecking a deeply interconnected economy means wrecking their economy too.
The issue of how you pronounce Ryan O'Shaughnessy's name also seemed like a swipe at Northern Irish Nationalists. Mainly Sinn Fein who actually acted as the moderates in the dispute between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.
As part of the Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland is a devolved region ruled by the Northern Ireland Assembly. However the Assembly has not been in session since January 2017. Due to a complex dispute between the DUP and Sinn Fein.
One of the issues at play is the role of the Irish language (Gaelic). Sinn Fein present the DUP's suppression of the Irish language as yet another example of English oppression in a long history of English oppression. That's not strictly speaking true.
Gaelic was never suppressed or banned under British rule. It simply sort of fell out of usage due the mass exodus of people during the Irish Potato Famine. In order to survive Irish parents took to teaching their children the language spoken in the countries such as America where they would escape to.
An English speaker would pronounce O'Shaughnessy like; "O'Shore-ness-ee." The proper Gaelic pronunciation is more like; "O'Shock-tee-cee." As Ireland made clear throughout the competition Ryan will answer to either pronunciation and you won't cause anyone any offence by using the wrong one.
Suggesting that the Irish Nation is less interested in the Irish language issue than Northern Ireland's Irish Nationalists.
Ireland's entry this year is famous for including a young gay male couple, very much in love, during its live performance in both the First Semi-Final and the Grand Final. This was censored from the First Semi-Final by Chinese TV. Leading to Chinese TV being stripped of the rights to broadcast the Grand Final.
I suppose this couple could represent the singer's memory of the relationship. However with this being a break-up song it really is a stretch to explain what any sort of loving couple had to do with the rest of the entry.
It is something Ireland simply bolted on in the hope that the gay rights vote would propel them into the Grand Final for the first time since 2013. With a suggestion of DUP involvement in the entry this had an air about it of;
"They're all gays. The gays are mentally defective. They'll fall for this crap."
So I think the real reason China censored it was that it was really embarrassing for Ireland.
With their current Prime Minister being both a gay man and an Indian immigrant we really expected better from them.
16:40 on 1/6/18 (UK date).
Thursday 31 May 2018
Monday 28 May 2018
The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest: Grand Finale Pt.9.
This can be read as a continuation of the previous eight posts; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest-grand_23.html
Across those eight posts I examined the main theme of this year's Song Contest - How Eurovision and by extension Europe has managed to get it just so horribly wrong over the last few years.
Two areas where Europe has got it really badly wrong is the conflict in Syria and the conflict in Libya. These conflicts have triggered a massive irregular migration crisis affecting Europe.
That crisis is really made up of two migration routes;
The so-called Balkan Route which sees migrants travel from Turkey across the Balkan region to western Europe. The so-called Mediterranean Route. This sees migrants travel from across Africa through Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea and into southern Europe.
As a result one of the other main themes at this year's Song Contest was migration.
Migration.
This is a theme that was touched on by many nations.
For example Malta used the Mediterranean Route as an example of one of the key things which is turning the World into such a horrifying place. The Netherlands focused on the resumption of the African Slave Trade as a result of the conflict in Libya and the resulting Mediterranean Route.
There were though a number of nations which made it their main issue.
The problems of the migration crisis have been exacerbated by the actions of one country; Germany. Or more accurately its Chancellor (Head of Government) Angela Merkel.
In July 2015 Angela Merkel was holding a televised Town Hall style event. There she was confronted by a teenage Palestinian girl named Reem. In demanding to know why she wasn't being granted refugee status Reem started to cry. This prompted something of a nationwide game within Germany mocking Chancellor Merkel for being so cruel as to make a young girl cry.
Clearly affected by the mockery Chancellor Merkel massively and emotionally overreacted. She declared that Germany would offer refugee status and citizenship to every migrant arriving in the country. Chancellor Merkel turned Germany into the promised land for irregular migrants without a single thought to how they would arrive in Germany and what to do with them when they did.
This caused massive problems along the Balkan Route where the majority of irregular migrants were Muslims. The Balkan region has been particularly scarred by Muslim migration both through the Balkan wars of the 1990's and the Kosovo conflict of 1999.
You will have a tough time convincing particularly the Serbs that these Muslim migrants aren't looking to steal from them. The last time there was a massive flood of Muslim migrants in the Balkans was following Albania's economic collapse in 1997. On that occasion the Muslim migrants literally stole Serbia's entire southern Kosovo Province.
Austria: The last nation irregular migrants will travel through on the Balkan Route before arriving in the promised land of Germany is Austria. Not having been consulted by their neighbour about these millions of irregular migrants has led to a large scale backlash in Austria against both the migrants and Germany.
In the summer of 2016 the run-off election for the role of Austria's President was contested between Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent backed by the Green Party and Nobert Hofer of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO). Initially Van der Bellen won with just 0.6% of the vote.
The Austrians were quite clear that this near election of a far-right politician to the largely ceremonial role of President was a protest against immigration. In fact the run-off had to be re-run due to a problem with postal ballots. Apparently the glue used was not doing a sufficient job of securing the borders.
With that mass protest over Van der Bellen won the re-run run-off with about 8% of the vote.
In December 2017 Austria held its much more important Parliamentary election. This elects the lawmakers which make up the Parliament along with the Chancellor who acts as the Head of Government.
The election saw the centre-right Austrian People's Party (OVP) emerge as the largest party. However in order to form a government they had to enter into a coalition with the Austrian Freedom Party. This limited success was due largely to the OVP moving to the right of its traditionally Christian roots to take a strong anti-immigration stance.
That saw the OVP align itself with what's known in European Union (EU) politics as the Visegrad Goup (V4). This is a grouping of EU member states including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic who are strongly opposed to immigration. Particularly the EU's refugee quotas introduced in response to the irregular migration crisis.
The inclusion of the FPO within the governing coalition along with the OVP's tough immigration stance has led to their leader and now Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to be labelled a far-right Chancellor.
The last far-right Austrian Chancellor was a guy named Adolf Hitler. His legacy is not looked upon fondly by the majority of Europeans. That obviously gives Chancellor Kurz something of a public relations problem when it comes to his immigration stance.
This year Austria were represented by the song; "Nobody But You" by Cesar Sampson.
Cesar Sampson is a black Austrian man. The fact he has been chosen to represent Austria challenges the notion that the country is racist. Lyrics such as; "Lord, I’m gonna bring you back tonight" and "Your words have been my bible // How could I search for someone new?" however point to a very strong Christian identity.
Therefore the song is making the argument that Austria's objections to the Balkan Route are not based on racism. Instead they are based on a desire to protect Austria and Europe's Christian identity in the face of the supposed Muslim hordes.
I must say though that it shows what a mess Europe has got itself into that the phrase; "It's not racism. It's just Islamaphobia" has somehow become an acceptable excuse.
That said even the entry doesn't seem entirely convinced by the argument its putting forward.
The video in support of the song features lots of shots of the black Cesar Sampson in sharp contrast with the traditional white snow of Austria. It also ends with a shot of him clasping the hand of a white woman. The sort of mixed race relationship I doubt the FPO are particularly keen on.
The video also features lots of black and white piano keys being played together. In reference to the 1982 Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder call for racial harmony; "Ebony and Ivory."
The mention of Stevie Wonder serves as a reference to; "The Black Music." Something which at recent Song Contests has become a way to discuss former US President Obama and his policies. In that context the fact that Cesar Sampson is black seems to be reminding everyone why Europe is in such a mess.
Bulgaria: Cesar Sampson who represented Austria is a member of Symphonix International. This is a loose collective of songwriters and producers which often plays a large role at the Song Contest.
Bulgaria's entry "Bones" by Equinox is also produced by Symphonix International.
Taken in isolation the message of Bulgaria's entry is extremely hard to place. With lyrics such as; "Love is like a black hole // Everything is dark" it seems to be talking about a very dark, destructive kind of love.
It also invokes imagery of space and Astrophysics. That could be taken as a reference to Quantum Physics and the so-called; "Rihanna Effect." The theory that if you affect the Quantum Field such as by humming the Rihanna song; "Umbrella" the result could be that it rains.
As with Austria's entry it also features a black man. In the form of Johnny Manuel from Michigan who is famous in the US due to his appearance on "America's Got Talent." The video also features a cross within a circle. In the recent UK TV Show "Hard Sun" this was claimed to be a neo-Nazi symbol.
Despite all these small references there doesn't seem to be any significant point to Bulgaria's entry.
However if Austria is the last country irregular migrants travel through on the Balkan Route before arriving in Germany then Bulgaria is the first country they travel through having left Turkey. Once you realise that Austria and Bulgaria represent the two ends of the Balkan Route and their songs are both produced by the same people Bulgaria's entry is starts to make a lot more sense.
In short it's meant to be a not very good version of Austria's song. The key difference is that it is massively overstaffed. Where Austria have a single singer Bulgaria have five.
