The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest: Winners & Stand Outs Pt.3

This is best read as a continuation of Part 2; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest_19.html

China: They are not a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) so did not formally participate in the Song Contest.

Making their inclusion here all the more impressive.

The Song Contest is Europe's big political/social event. In America the equivalent is the awards season. This begins with the Golden Globe Awards and runs through the Super Bowl to the Oscars Awards.

China have their own version of this in the form of China Central TV's (Lunar) New Year's Gala.

Watched by close to a billion people this is an annual four to five hour variety show featuring traditional Chinese music and dance, modern music and dance alongside dramatic and comedy sketches. It is truly a sight to behold. Although unless you have a deep understanding of the Chinese language and culture it can seem utterly incomprehensible.

In 2018 the Lunar New Year occurred on February 15th (15/2/18) meaning that it coincided with the 2018 Winter Olympics being held in the Republic of Korea (RoK). As hosts of the 2022 Winter Olympics China provided a small sequence in the Closing Ceremony of both the Olympics and Para-Olympics.

One of the issues that China attempted to address in their Olympic sequences was their reputation for being the sort of Country Bumpkins of Asia. Compared with very advanced Asian nations such as the RoK and Japan the Chinese are seen as poorly educated, not particularly sophisticated and generally lacking in good manners and good breeding.

The 2018 New Year Gala also tried to address this issue. One sketch featured Chinese businessmen visiting Africa and meeting with some the local people.

These African locals were portrayed by Chinese actors in so-called; "Black Face" make-up with outlandish stereotypes such as a woman with comically large buttocks carrying fruit on her head while being accompanied by a monkey who seemed to be her equal.

This sketch was globally condemned as being just wildly racist. However rather than being driven by a hatred of black people or an attempt to spread hatred towards them it was really built around the sort of lazy stereotypes that people without much contact with black people don't realise are offensive.

The sketch triggered a national debate within China about whether and why such stereotypes are racist. The general tone of the debate was to try and teach the Chinese public that their Country Bumpkin attitudes on things such as race were damaging China's standing in Africa where it is trying to forge political and trade deals with a host of nations.

Despite not participating China was given the rights to broadcast both Semi-Finals and Grand Final of this year's Song Contest. On the Mango TV network.

However during the First Semi-Final they censored the performances of three nations; Albania, Switzerland and the Republic of Ireland. This violated the contract the EBU and led to them being stripped of the rights to broadcast the Grand Final. Creating a huge scandal during the contest week.

Albania: This year they were represented by Eugent Bushpepa with the song; "Mall (Commodity)."

As it seems to be every year the song was a battle cry for the Greater Albania movement.

Greater Albania is a concept which dates back to the Ottoman Empire. As with other ethnic groups ethnic Albanians moved freely within the Ottoman Empire settling in many nations.

Greater Albania really came into being during the Nazi Occupation of Europe. Allied with Nazi Germany Albania was given control over the ethnic Albanian population in not just Albania but also Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece. During the post-Soviet period Albania maintained much of its control over those nations.

Since the end of the Soviet period Albania has been constantly trying to re-establish this Greater Albania by swallowing up its neighbour. The example of this that people are probably most familiar with is the 1999 war between Albania and Serbia over Serbia's southern Kosovo province.

In 1997 the Albanian economy collapsed. This triggered a short civil war leading to the UN peacekeeping "Operation Alba" authorised under UN Resolution 1101 (1997). The civil war triggered a flood of Muslim Albanian refugees and economic migrants into Serbia.

By 1999 the situation in Albania had stabilised. So Serbia asked these refugees and economic migrants to leave. They refused, instead declaring Serbia's Kosovo province to be part of Albania and declaring war on Serbia.

At the time US President Bill Clinton was in the process of being impeached and really needed a way to distract the American public. So he joined forces with the Albanian migrants and took the US to war with Serbia.

Since then the US has been desperately trying to convince everyone that Kosovo is some sort of nation state rather than simply a Serbian province. However it is only the small group of nations which took part in the illegal war that make that recognition.

As longtime viewers of the Song Contest will know there is a longstanding dispute between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia. Over the FYR Macedonia's use of the term; "Macedonia" in its name which implies sovereignty over the neighbouring Greek province of Macedonia.

Following the Song Contest the European Union (EU) announced that it has brokered a deal between Greece and FYR Macedonia to end this dispute. The main part of the deal is that FYR Macedonia will rename itself; "The Republic of North Macedonia." That seems to only strengthen their claim over South Macedonia which is in Greece.

This fudge has been driven by EU's fears over the instability and prospect of violence which is being caused by the Greater Albania movement.

Macedonia has a roughly 40% ethnically Albanian, Muslim population. In 2015 they led protests to bring down the government of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE). They are a Christian party which is committed to a united Macedonia and very opposed to the Greater Albania movement.

These several weeks of often violent mass protests led to concerns that thousands of guns that had laid buried in thousands of backyards since the Balkan Wars of the 1990's would be dug up. Triggering a fresh civil war not just on the borders of the EU but technically within the borders of both the EU and NATO.

In 2016 Macedonia's ethnically Albanian, Muslim population again led protests to being down the VMRO-DPMNE government. Again these several months of often violent mass protests led to concerns that thousands of guns that had laid buried in thousands of backyards since the Balkan Wars of the 1990's would be dug up. Triggering a fresh civil war not just on the borders of the EU but technically within the borders of both the EU and NATO.

The 2016 crisis was eventually resolved with the election of a new government. In 2017 that new government elected Talat Xhaferi of the Greater Albania Bashkimi Demokratik për Integrim (BDI) as Parliamentary Speaker.

One of Xhaferi's first acts as speaker was to raise the Albanian flag within the Macedonian Parliament declaring it to be part of a Greater Albania. This triggered riots as non-Albanian, non-Muslim protesters stormed the Parliament to remove Xhaferi from office over a very clear instance to treason.

