DUBLIN, Wednesday, April 17, 2024 (WAFA) – Over 400 Irish artists have called on Irish singer-songwriter Bambie Thug to boycott the 2024 Eurovision due to Israel’s participation in the famous annual song contest.
In a letter penned to Ireland’s Eurovision entrant just three weeks before the contest kicks off in Malmö, Sweden, more than 400 Irish musicians, artists, dancers, writers and poets asked Bambie to “heed the call from Palestinians to boycott the competition”.
This year’s song contest is set to begin on May 7, with Ireland set to take part in the first of the two semi-finals.
Within the letter, hundreds of creatives, including Erica Cody, Frances Black, Gemma Doherty and Emma Langford point out that while Bambie has said their “heart has and always will be with the oppressed” - by performing they will be “standing with the oppressor”.
"We are asking you to withdraw from Eurovision 2024, to heed the call from Palestinians to boycott the competition due to the participation of Israel. We welcome that you have chosen, along with other participating artists, not to be silent. However, while you say “My heart and solidarity has and will always lie with the oppressed” – by participating in Eurovision you will be standing with the oppressor. Palestinians have called for artists to withdraw from the contest, and if your wish to stand in solidarity is sincere, then you should listen to them. None of us with the privilege of living in safety knows better than Palestinians, a people who are experiencing the most extreme colonial violence, that of genocide, and who for 7 decades, have been subjected to systematic apartheid, occupation, siege, ethnic cleansing, dispossession, mass incarceration and murder. Words from the stage will be meaningless as you will have ignored the Palestinian call to boycott," the letter said.
"What is being perpetrated in Gaza is a clear case of genocide. At least 32,663 people, including more than 13,000 children, have been murdered. Thousands more are missing under the rubble. The health system has been destroyed and the majority of people there forcibly displaced and now experiencing forced starvation, while Israel blocks thousands of aid trucks from entry. Hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers and entire communities are being ethnically cleansed, with thousands of people detained without charge and subjected to torture and abuse in Israeli dungeons. To participate in any enterprise that provides cover for and normalises such gross human rights violations is simply unconscionable," the letter continued.
"You have the chance to be on the right side of history and to be remembered as an artist of conscience, who, in a time of genocide, chose to do no harm, to truly stand with the oppressed. History will celebrate you if you withdraw from Eurovision 2024. We urge you to do the right thing," the letter concluded, addressing Bambi Thug.
K.T