Particularly when shown directly after Austria's entry it sends out the message; "Europe doesn't need any more people. We've got more than enough already!"
France: They were represented by Madame Monsieur with the song; "Mercy."
The song tells the true story of a baby girl named Mercy who was born to a Nigerian mother aboard the MV Aquarius in March 2017. MV Aquarius is operated by two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO's/Charities) - Medecine Sans Frontieres (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee. Its mission is to collect irregular migrants from in the Mediterranean Sea and transport them to southern Europe
The video in support of the song features dozens of extras dressed as irregular migrants with life jackets and gold foil blankets. They're shown throughout the major landmarks of Europe.
As such on the surface you could take this as a political protest in support of irregular migrants and migration. For example by referring to all irregular migrants as; "Refugees" with no questions asked.
In response to particularly the irregular migration crisis via the Balkan Route the main topic of discussion at the 2016 Song Contest was the question of how to integrate immigrants into the society of their new country.
The most successful school of thought on this topic is the doctrine of; "Multiculturalism." Rather than simply meaning; "Lots of Migrants" multiculturalism is a doctrine which allows immigrants to retain aspects of their culture which don't come in conflict with the existing culture. These aspects then become absorbed by the existing culture in what is often referred to as a; "Melting Pot."
One aspect of multiculturalism which has been explored in a lot of detail by the British legal system is the Sikh practice of "Kirpan." The carrying of a ceremonial sword or dagger.
If you've been following the headlines from Khanistan throughout 2018 you would know that Britain has strict laws against the carrying of knives, daggers and swords. However exemptions are made for Sikh men who adhere to the other four articles of the Sikh faith (The Five K's). Unless of course they use their Kirpan to attack someone. In which case the normal rules around murder and assault apply.
France adopts the different doctrine of "Assimilation." This forces immigrants to reject all aspects of their culture and wholly adopt the culture of their new country.
France is particularly protective of its language. It actually has a government ministry known as the; "Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France (General Delegation for French and the Languages of France)."
It's mission is to ensure the French is the official language of France by protecting it from the encroachment of other languages. Such as by setting quotas for how many non-French language songs can be played on TV and Radio. That is obviously an aspect of France's assimilation policy which is very easy to discuss at the Song Contest.
I think a particularly well recognised example of France's language laws at work is the the singer Héloïse Letissier who is better known as; "Christine and the Queens." She sings primarily in English but slips just enough French into her songs that they can be played on TV and Radio in her native France.
By playing around with the idea of gender identity Madame Monsieur make significant reference to Christine and the Queens. In fact their name seems to be borrowed from a lyric in the 2015 song "Tilted."
Once you are familiar with France's language battles the song "Mercy" takes on a different tone. In English "Mercy" means compassion or care. However in French the similar sounding word; "Merci" means to give thanks.
So rather than being a song in support of irregular migrants France's song is actually a protest against irregular migrants. The message being along the lines of; "We show them all this compassion and look at all the thanks we yet."
The type of thanks France has been getting from particularly Muslim immigrants is shown by the fact that Emilie - the female, Madame part of the act is from Nice.
On July 14th 2016 (14/7/16) there was an Islamist terror attack on crowds enjoying Bastille Day celebrations in Nice. A terrorist drove a truck through the crowded promenade killing 86 and wounding 458.
One of the iconic images to emerge from that attack was of a dead girl aged 4 or 5 wrapped in one of the gold foil blankets shown in the video.
Although that was far from the most horrific image of the attack that image particularly affected me. I think it just acted as a cipher for all the other horrifying things I'd seen that year. I was also taken by the fact that whomever had wrapped the girl in her shroud had also taken the trouble to make sure her favourite soft toy was wrapped up with her.
The video also featured frequent use of red flares. Far from simply looking pretty red flares have a very specific meaning in international maritime law. They are a signal of distress and it is actually a criminal offence to use them if you are not in distress.
As such the imagery of Europe's landmarks bathed in red flares was a sign of an entire continent in distress.
Whether you take it as pro or anti-refugee France's entry was based on a real-life event and was overtly political. Therefore it was in breach on Eurovision's golden rule and should not have been allowed into the contest.
However it was allowed because it was done deliberately and in strong protest against Shamali Province's shameful rule breaking in 2016.
Through "1944" by Jamala Shamali Province broke the; "No Overt Politics" rule because they consider themselves to be a master race who don't have to follow the rules which apply to everybody else. An approach they also take to the Minsk Protocol.
This year France intentionally broke the same rule because they knew they would be punished for it. Therefore they would not win meaning they wouldn't have to provide a security plan for hosting the 2019 Song Contest.
The main reason France doesn't want to put together a security plan is because of all the Islamist terrorism. A Song Contest held in Portugal still managed to trigger an Islamist terror attack in Paris. It is also worth noting though that French intelligence actually did a lot of the work making sure the 2017 contest held in Shamali Province was secure.
The main security challenge to the 2017 Song Contest was being in a state of civil war Shamali Province is just awash with heavy weapons. This meant that pretty much anyone could obtain hundreds of kilograms of high explosive and attack the contest on a whim.
In June 2016 a Frenchman by the name of Gregoire Moutaux travelled to Shamali Province to obtain a vast array of weapons including assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades and 125kg of TNT. It was claimed that he was doing this in order to stage 15 terror attacks against Jewish and Muslim targets during the Euro 2016 football tournament being held in France.
The prospect of Muslims being in danger got the US of former President Obama in particular suddenly very focused on the vast amounts on weaponry available in Shamali Province. This focus led to a crackdown which allowed the 2017 Song Contest to pass off peacefully. It also allowed the May 26th (26/5/18) UEFA Champions League Final which was bizarrely held in Shamali Province to pass of peacefully.
Gregoire Moutaux was sentenced on May 22nd (22/5/18). Amid much discussion over how UEFA has allowed itself to become infected by the corruption and extremism of Chuck Blazer and CONCACAF.
France's decision to use the irregular migration issue to break the No Overt Politics was also intended to raise discussion about how Eurovision got it so wrong by awarding Portugal victory in 2017 and with it the 2018 hosting rights.
Due to the cost Portugal has only been able to participate in the Song Contest intermittently since the 2008 financial crisis. They certainly did not want the expense of hosting the 2018 Song Contest. In fact their winning entry in 2017 was essentially them adopting the shared language and looking to Brazil to say; "I hope you're not expecting us to pay .... For the Both of Us."
As the Song Contest week progressed and Portugal started to emerge as the favourite their artist Salvador Sobral took to wearing a hoodie with the overtly political slogan; "SOS Refugees" and making overtly political statements in support of refugees during press conferences and interviews.
This breaking of the No Overt Politics rule was Portugal trying to do everything it could think of to get itself marked down so they wouldn't have to host the 2018 Song Contest.
The fact that went completely over the heads of everyone in the Eurovision community does not show them in the best light.
The French entry also contributed to the; "Trolling of the Gays" sub-theme.
During the live performance in the Grand Final Emilie kept reaching down from the stage to the audience. This prompted the audience to reach up to the stage. It was a scene that almost resembled irregular migrants on the Mediterranean Route reaching up towards their rescuers aboard MV Aquarius.
However it had the effect of getting the audience to throw their right arms up as if in a Nazi salute.
So the French managed to turn the very gay Eurovision crowd and their Russophobia into a Nazi Rally.
At around 17:15 on 28/5/18 (UK date) I just need to add Germany's right-to-reply to this section.
Germany: They were represented by Michael Schulte with the song; "You Let Me Walk Alone."
As the title suggests this song was all about Germany's deep unpopularity and isolation within Europe. However rather than taking responsibility for its failings Germany attempts to blame everyone else in Europe for its isolation.
With lyrics such as; "Every now and then I’m drawn to places" in reference to EU expansion and; "You made this place a home // A shelter from the storm" in reference to the irregular migration crisis it attempts to portray Germany as the true guardian of European values. With lyrics such as; "I’m a dreamer // I was told that you were, too" it chastises European for abandoning those values.
It is testament to how sensitive Germany is about its isolation and deep unpopularity that in Michael Schulte they chose a well established star to represent them.
Michael Schulte began his career in 2007 on Youtube amassing some 50 million views and 300,000 subscribers. His debut album reached number 1 in Germany in 2012 and he released his fourth album in late 2017. He has also written songs for the suitably ethnically harmonious "Alle Farben (All Colours).
Martin Schulte was backed by an equally well established writing team. Including Thomas Stengaard who wrote the 2013 Song Contest winner "Only Teardrops" for Denmark's Emmelie de Forest and the big Danish pop hit "Vi To Datid" by Cisilia in 2015. Germany's song was also part written by Nina Muller who writes for big German popstars such Lina Maly, Mary Roos and Johannes Falk.
Apart from adding quality the hope was that these well established names with them to help Germany avoid a crushing defeat in the voting.
However in the execution of that idea those well established names did seem to be trying to wreck their chances at every opportunity.