Again these violent mass protests led to concerns that thousands of guns that had laid buried in thousands of backyards since the Balkan Wars of the 1990's would be dug up. Triggering a fresh civil war not just on the borders of the EU but technically within the borders of both the EU and NATO.

The EU's arrogant hope is that by forcing Macedonia and Greece to resolve the naming issue they can accept both Albania and Macedonia as members. They believe that the European superstate will crush the Greater Albania movement.

This of course is the unstable part of the World that German Chancellor (Head of Government) Angela Merkel thought it would be a good idea to send close to a million predominately Muslim refugees and economic migrants marching through on the Balkan Route.

I have been delayed in writing this all up because to the 2018 World Cup. Partly I've wanted to watch as much of the World Cup as possible. However also the World Cup is not a political event such as the Olympics or the Song Contest. Therefore I've being trying to avoid inflicting this political mindset on the World Cup.

My efforts though have still not been enough to stop the Greater Albania movement scarring that football tournament.

On June 22nd (22/6/18) Serbia played Switzerland in a Group E. That match was very clearly rigged to prevent Serbia from winning. A Serbian player was rugby tackled to the ground by not one but two Swiss defenders in the penalty area. However rather than awarding Serbia the clear penalty which would have given them a 2-0 lead the referee simply allowed Switzerland to cheat and continue cheating.

This was not done to help Switzerland per se but to stop Serbia from winning, topping the group. That would have meant that big ticket draw Brazil would have finished second and presumably faced reigning World Cup holders Germany in the round of 16 knock-out.

Due to a little help from the RoK in Group F and Germany's own lack of ambition that plan was of course spoilt. Even if Serbia did end up being eliminated from the competition.

Two ethnically Albanian Swiss players; Granite Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri along with their teammate Stephan Lichtsteiner celebrated the Swiss goals by making a Double Eagle gesture with their hands. This is recognised as a symbol of the Greater Albania movement.

Both during the Ottoman and Nazi periods and in the war against Serbia the Greater Albania movement has been defined by appalling human rights abuses. There is a longstanding fiction known as; "Blood Libel." This claims that Jews are secretly stealing the organs of non-Jews.

During the war against Serbia the Greater Albania actually did this. They kidnapped Serb civilians and stole their organs before selling them on the black market. Spanish football club Barcelona have repeatedly been forced to deny that they used this system to buy a liver for their player Eric Abidal.

As such this Double Eagle gesture is a symbol of racial and religious hatred not only akin to a Nazi Salute but often used alongside the Nazi Salute. It is a clear violation of FIFA's rule 53 which requires that a 12 month minimum ban is automatically imposed on the players.

Due to the fact such a hateful gesture was made in front of a wide audience and at such a sensitive time FIFA should go further then the minimum ban. They need to look again at their decision not to punish the players or it will be up to the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) to uphold FIFA's rules for them.

Although not as close to Albania as say Serbia or Macedonia China has its won problems with Islamist separatists. The Uighurs in China's Xinjiang province and the neighbouring nation of Kyrgyzstan.

By far the most militant Uighur group are the Turkistan Islamist Party (TiP). They are currently extremely active in Syria. Particularly around the town of Jisr al-Shugur in the Sudetenland area.

Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long backed the TiP. Recently he has taken to using them to threaten China. For example there was the weeks of false speculation over whether Abdulkadir Masharipov who carried out the 2017 Reina Nightclub attack was Kyrgyzstani.

Kyrgyzstan has a long history of providing Chinese Uighurs with identity documents such as passports - both real and fake. Describing someone as Kyrgyzstani can mean that they are from Kyrgyzstan. Or it can mean they're Chinese Uighurs.

Despite this long term support and threats to China Erdogan has recently tasked Turkish forces to target the TiP in the Sudetenland. Or at least that's what US intelligence believes.

Obviously the reason why China censored this battle cry for Muslim separatists was out of concern over its Uighur population. Or at least join in the conversation by reminding people of the common issue. Xinjiang province is actually closer to Ankara than it is to Beijing.

The official reason given though is that the singer had visible tattoos.

Switzerland: This year they were represented by the duo ZiBBZ with the song; "Stones." I covered that in detail here; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest-grand_16.html

However the main message of the song was to stand up to bullies. The bullies who try to shut down any opposition to them through censorship. In short what China does.

Funnily enough China censored the song criticising their system of censorship.

The official reason given though is that the singer had visible tattoos.

Republic of Ireland: This year they were represented by Ryan O'Shaughnessy with the song; "Together." I covered this in detail here; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-2018-eurovision-song-contest-grand_31.htm



Ireland's entry was a break-up song. Reflecting their concerns over the UK leaving the EU and its impacts on the two nations shared land border. However in a desperate attempt to appeal to the gay vote and finally make through to the Grand Final the live performance featured a happy gay couple very much in love.

The official reason why China censored the performance is that it promoted homosexuality.

However the real reason it was censored was to save Ireland's blushes. This desperate cloying for the gay vote was embarrassing to watch and I would think quite offensive to the gay community.

Through the censorship of these three songs China managed to find their place in the; "Trolling of the Gays" which was a big theme this year.

Of the three performances censored and the reasons for that censorship I think you can guess the only one Eurovision's large gay fan base heard about, let alone got angry about. Even if they didn't understand what they were getting angry about.

That really makes a wider point about the Song Contest as a whole.

Eurovision has a long overlapped with the gay community and has a proud history in helping to promote gay rights both within Europe and beyond. I certainly hope that tradition continues.

However if you view Eurovision as an exclusively gay thing you are missing out on about 90% of the really good stuff.

17:10 on 9/7/18 (UK date).