Officially the song is about Michael Schultz growing up without his father who died when he was just 14 years old. Featuring lyrics such as; "From one love of two hearts // We were three kids and a loving mum" it seemed to be aggressively pushing the idea of traditional family values that marriage is only between one man and one woman. Not an idea that is particularly popular amongst a Eurovision crowd.
Michael Schultz is, I think, married and his female partner is pregnant with their first child. During one of the intermission segments of the Second Semi-Final he and the presenters did a big gender reveal. Suggesting that gender is not only binary but also fixed is the sort of thing the Snowflakes seem to consider hate speech.
In the end Germany's deceit seemed to pay off. They were roundly thumped in the panel voting spending much of the Grand Final languishing in last place. However the established fanbase and the saccharine schmaltz of song rescued them in the public vote eventually elevating them to fourth.
The song was very much in the style of British popstar Ed Sheeran. In a clear sign that society has failed and we're all doomed Ed Sheeran is inexplicably popular. The similarity therefore helped Germany bring in some more public votes.
However I think the main reason for the similarity was in reference to Britain's exit from the EU (Brexit). Specifically the issue of the border between the Republic of Ireland and British region of Northern Ireland.
In early 2017 Ed Sheeran released the song; "Galway Girl." Like the rest of Ed Sheeran's back catalogue this is a blatant copy of the Steve Earle song of the same name. It's about a girl from the Irish city of Galway.
At the 2017 Song Contest the Republic of Ireland along with a number of other nations such as Spain used their entries to roundly mock Ed Sheeran and his plagiarism.
The joke at the time was that the only thing that will unite the island of Ireland is an utter hatred of Ed Sheeran.
17:15 on 29/5/18 (UK date).
Across those eight posts I examined the main theme of this year's Song Contest - How Eurovision and by extension Europe has managed to get it just so horribly wrong over the last few years.
Two areas where Europe has got it really badly wrong is the conflict in Syria and the conflict in Libya. These conflicts have triggered a massive irregular migration crisis affecting Europe.
That crisis is really made up of two migration routes;
The so-called Balkan Route which sees migrants travel from Turkey across the Balkan region to western Europe. The so-called Mediterranean Route. This sees migrants travel from across Africa through Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea and into southern Europe.
As a result one of the other main themes at this year's Song Contest was migration.
Migration.
This is a theme that was touched on by many nations.
For example Malta used the Mediterranean Route as an example of one of the key things which is turning the World into such a horrifying place. The Netherlands focused on the resumption of the African Slave Trade as a result of the conflict in Libya and the resulting Mediterranean Route.
There were though a number of nations which made it their main issue.
The problems of the migration crisis have been exacerbated by the actions of one country; Germany. Or more accurately its Chancellor (Head of Government) Angela Merkel.
In July 2015 Angela Merkel was holding a televised Town Hall style event. There she was confronted by a teenage Palestinian girl named Reem. In demanding to know why she wasn't being granted refugee status Reem started to cry. This prompted something of a nationwide game within Germany mocking Chancellor Merkel for being so cruel as to make a young girl cry.
Clearly affected by the mockery Chancellor Merkel massively and emotionally overreacted. She declared that Germany would offer refugee status and citizenship to every migrant arriving in the country. Chancellor Merkel turned Germany into the promised land for irregular migrants without a single thought to how they would arrive in Germany and what to do with them when they did.
This caused massive problems along the Balkan Route where the majority of irregular migrants were Muslims. The Balkan region has been particularly scarred by Muslim migration both through the Balkan wars of the 1990's and the Kosovo conflict of 1999.
You will have a tough time convincing particularly the Serbs that these Muslim migrants aren't looking to steal from them. The last time there was a massive flood of Muslim migrants in the Balkans was following Albania's economic collapse in 1997. On that occasion the Muslim migrants literally stole Serbia's entire southern Kosovo Province.
Austria: The last nation irregular migrants will travel through on the Balkan Route before arriving in the promised land of Germany is Austria. Not having been consulted by their neighbour about these millions of irregular migrants has led to a large scale backlash in Austria against both the migrants and Germany.
In the summer of 2016 the run-off election for the role of Austria's President was contested between Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent backed by the Green Party and Nobert Hofer of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO). Initially Van der Bellen won with just 0.6% of the vote.
The Austrians were quite clear that this near election of a far-right politician to the largely ceremonial role of President was a protest against immigration. In fact the run-off had to be re-run due to a problem with postal ballots. Apparently the glue used was not doing a sufficient job of securing the borders.
With that mass protest over Van der Bellen won the re-run run-off with about 8% of the vote.
In December 2017 Austria held its much more important Parliamentary election. This elects the lawmakers which make up the Parliament along with the Chancellor who acts as the Head of Government.
The election saw the centre-right Austrian People's Party (OVP) emerge as the largest party. However in order to form a government they had to enter into a coalition with the Austrian Freedom Party. This limited success was due largely to the OVP moving to the right of its traditionally Christian roots to take a strong anti-immigration stance.
That saw the OVP align itself with what's known in European Union (EU) politics as the Visegrad Goup (V4). This is a grouping of EU member states including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic who are strongly opposed to immigration. Particularly the EU's refugee quotas introduced in response to the irregular migration crisis.
The inclusion of the FPO within the governing coalition along with the OVP's tough immigration stance has led to their leader and now Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to be labelled a far-right Chancellor.
The last far-right Austrian Chancellor was a guy named Adolf Hitler. His legacy is not looked upon fondly by the majority of Europeans. That obviously gives Chancellor Kurz something of a public relations problem when it comes to his immigration stance.
This year Austria were represented by the song; "Nobody But You" by Cesar Sampson.
Cesar Sampson is a black Austrian man. The fact he has been chosen to represent Austria challenges the notion that the country is racist. Lyrics such as; "Lord, I’m gonna bring you back tonight" and "Your words have been my bible // How could I search for someone new?" however point to a very strong Christian identity.
Therefore the song is making the argument that Austria's objections to the Balkan Route are not based on racism. Instead they are based on a desire to protect Austria and Europe's Christian identity in the face of the supposed Muslim hordes.
I must say though that it shows what a mess Europe has got itself into that the phrase; "It's not racism. It's just Islamaphobia" has somehow become an acceptable excuse.
That said even the entry doesn't seem entirely convinced by the argument its putting forward.
The video in support of the song features lots of shots of the black Cesar Sampson in sharp contrast with the traditional white snow of Austria. It also ends with a shot of him clasping the hand of a white woman. The sort of mixed race relationship I doubt the FPO are particularly keen on.
The video also features lots of black and white piano keys being played together. In reference to the 1982 Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder call for racial harmony; "Ebony and Ivory."
The mention of Stevie Wonder serves as a reference to; "The Black Music." Something which at recent Song Contests has become a way to discuss former US President Obama and his policies. In that context the fact that Cesar Sampson is black seems to be reminding everyone why Europe is in such a mess.
Bulgaria: Cesar Sampson who represented Austria is a member of Symphonix International. This is a loose collective of songwriters and producers which often plays a large role at the Song Contest.
Bulgaria's entry "Bones" by Equinox is also produced by Symphonix International.
Taken in isolation the message of Bulgaria's entry is extremely hard to place. With lyrics such as; "Love is like a black hole // Everything is dark" it seems to be talking about a very dark, destructive kind of love.
It also invokes imagery of space and Astrophysics. That could be taken as a reference to Quantum Physics and the so-called; "Rihanna Effect." The theory that if you affect the Quantum Field such as by humming the Rihanna song; "Umbrella" the result could be that it rains.
As with Austria's entry it also features a black man. In the form of Johnny Manuel from Michigan who is famous in the US due to his appearance on "America's Got Talent." The video also features a cross within a circle. In the recent UK TV Show "Hard Sun" this was claimed to be a neo-Nazi symbol.
Despite all these small references there doesn't seem to be any significant point to Bulgaria's entry.
However if Austria is the last country irregular migrants travel through on the Balkan Route before arriving in Germany then Bulgaria is the first country they travel through having left Turkey. Once you realise that Austria and Bulgaria represent the two ends of the Balkan Route and their songs are both produced by the same people Bulgaria's entry is starts to make a lot more sense.
In short it's meant to be a not very good version of Austria's song. The key difference is that it is massively overstaffed. Where Austria have a single singer Bulgaria have five.
Particularly when shown directly after Austria's entry it sends out the message; "Europe doesn't need any more people. We've got more than enough already!"
France: They were represented by Madame Monsieur with the song; "Mercy."
The song tells the true story of a baby girl named Mercy who was born to a Nigerian mother aboard the MV Aquarius in March 2017. MV Aquarius is operated by two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO's/Charities) - Medecine Sans Frontieres (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee. Its mission is to collect irregular migrants from in the Mediterranean Sea and transport them to southern Europe
The video in support of the song features dozens of extras dressed as irregular migrants with life jackets and gold foil blankets. They're shown throughout the major landmarks of Europe.
As such on the surface you could take this as a political protest in support of irregular migrants and migration. For example by referring to all irregular migrants as; "Refugees" with no questions asked.
In response to particularly the irregular migration crisis via the Balkan Route the main topic of discussion at the 2016 Song Contest was the question of how to integrate immigrants into the society of their new country.
The most successful school of thought on this topic is the doctrine of; "Multiculturalism." Rather than simply meaning; "Lots of Migrants" multiculturalism is a doctrine which allows immigrants to retain aspects of their culture which don't come in conflict with the existing culture. These aspects then become absorbed by the existing culture in what is often referred to as a; "Melting Pot."
One aspect of multiculturalism which has been explored in a lot of detail by the British legal system is the Sikh practice of "Kirpan." The carrying of a ceremonial sword or dagger.
If you've been following the headlines from Khanistan throughout 2018 you would know that Britain has strict laws against the carrying of knives, daggers and swords. However exemptions are made for Sikh men who adhere to the other four articles of the Sikh faith (The Five K's). Unless of course they use their Kirpan to attack someone. In which case the normal rules around murder and assault apply.
France adopts the different doctrine of "Assimilation." This forces immigrants to reject all aspects of their culture and wholly adopt the culture of their new country.
France is particularly protective of its language. It actually has a government ministry known as the; "Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France (General Delegation for French and the Languages of France)."
It's mission is to ensure the French is the official language of France by protecting it from the encroachment of other languages. Such as by setting quotas for how many non-French language songs can be played on TV and Radio. That is obviously an aspect of France's assimilation policy which is very easy to discuss at the Song Contest.
I think a particularly well recognised example of France's language laws at work is the the singer Héloïse Letissier who is better known as; "Christine and the Queens." She sings primarily in English but slips just enough French into her songs that they can be played on TV and Radio in her native France.
By playing around with the idea of gender identity Madame Monsieur make significant reference to Christine and the Queens. In fact their name seems to be borrowed from a lyric in the 2015 song "Tilted."
Once you are familiar with France's language battles the song "Mercy" takes on a different tone. In English "Mercy" means compassion or care. However in French the similar sounding word; "Merci" means to give thanks.
So rather than being a song in support of irregular migrants France's song is actually a protest against irregular migrants. The message being along the lines of; "We show them all this compassion and look at all the thanks we yet."
The type of thanks France has been getting from particularly Muslim immigrants is shown by the fact that Emilie - the female, Madame part of the act is from Nice.
On July 14th 2016 (14/7/16) there was an Islamist terror attack on crowds enjoying Bastille Day celebrations in Nice. A terrorist drove a truck through the crowded promenade killing 86 and wounding 458.
One of the iconic images to emerge from that attack was of a dead girl aged 4 or 5 wrapped in one of the gold foil blankets shown in the video.
Although that was far from the most horrific image of the attack that image particularly affected me. I think it just acted as a cipher for all the other horrifying things I'd seen that year. I was also taken by the fact that whomever had wrapped the girl in her shroud had also taken the trouble to make sure her favourite soft toy was wrapped up with her.
The video also featured frequent use of red flares. Far from simply looking pretty red flares have a very specific meaning in international maritime law. They are a signal of distress and it is actually a criminal offence to use them if you are not in distress.
As such the imagery of Europe's landmarks bathed in red flares was a sign of an entire continent in distress.
Whether you take it as pro or anti-refugee France's entry was based on a real-life event and was overtly political. Therefore it was in breach on Eurovision's golden rule and should not have been allowed into the contest.
However it was allowed because it was done deliberately and in strong protest against Shamali Province's shameful rule breaking in 2016.
Through "1944" by Jamala Shamali Province broke the; "No Overt Politics" rule because they consider themselves to be a master race who don't have to follow the rules which apply to everybody else. An approach they also take to the Minsk Protocol.
This year France intentionally broke the same rule because they knew they would be punished for it. Therefore they would not win meaning they wouldn't have to provide a security plan for hosting the 2019 Song Contest.
The main reason France doesn't want to put together a security plan is because of all the Islamist terrorism. A Song Contest held in Portugal still managed to trigger an Islamist terror attack in Paris. It is also worth noting though that French intelligence actually did a lot of the work making sure the 2017 contest held in Shamali Province was secure.
The main security challenge to the 2017 Song Contest was being in a state of civil war Shamali Province is just awash with heavy weapons. This meant that pretty much anyone could obtain hundreds of kilograms of high explosive and attack the contest on a whim.
In June 2016 a Frenchman by the name of Gregoire Moutaux travelled to Shamali Province to obtain a vast array of weapons including assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades and 125kg of TNT. It was claimed that he was doing this in order to stage 15 terror attacks against Jewish and Muslim targets during the Euro 2016 football tournament being held in France.
The prospect of Muslims being in danger got the US of former President Obama in particular suddenly very focused on the vast amounts on weaponry available in Shamali Province. This focus led to a crackdown which allowed the 2017 Song Contest to pass off peacefully. It also allowed the May 26th (26/5/18) UEFA Champions League Final which was bizarrely held in Shamali Province to pass of peacefully.
Gregoire Moutaux was sentenced on May 22nd (22/5/18). Amid much discussion over how UEFA has allowed itself to become infected by the corruption and extremism of Chuck Blazer and CONCACAF.
France's decision to use the irregular migration issue to break the No Overt Politics was also intended to raise discussion about how Eurovision got it so wrong by awarding Portugal victory in 2017 and with it the 2018 hosting rights.
Due to the cost Portugal has only been able to participate in the Song Contest intermittently since the 2008 financial crisis. They certainly did not want the expense of hosting the 2018 Song Contest. In fact their winning entry in 2017 was essentially them adopting the shared language and looking to Brazil to say; "I hope you're not expecting us to pay .... For the Both of Us."
As the Song Contest week progressed and Portugal started to emerge as the favourite their artist Salvador Sobral took to wearing a hoodie with the overtly political slogan; "SOS Refugees" and making overtly political statements in support of refugees during press conferences and interviews.
This breaking of the No Overt Politics rule was Portugal trying to do everything it could think of to get itself marked down so they wouldn't have to host the 2018 Song Contest.
The fact that went completely over the heads of everyone in the Eurovision community does not show them in the best light.
The French entry also contributed to the; "Trolling of the Gays" sub-theme.
During the live performance in the Grand Final Emilie kept reaching down from the stage to the audience. This prompted the audience to reach up to the stage. It was a scene that almost resembled irregular migrants on the Mediterranean Route reaching up towards their rescuers aboard MV Aquarius.
However it had the effect of getting the audience to throw their right arms up as if in a Nazi salute.
So the French managed to turn the very gay Eurovision crowd and their Russophobia into a Nazi Rally.
At around 17:15 on 28/5/18 (UK date) I just need to add Germany's right-to-reply to this section.
Germany: They were represented by Michael Schulte with the song; "You Let Me Walk Alone."
As the title suggests this song was all about Germany's deep unpopularity and isolation within Europe. However rather than taking responsibility for its failings Germany attempts to blame everyone else in Europe for its isolation.
With lyrics such as; "Every now and then I’m drawn to places" in reference to EU expansion and; "You made this place a home // A shelter from the storm" in reference to the irregular migration crisis it attempts to portray Germany as the true guardian of European values. With lyrics such as; "I’m a dreamer // I was told that you were, too" it chastises European for abandoning those values.
It is testament to how sensitive Germany is about its isolation and deep unpopularity that in Michael Schulte they chose a well established star to represent them.
Michael Schulte began his career in 2007 on Youtube amassing some 50 million views and 300,000 subscribers. His debut album reached number 1 in Germany in 2012 and he released his fourth album in late 2017. He has also written songs for the suitably ethnically harmonious "Alle Farben (All Colours).
Martin Schulte was backed by an equally well established writing team. Including Thomas Stengaard who wrote the 2013 Song Contest winner "Only Teardrops" for Denmark's Emmelie de Forest and the big Danish pop hit "Vi To Datid" by Cisilia in 2015. Germany's song was also part written by Nina Muller who writes for big German popstars such Lina Maly, Mary Roos and Johannes Falk.
Apart from adding quality the hope was that these well established names with them to help Germany avoid a crushing defeat in the voting.
However in the execution of that idea those well established names did seem to be trying to wreck their chances at every opportunity.
Officially the song is about Michael Schultz growing up without his father who died when he was just 14 years old. Featuring lyrics such as; "From one love of two hearts // We were three kids and a loving mum" it seemed to be aggressively pushing the idea of traditional family values that marriage is only between one man and one woman. Not an idea that is particularly popular amongst a Eurovision crowd.
Michael Schultz is, I think, married and his female partner is pregnant with their first child. During one of the intermission segments of the Second Semi-Final he and the presenters did a big gender reveal. Suggesting that gender is not only binary but also fixed is the sort of thing the Snowflakes seem to consider hate speech.
In the end Germany's deceit seemed to pay off. They were roundly thumped in the panel voting spending much of the Grand Final languishing in last place. However the established fanbase and the saccharine schmaltz of song rescued them in the public vote eventually elevating them to fourth.
The song was very much in the style of British popstar Ed Sheeran. In a clear sign that society has failed and we're all doomed Ed Sheeran is inexplicably popular. The similarity therefore helped Germany bring in some more public votes.
However I think the main reason for the similarity was in reference to Britain's exit from the EU (Brexit). Specifically the issue of the border between the Republic of Ireland and British region of Northern Ireland.
In early 2017 Ed Sheeran released the song; "Galway Girl." Like the rest of Ed Sheeran's back catalogue this is a blatant copy of the Steve Earle song of the same name. It's about a girl from the Irish city of Galway.
At the 2017 Song Contest the Republic of Ireland along with a number of other nations such as Spain used their entries to roundly mock Ed Sheeran and his plagiarism.
The joke at the time was that the only thing that will unite the island of Ireland is an utter hatred of Ed Sheeran.
17:15 on 29/5/18 (UK date).
Wednesday 23 May 2018
The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest: Grand Finale Pt.8
A direction continuation of Part 7; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest-grand_22.html
There's Always One.
Or in this case one and a half.
The main theme of this year's contest was how the Song Contest and by extension NATO has managed to get its relationship with Russia just so horribly wrong. With a universal acceptance the relationship with Russia was wrong nations then explored the reasons why it had gone wrong.
There were though two exceptions to this consensus.
Lithuania: They were represented by the song; "When We're Old" by Ieva Zasimauskaite.
Within former Soviet Union nations such as Lithuania there is a clear generational split.
The generation that lived under Communism generally have fond memories of the Soviet Union and generally positive feelings towards Russia. The younger generation born after independence generally have a much more negative attitude towards Russia.
The video in support of the song highlighted this generational split. You had the 24 year old Ieva Zasimauskaite as a representative of the post-independence generation. She was shown in contrast with lots of examples of loving couples of the Soviet pensioner generation.
The message of the song is that Ieva Zasimauskaite's generation can't wait until they are old. It will mean that the Soviet pensioner generation will all be dead so there'll be nothing to hinder their hostility towards Russia.
Throughout the video there is a male suitor constantly looming over Ieva Zasimauskaite as she, for example, plays piano in an old people's home. In this post-Weinstein age it is not quite clear whether Ieva Zasimauskaite welcomes his attentions or not. That looming male figure is Russia.
The live performance in both the First Semi-Final and Grand Final ends with this male suitor coming on stage and proposing marriage. Ieva Zasimauskaite tearfully accepts in a scene so heartwarming it helped for Lithuania's hostility to be forgotten and the act to be propelled into the Grand Final.
So it is nice when a artist ends their act with an apology. For their act.
Estonia: They were represented by Elina Nechayeva with the song; "La Forza (The Force)."
Estonia's entry was heavily influenced by the ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics and and particularly Para-Olympics.
For example during the live performances Elina Nechayeva's big gimmick was that she worn a ballgown that raised up to a great height and onto which video images were projected.
Almost exactly like the ballgown worn by the ballet dancer in the "Balhae School" sequence of the Para-Olympic Closing Ceremony rose up to become a Lotus Blossom. However Estonia's version was smaller, cheaper and just not as good.
Throughout the ceremonies the South Koreans made frequent reference to the contrast between classical high culture and popular low culture. For example the Para-Olympic Opening Ceremony ended with a duet between Hwang Su-mi, the South Korean Opera star who featured in the Olympic Opening Ceremony and Yang So-hee, an up-and-coming K-Pop star with the band Elris.
This was done really as an expression of South Korean interest in the Eurovision Song Contest. In past years Classical music has been used to represent Russian high culture while pop music has been used to represent American low culture.
So if you wish to indicate support for Russia your song would be in the classical style. If you wish to indicate support for America your song would be in the pop style.
Elina Nechayeva is a graduate of classical singing from the Estonian Academy of Music and an aspiring Opera singer. She cites as her main musical influences two classical composers. The German Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Russian Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
The song is performed in Italian. In a very classical operatic style.
So following the convention that classical high culture is supportive of Russia it would be easy to assume that Estonia is being supportive of Russia. Particularly as Elina Nechayeva who was born in 1991 touts her Russian heritage.
However once you learn that Elina Nechayeva has ethnically Turkish heritage or if you speak Italian as Italians are prone to do you quickly realise that Estonia are attempting to subvert that convention.
Within the 28 nations of the European Union (EU) Italy is probably the most supportive of Russia. Every time the EU moves to renew its sanctions on Russia Italy objects and threatens to veto.
Italy is currently in the process of trying to establish a coalition government between Lega Nord (Northern League) and the 5Star Movement. The one thing these far-right and far-left parties can really agree on is the need to end sanctions on Russia.
The flag of the EU is a circular constellation of 28 stars against a blue background. Estonia's song is all about how they have to power of the stars. It attempts to bully Italy into submission by claiming that Estonia has the full weight of the EU behind it in its hostility towards Russia. So Italy had best fall in line.
During the Grand Final of the Song Contest there was a terror attack in Paris, France. A 21 year old Muslim from the Russian region of Chechnya launched a knife attack in the Opera district of the city. He killed one person and wounded four others before being shot dead by police.
ISIL have since claimed this attack. However I'm not sure they would want to. Displaying particular ineptitude they seem to have launched an attack against the only nation in the Song Contest that continues to support them.
Italy's entry this year dealt with a number of important issues. This meant that they were far to busy to respond to Estonia. So San Marino stepped in to defend Italy's honour.
San Marino: They were represented by the song; "Who We Are" by Jessika featuring Jennifer Brening.
Also inspired by the 2018 Winter Olympics and Para-Olympics their gimmick was that they used small, commercially available robots as backing dancers.
On the small stage in the performance video in support of the song I think these actually worked quite well. However during the performance in the First Semi-Final they were predictably dwarfed by the much larger stage making the whole attempt to copying advanced South Korean technology seem rather embarrassing.
The lyrics of the song are literally about being bullied and standing up tall in the face of the storm. It also featured a rap verse by white, female, German rapper Jennifer Brening using the stage name; "Jenny B."
Although I'm still not sure if she realised that's why she got the gig this example of "German, White-Girl Rap" was every bit as terrible as you would expect.
Sending the message to Estonia that the trashy low-culture of former US President Obama's "Black Music" really does not work for Europe.
And with that, 8 parts and 10 days later I think I have finally finished with the main theme.
16:25 on 23/5/18 (UK date).
There's Always One.
Or in this case one and a half.
The main theme of this year's contest was how the Song Contest and by extension NATO has managed to get its relationship with Russia just so horribly wrong. With a universal acceptance the relationship with Russia was wrong nations then explored the reasons why it had gone wrong.
There were though two exceptions to this consensus.
Lithuania: They were represented by the song; "When We're Old" by Ieva Zasimauskaite.
Within former Soviet Union nations such as Lithuania there is a clear generational split.
The generation that lived under Communism generally have fond memories of the Soviet Union and generally positive feelings towards Russia. The younger generation born after independence generally have a much more negative attitude towards Russia.
The video in support of the song highlighted this generational split. You had the 24 year old Ieva Zasimauskaite as a representative of the post-independence generation. She was shown in contrast with lots of examples of loving couples of the Soviet pensioner generation.
The message of the song is that Ieva Zasimauskaite's generation can't wait until they are old. It will mean that the Soviet pensioner generation will all be dead so there'll be nothing to hinder their hostility towards Russia.
Throughout the video there is a male suitor constantly looming over Ieva Zasimauskaite as she, for example, plays piano in an old people's home. In this post-Weinstein age it is not quite clear whether Ieva Zasimauskaite welcomes his attentions or not. That looming male figure is Russia.
The live performance in both the First Semi-Final and Grand Final ends with this male suitor coming on stage and proposing marriage. Ieva Zasimauskaite tearfully accepts in a scene so heartwarming it helped for Lithuania's hostility to be forgotten and the act to be propelled into the Grand Final.
So it is nice when a artist ends their act with an apology. For their act.
Estonia: They were represented by Elina Nechayeva with the song; "La Forza (The Force)."
Estonia's entry was heavily influenced by the ceremonies of the 2018 Winter Olympics and and particularly Para-Olympics.
For example during the live performances Elina Nechayeva's big gimmick was that she worn a ballgown that raised up to a great height and onto which video images were projected.
Almost exactly like the ballgown worn by the ballet dancer in the "Balhae School" sequence of the Para-Olympic Closing Ceremony rose up to become a Lotus Blossom. However Estonia's version was smaller, cheaper and just not as good.
Throughout the ceremonies the South Koreans made frequent reference to the contrast between classical high culture and popular low culture. For example the Para-Olympic Opening Ceremony ended with a duet between Hwang Su-mi, the South Korean Opera star who featured in the Olympic Opening Ceremony and Yang So-hee, an up-and-coming K-Pop star with the band Elris.
This was done really as an expression of South Korean interest in the Eurovision Song Contest. In past years Classical music has been used to represent Russian high culture while pop music has been used to represent American low culture.
So if you wish to indicate support for Russia your song would be in the classical style. If you wish to indicate support for America your song would be in the pop style.
Elina Nechayeva is a graduate of classical singing from the Estonian Academy of Music and an aspiring Opera singer. She cites as her main musical influences two classical composers. The German Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Russian Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
The song is performed in Italian. In a very classical operatic style.
So following the convention that classical high culture is supportive of Russia it would be easy to assume that Estonia is being supportive of Russia. Particularly as Elina Nechayeva who was born in 1991 touts her Russian heritage.
However once you learn that Elina Nechayeva has ethnically Turkish heritage or if you speak Italian as Italians are prone to do you quickly realise that Estonia are attempting to subvert that convention.
Within the 28 nations of the European Union (EU) Italy is probably the most supportive of Russia. Every time the EU moves to renew its sanctions on Russia Italy objects and threatens to veto.
Italy is currently in the process of trying to establish a coalition government between Lega Nord (Northern League) and the 5Star Movement. The one thing these far-right and far-left parties can really agree on is the need to end sanctions on Russia.
The flag of the EU is a circular constellation of 28 stars against a blue background. Estonia's song is all about how they have to power of the stars. It attempts to bully Italy into submission by claiming that Estonia has the full weight of the EU behind it in its hostility towards Russia. So Italy had best fall in line.
During the Grand Final of the Song Contest there was a terror attack in Paris, France. A 21 year old Muslim from the Russian region of Chechnya launched a knife attack in the Opera district of the city. He killed one person and wounded four others before being shot dead by police.
ISIL have since claimed this attack. However I'm not sure they would want to. Displaying particular ineptitude they seem to have launched an attack against the only nation in the Song Contest that continues to support them.
Italy's entry this year dealt with a number of important issues. This meant that they were far to busy to respond to Estonia. So San Marino stepped in to defend Italy's honour.
San Marino: They were represented by the song; "Who We Are" by Jessika featuring Jennifer Brening.
Also inspired by the 2018 Winter Olympics and Para-Olympics their gimmick was that they used small, commercially available robots as backing dancers.
On the small stage in the performance video in support of the song I think these actually worked quite well. However during the performance in the First Semi-Final they were predictably dwarfed by the much larger stage making the whole attempt to copying advanced South Korean technology seem rather embarrassing.
The lyrics of the song are literally about being bullied and standing up tall in the face of the storm. It also featured a rap verse by white, female, German rapper Jennifer Brening using the stage name; "Jenny B."
Although I'm still not sure if she realised that's why she got the gig this example of "German, White-Girl Rap" was every bit as terrible as you would expect.
Sending the message to Estonia that the trashy low-culture of former US President Obama's "Black Music" really does not work for Europe.
And with that, 8 parts and 10 days later I think I have finally finished with the main theme.
16:25 on 23/5/18 (UK date).
Tuesday 22 May 2018
The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest: Grand Finale Pt.7.
A direct continuation of Part 6; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest-grand_21.html
NATO's Many Crimes.
Particularly since the creation of Shamali Province NATO has attempted to claim a moral superiority over Russia.
This next group of acts suggest it would be a bad idea for NATO to even attempt to draw a moral equivalency with Russia. By listing NATO's many crimes.
The Netherlands: This year they were represented by Waylon with the song; "Outlaw In 'Em."
Eurovision entries are often designed to achieve particular political goals. The week long Song Contest itself tries to condense the entire a experience of being a popstar into a single week.
So it is common that nations will actually use stars of musical theatre as their entry. That person will adopt the character of such-and-such popstar and commit to that role for a week. Then in a month's time they'll adopt a completely different character in, say, a production of Les Miserable or Cats.
This year the Netherlands have gone in a different direction. In Waylon they have chosen a well known and accomplished musical star. Albeit someone who rather than being a popstar is a star of Europe's Country Music scene which is surprisingly larger than you would think.
Having been discovered on the 2008 season of "Holland's Got Talent" Waylon has released four top selling albums. In 2016 he was a judge on the TV talent show; "It Takes Two" and a coach on the Dutch version of; "The Voice."
Famously in 2014 Waylon formed the double act; "The Common Linnets" with Ilse DeLange to perform at that year's Song Contest. Their song "Calm After the Storm" placed second and went on to become a huge radio and sales hit across Europe.
It is also the only time in history Miley Cyrus has been described as a calming influence.
I don't know how familiar Waylon will be to American Country Music fans but he is certainly well known within the American Country Music scene. He studied under Waylon Jennings in Nashville, Tennessee for three years from 1998 until Jennings death in 2001. Then known as Willem Bijkerk he adopted the name Waylon in tribute.
This song is co-written by Ilya Toshinskiy and Jim Beavers.
Born in Obninsk, Russia Ilya Toshinskiy is the guitarist with the band Bering Strait. They have been based in Nashville since 1998. As a session musician Toshinskiy has won 8 Music Row Awards and 2 American Country Music Awards for his work on top selling records for the likes of (early) Taylor Swift, Shakira, Florida Georgia Line and Rascal Flatts.
A native of Texas Jim Beavers started out as a Director of Marketing for first Capitol Records and then Virgin Records. He then branched out as a session musician and songwriter for the likes of Lee Ann Womack, Chris Stapleton, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Gary Allan, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert along with other absolutely huge names within American Country Music.
When you start talking about the American south and country music it won't be long before someone mentions the Confederate Flag. That is a blue Saint Andrew's Cross on a reddish, orange background. Within the St Andrew's Cross there are 13 stars representing the 13 Confederate states in the US Civil War.
Within the current civil war in Shamali Province the ethnically Russian forces have adopted the Soviet Naval Flag. This is a blue St Andrew's Cross on a reddish, orange background along with a faint, white St George's Cross which is often not used. It is very similar to the Confederate Flag lacking only the 13 stars within the St Andrew's Cross.
In an attempt to smear those ethnically Russian forces particularly the US under Obama has tried to portray them as racist by claiming they are flying the US Confederate Flag. In reality it is the forces flying the Soviet Naval Flag that are fighting against the ethnic cleansing of the US-backed Waffen SS.
Wrapped in the flag of the Soviet Navy the Dutch entry was a stirring rebel anthem in support of the ethnically Russian forces in Shamali Province's ongoing civil war.
It is particularly significant that it is the Netherlands taking this position. When attempting to claim moral superiority over Russia the US and its NATO allies frequently cite July 17th 2014 (17/7/14) shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Flight MH17 took off from the Netherlands and of the 298 people killed 193 of them were Dutch. So when the US claims it is taking action against Russia because of MH17 it is really claiming to act on the Netherlands behalf. It's telling that when the Netherlands speak for themselves they say something very different.
The Song Contest is often used for nations to float ideas that their governments cannot formally endorse. However the Netherlands' contradiction of the US over Russia is actually in line with current Dutch government policy.
In February 2018 the Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra was forced to resign. He had claimed he had attended a meeting in which Russian President Vladimir Putin had claimed he wanted to build a greater Russia in eastern Europe. Zijlstra's resignation came after he was forced to admit that he'd simply made up these anti-Russian claims.
As you may remember from the 2018 Winter Olympics US Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller did not react well to Halbe Zijlstra's resignation. This Dutch lawmaker's resignation was rapidly followed by Mueller prosecuting Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan over false claims.
Judging by the events of Friday (18/5/18) at the Santa Fe High School in Texas Mueller has taken news of the Netherlands' Song Contest entry equally poorly. Curiously on exactly the same day the current Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok was visiting the US.
The Portuguese hosts of the 2018 Song Contest however seemed very supportive of the Dutch entry.
Using the slogan "All Aboard" this year's contest has had a significant naval theme. At the Grand Final the hosts introduced a new sequence in the form of a parade of national flags. This saw the flags of the competing nations being paraded around the arena by people in distinctly naval attire.
It was Portugal effectively screaming at the audience; "IT'S THE NAVY FLAG!"
The message of the song is that everyone's got a bit of the outlaw in them. A tattoo you keep hidden, a couple of scarred up knuckles, "(A) Heartbeat beatin’ to rock ‘n’ roll rhythm."
It was effectively the Netherlands, as a NATO member, going;
"We've all supported genocide in an effort to illegally overthrow the Syrian government."
"We've all supported ethnic cleansing by illegally overthrowing the Ukrainian government."
"We've all committed genocide by using force to illegally change the borders of the Balkan nations."
"We've all illegally used force to steal away Serbia's southern Kosovo Province."
"We've all helped re-start the African Slave Trade by illegally overthrowing Libya's government."
The Netherlands particularly emphasised that last point by having Waylon perform in both the Second Semi-Final and Grand Final surrounded by black, slave like dancers.
"US Confederate (or ally) at a Slave Auction" was exactly the look they were going for.
In the promotional photographs in support of the entry the Netherlands were tying very hard to make Waylon resemble the "Hector Escaton" character from the US TV; "Westworld." Played by Rodrigo Santoro.
In an interesting bit of trivia the 1973 movie "Westworld" is actually heavily inspired by the so-called "Spaghetti Westerns" of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood. Many of them were filmed in Portugal, Spain and Italy. So in Portugal you actually have a number of Westworld-style Wild West tourist parks.
In both the movie and the TV series the Westworld tourist parks are populated by Artificially Intelligent (AI) robots known as "hosts." So you could legitimately take these references as a contribution to the discussion about AI.
However I think the Dutch were more specifically referencing the "Man In Black" character from the TV Show played by Ed Harris. As part of the discussion about expanding the Song Contest to include associate members of the EBU such as Brazil.
The Man In Black character has been visiting the Westworld park since it opened. On his first visit he did all the touristy things like marvelling out how lifelike the hosts were. However on subsequent visits he noticed there are many levels to the game. He keeps revisiting in the hope of finding this game called; "The Maze" which is hidden right at the heart of the park.
You can actually treat the Song Contest in much the same way.
You could do the very touristy thing of just watching the Grand Final and choose the song which you think sounds the best. Or you could go deeper by watching both of the Semi-Finals and choose the song you think sounds the best from all of the songs.
You could go even deeper by using the Eurovision.tv website to read up on the entire package of each entry. Including the artists biography, the promotional photographs, the promotional video and the song lyrics.
For me that is really a job of work. So I like to block off 2-3 days and just get it done. If one of the songs references at the bottom of the list references one of the songs at the top of the list it's easier to spot if it's all fresh in the memory.
However the songs start appearing on the website in late-March/early-April. So it's not hard to go through one or two on your lunch break or when you're bored at home of an evening.
This year I'm on course to produce something in the region of 80,000 words on the Song Contest. When I've finished I'll still only be around two thirds of the way in.
There is still the matter of the voting. Both by the expert panels and by the public. These can be analysed in exactly the same level of scientific detail as any political election anywhere in the World. Ahead of this year's contest the "Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation" published an academic paper on the pattens of "Collusive Voting Partnerships" within the Song Contest.
Increasingly Eurovision viewers are being asked to vote using a dedicated App. Even before the Cambridge Analytica scandal that provides plenty of scope for discussion about who is allowed to use the data collected by that App and whether people can and have been using that data to target specific voters.
I think this reference to Westworld might have backfired on the Netherlands slightly. Knowing they were doing something very inflammatory I think the Dutch would have been happy not to have made it through to the Grand Final.
If you're doing a rebel anthem for the ethnically Russian forces in Shamali Provinces civil war you don't want it played too loudly or too often. Lest it inspires either side to break the very fragile ceasefire.
One of the things the TV Show Westworld makes a big contribution to is the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) absurd "No Nipples Rule." Mentioned frequently at previous Song Contests this defines content as either sexual or non-sexual entirely on whether it features exposed female nipples.
A cable show which is not bound by the FCC's rule Westworld has quite a lot of (pretentious) fun with this. So it has sex scenes where there is no nudity. It also has scenes where it has a lot of nudity but no sex. When the hosts are in the workshop they're often standing around like nude furniture. Thandie Newton is very nude in this show.
One of the main things visitors to the park use the hosts for is sex. The maintenance staff also sometimes illicitly use the hosts for sex. One gay male employee is particularly enamoured by Hector Escaton. There is one seen where he is shown preparing to take advantage of Hector.
Although the scene does not show gay sex it doesn't require you to use a lot of imagination to work out what the employee is planning to do to Hector. Given how difficult it is to get any sex, let alone gay sex, onto US TV shows this scene seems to have picked up iconic status against gay men.
That thought seems to have lifted the Netherlands into a Grand Final even Waylon seemed a bit embarrassed to be performing in.
Serbia: They were represented by Sanja Ilic and the band; "Balkanika" with the song; "Nova Deca (New Children)."
In actually not that complex an in-joke this entry referenced the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest held in Harrowgate, UK. There as here the band leader Aleksander Sanja Ilic represented his nation.
Obviously though in 1982 Aleksander Sanja Ilic did not represent Serbia. He represented Yugoslavia. As I'm sure you've heard in the mid-1990's NATO decided to tear Yugoslavia apart through a series of genocidal Balkan Wars.
The dozen or so performers that make up the performance represent the seven nations which now exist where Yugoslavia used to stand. NATO's new children as it were.
In 1999 NATO decided to go even further. Tearing away Serbia's southern province of Kosovo.
This was done in support of the so-called; "Greater Albania Movement." That is dedicated to unifying breakaway Muslim populations across various Balkan nations - particularly Macedonia - into a Greater Albanian Empire. It remains active.
By urging people to look towards the sun and grab it through this song Serbia were daring the Greater Albania to come and have a go if it thinks its hard enough.
Apparently the tattoo that got Albania's performance banned from Chinese television read simply; "Xinjiang."
Montenegro: One of NATO's new children they were represented by Vanja Radovanovic with the song; "Inje." In the language of another one of NATO's new children, Slovenia this translates as; "And Is."
Using the metaphor of frost this song mourns a lost relationship in which a former lover has grown distant. The video in support of the song seems set in the time of the Russian Empire. As depicted in popular stories such as; "War and Peace."
As such it protests the deteriorating relationship between NATO and Russia. A relationship which is said to have grown frostier than it was during the Cold War.
By using Slovenian rather than Montenegrin it blames NATO for that deteriorating relationship by reminding it of the Balkan and Kosovan wars.
At one point in the video Vanja Radovanovic seems to resemble the "Jean Valjean" character in "Les Miserable." Particularly when he is a prisoner. Sort of making Serbia/Russia the victim cruelly jailed for stealing bread to feed his starving family
However by invoking the imagery of; "Beauty and the Beast" it stops short of demanding a reunification with Serbia as part of a restored Yugoslavia.
18:35 on 22/5/18 (UK date).
NATO's Many Crimes.
Particularly since the creation of Shamali Province NATO has attempted to claim a moral superiority over Russia.
This next group of acts suggest it would be a bad idea for NATO to even attempt to draw a moral equivalency with Russia. By listing NATO's many crimes.
The Netherlands: This year they were represented by Waylon with the song; "Outlaw In 'Em."
Eurovision entries are often designed to achieve particular political goals. The week long Song Contest itself tries to condense the entire a experience of being a popstar into a single week.
So it is common that nations will actually use stars of musical theatre as their entry. That person will adopt the character of such-and-such popstar and commit to that role for a week. Then in a month's time they'll adopt a completely different character in, say, a production of Les Miserable or Cats.
This year the Netherlands have gone in a different direction. In Waylon they have chosen a well known and accomplished musical star. Albeit someone who rather than being a popstar is a star of Europe's Country Music scene which is surprisingly larger than you would think.
Having been discovered on the 2008 season of "Holland's Got Talent" Waylon has released four top selling albums. In 2016 he was a judge on the TV talent show; "It Takes Two" and a coach on the Dutch version of; "The Voice."
Famously in 2014 Waylon formed the double act; "The Common Linnets" with Ilse DeLange to perform at that year's Song Contest. Their song "Calm After the Storm" placed second and went on to become a huge radio and sales hit across Europe.
It is also the only time in history Miley Cyrus has been described as a calming influence.
I don't know how familiar Waylon will be to American Country Music fans but he is certainly well known within the American Country Music scene. He studied under Waylon Jennings in Nashville, Tennessee for three years from 1998 until Jennings death in 2001. Then known as Willem Bijkerk he adopted the name Waylon in tribute.
This song is co-written by Ilya Toshinskiy and Jim Beavers.
Born in Obninsk, Russia Ilya Toshinskiy is the guitarist with the band Bering Strait. They have been based in Nashville since 1998. As a session musician Toshinskiy has won 8 Music Row Awards and 2 American Country Music Awards for his work on top selling records for the likes of (early) Taylor Swift, Shakira, Florida Georgia Line and Rascal Flatts.
A native of Texas Jim Beavers started out as a Director of Marketing for first Capitol Records and then Virgin Records. He then branched out as a session musician and songwriter for the likes of Lee Ann Womack, Chris Stapleton, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Gary Allan, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert along with other absolutely huge names within American Country Music.
When you start talking about the American south and country music it won't be long before someone mentions the Confederate Flag. That is a blue Saint Andrew's Cross on a reddish, orange background. Within the St Andrew's Cross there are 13 stars representing the 13 Confederate states in the US Civil War.
Within the current civil war in Shamali Province the ethnically Russian forces have adopted the Soviet Naval Flag. This is a blue St Andrew's Cross on a reddish, orange background along with a faint, white St George's Cross which is often not used. It is very similar to the Confederate Flag lacking only the 13 stars within the St Andrew's Cross.
In an attempt to smear those ethnically Russian forces particularly the US under Obama has tried to portray them as racist by claiming they are flying the US Confederate Flag. In reality it is the forces flying the Soviet Naval Flag that are fighting against the ethnic cleansing of the US-backed Waffen SS.
Wrapped in the flag of the Soviet Navy the Dutch entry was a stirring rebel anthem in support of the ethnically Russian forces in Shamali Province's ongoing civil war.
It is particularly significant that it is the Netherlands taking this position. When attempting to claim moral superiority over Russia the US and its NATO allies frequently cite July 17th 2014 (17/7/14) shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Flight MH17 took off from the Netherlands and of the 298 people killed 193 of them were Dutch. So when the US claims it is taking action against Russia because of MH17 it is really claiming to act on the Netherlands behalf. It's telling that when the Netherlands speak for themselves they say something very different.
The Song Contest is often used for nations to float ideas that their governments cannot formally endorse. However the Netherlands' contradiction of the US over Russia is actually in line with current Dutch government policy.
In February 2018 the Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra was forced to resign. He had claimed he had attended a meeting in which Russian President Vladimir Putin had claimed he wanted to build a greater Russia in eastern Europe. Zijlstra's resignation came after he was forced to admit that he'd simply made up these anti-Russian claims.
As you may remember from the 2018 Winter Olympics US Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller did not react well to Halbe Zijlstra's resignation. This Dutch lawmaker's resignation was rapidly followed by Mueller prosecuting Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan over false claims.
Judging by the events of Friday (18/5/18) at the Santa Fe High School in Texas Mueller has taken news of the Netherlands' Song Contest entry equally poorly. Curiously on exactly the same day the current Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok was visiting the US.
The Portuguese hosts of the 2018 Song Contest however seemed very supportive of the Dutch entry.
Using the slogan "All Aboard" this year's contest has had a significant naval theme. At the Grand Final the hosts introduced a new sequence in the form of a parade of national flags. This saw the flags of the competing nations being paraded around the arena by people in distinctly naval attire.
It was Portugal effectively screaming at the audience; "IT'S THE NAVY FLAG!"
The message of the song is that everyone's got a bit of the outlaw in them. A tattoo you keep hidden, a couple of scarred up knuckles, "(A) Heartbeat beatin’ to rock ‘n’ roll rhythm."
It was effectively the Netherlands, as a NATO member, going;
"We've all supported genocide in an effort to illegally overthrow the Syrian government."
"We've all supported ethnic cleansing by illegally overthrowing the Ukrainian government."
"We've all committed genocide by using force to illegally change the borders of the Balkan nations."
"We've all illegally used force to steal away Serbia's southern Kosovo Province."
"We've all helped re-start the African Slave Trade by illegally overthrowing Libya's government."
The Netherlands particularly emphasised that last point by having Waylon perform in both the Second Semi-Final and Grand Final surrounded by black, slave like dancers.
"US Confederate (or ally) at a Slave Auction" was exactly the look they were going for.
In the promotional photographs in support of the entry the Netherlands were tying very hard to make Waylon resemble the "Hector Escaton" character from the US TV; "Westworld." Played by Rodrigo Santoro.
In an interesting bit of trivia the 1973 movie "Westworld" is actually heavily inspired by the so-called "Spaghetti Westerns" of Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood. Many of them were filmed in Portugal, Spain and Italy. So in Portugal you actually have a number of Westworld-style Wild West tourist parks.
In both the movie and the TV series the Westworld tourist parks are populated by Artificially Intelligent (AI) robots known as "hosts." So you could legitimately take these references as a contribution to the discussion about AI.
However I think the Dutch were more specifically referencing the "Man In Black" character from the TV Show played by Ed Harris. As part of the discussion about expanding the Song Contest to include associate members of the EBU such as Brazil.
The Man In Black character has been visiting the Westworld park since it opened. On his first visit he did all the touristy things like marvelling out how lifelike the hosts were. However on subsequent visits he noticed there are many levels to the game. He keeps revisiting in the hope of finding this game called; "The Maze" which is hidden right at the heart of the park.
You can actually treat the Song Contest in much the same way.
You could do the very touristy thing of just watching the Grand Final and choose the song which you think sounds the best. Or you could go deeper by watching both of the Semi-Finals and choose the song you think sounds the best from all of the songs.
You could go even deeper by using the Eurovision.tv website to read up on the entire package of each entry. Including the artists biography, the promotional photographs, the promotional video and the song lyrics.
For me that is really a job of work. So I like to block off 2-3 days and just get it done. If one of the songs references at the bottom of the list references one of the songs at the top of the list it's easier to spot if it's all fresh in the memory.
However the songs start appearing on the website in late-March/early-April. So it's not hard to go through one or two on your lunch break or when you're bored at home of an evening.
This year I'm on course to produce something in the region of 80,000 words on the Song Contest. When I've finished I'll still only be around two thirds of the way in.
There is still the matter of the voting. Both by the expert panels and by the public. These can be analysed in exactly the same level of scientific detail as any political election anywhere in the World. Ahead of this year's contest the "Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation" published an academic paper on the pattens of "Collusive Voting Partnerships" within the Song Contest.
Increasingly Eurovision viewers are being asked to vote using a dedicated App. Even before the Cambridge Analytica scandal that provides plenty of scope for discussion about who is allowed to use the data collected by that App and whether people can and have been using that data to target specific voters.
I think this reference to Westworld might have backfired on the Netherlands slightly. Knowing they were doing something very inflammatory I think the Dutch would have been happy not to have made it through to the Grand Final.
If you're doing a rebel anthem for the ethnically Russian forces in Shamali Provinces civil war you don't want it played too loudly or too often. Lest it inspires either side to break the very fragile ceasefire.
One of the things the TV Show Westworld makes a big contribution to is the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) absurd "No Nipples Rule." Mentioned frequently at previous Song Contests this defines content as either sexual or non-sexual entirely on whether it features exposed female nipples.
A cable show which is not bound by the FCC's rule Westworld has quite a lot of (pretentious) fun with this. So it has sex scenes where there is no nudity. It also has scenes where it has a lot of nudity but no sex. When the hosts are in the workshop they're often standing around like nude furniture. Thandie Newton is very nude in this show.
One of the main things visitors to the park use the hosts for is sex. The maintenance staff also sometimes illicitly use the hosts for sex. One gay male employee is particularly enamoured by Hector Escaton. There is one seen where he is shown preparing to take advantage of Hector.
Although the scene does not show gay sex it doesn't require you to use a lot of imagination to work out what the employee is planning to do to Hector. Given how difficult it is to get any sex, let alone gay sex, onto US TV shows this scene seems to have picked up iconic status against gay men.
That thought seems to have lifted the Netherlands into a Grand Final even Waylon seemed a bit embarrassed to be performing in.
Serbia: They were represented by Sanja Ilic and the band; "Balkanika" with the song; "Nova Deca (New Children)."
In actually not that complex an in-joke this entry referenced the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest held in Harrowgate, UK. There as here the band leader Aleksander Sanja Ilic represented his nation.
Obviously though in 1982 Aleksander Sanja Ilic did not represent Serbia. He represented Yugoslavia. As I'm sure you've heard in the mid-1990's NATO decided to tear Yugoslavia apart through a series of genocidal Balkan Wars.
The dozen or so performers that make up the performance represent the seven nations which now exist where Yugoslavia used to stand. NATO's new children as it were.
In 1999 NATO decided to go even further. Tearing away Serbia's southern province of Kosovo.
This was done in support of the so-called; "Greater Albania Movement." That is dedicated to unifying breakaway Muslim populations across various Balkan nations - particularly Macedonia - into a Greater Albanian Empire. It remains active.
By urging people to look towards the sun and grab it through this song Serbia were daring the Greater Albania to come and have a go if it thinks its hard enough.
Apparently the tattoo that got Albania's performance banned from Chinese television read simply; "Xinjiang."
Montenegro: One of NATO's new children they were represented by Vanja Radovanovic with the song; "Inje." In the language of another one of NATO's new children, Slovenia this translates as; "And Is."
Using the metaphor of frost this song mourns a lost relationship in which a former lover has grown distant. The video in support of the song seems set in the time of the Russian Empire. As depicted in popular stories such as; "War and Peace."
As such it protests the deteriorating relationship between NATO and Russia. A relationship which is said to have grown frostier than it was during the Cold War.
By using Slovenian rather than Montenegrin it blames NATO for that deteriorating relationship by reminding it of the Balkan and Kosovan wars.
At one point in the video Vanja Radovanovic seems to resemble the "Jean Valjean" character in "Les Miserable." Particularly when he is a prisoner. Sort of making Serbia/Russia the victim cruelly jailed for stealing bread to feed his starving family
However by invoking the imagery of; "Beauty and the Beast" it stops short of demanding a reunification with Serbia as part of a restored Yugoslavia.
18:35 on 22/5/18 (UK date).
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