Once again, Eurovision shows the hypocrisy of racist Britain
The UK is gearing up to host the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of 2022 winner Ukraine. On 25 February, the UK announced that it will allocate 3,000 tickets to displaced Ukrainians, as well as ensuring that the event “truly showcases Ukrainian culture” with millions of pounds in funding.
Culture secretary Liz Frazer said:
Today’s announcement means that thousands of tickets will be offered to those displaced by war, so that they can take part in a show honouring their homeland, their culture and their music.
As always, we stand together with the Ukrainian people and their fight for freedom.
Hypocrisy and racism
The UK government is adept at gaslighting the British public. It tries to persuade us that it stands for “freedom” and supports those “displaced by war”. However, this is while the UK is instrumental in curtailing freedoms around the world and displacing millions through its support of multiple wars.
It suits the Tories to show their allegiance to those escaping Russia’s bombs. After all, it can then rally the British population to unite in hatred against a common enemy – Russia – which is always good for a government’s popularity which might otherwise be waning. It’s also very convenient that Russia’s victims are mostly white. After all, racist Britain won’t just open its doors to anyone. If you’re Black or brown, the government will leave you to die – either in our very own English Channel or in our detention centres. And if those things don’t kill you, you’ll be faced with racist attacks from white supremacists.
Of course, it isn’t just the UK that will be flying its racist flag on Eurovision night. In fact, other European nations – which are just as culpable – will be taking part in the entire, hypocritical charade.
Read on...
Support us and go ad-freeEurope’s blood-stained policies
Europe has blood on its hands, whether at its land borders or its sea borders.
Let’s take the Poland-Belarus border, for example. Millions of Ukrainians have crossed the border into Poland. The EU has freely welcomed them into the Schengen area, as has the UK government into our country. Thousands of other refugees, from countries such as Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Iran, have also tried to cross the border to Poland. However, they have experienced the most appalling conditions, and Europe has treated them with contempt.
People hate these refugees so much that Poland even completed its own sinister border wall to keep them out. Security forces have raped, beaten, stolen from, extorted, and suffered inhuman treatment upon refugees on the Poland/Belarus border, while a number of them have died.
Now, let’s take Europe’s Mediterranean sea borders. Since 2014, more than 25,000 people have died after trying to reach Europe in dinghies unfit for the perilous journey. And what has the EU done? Pushed back refugees and actively strengthened laws to ensure that people drown.
And in the wake of the Turkey earthquake which killed thousands, Greece has fortified both its sea and land borders to prevent Turkish, Kurdish and Syrian refugees from crossing into Europe. Greece, too, has its own racist border wall to prevent people from seeking refuge, which it seeks to enlarge.
We’re to blame
Of course, it’s vital to remind ourselves just who is to blame for the largest ever worldwide displacement of people. No, it’s not just Russia. The UK was an instrumental force in the military coalition which wrecked Afghanistan. The Canary‘s Joe Glenton has previously reported on:
the legacy of human rights abuses carried out in Afghanistan by the West and its allies… the bombings, the night raids, the drone attacks or the Western-trained death squads…
It was also our government that lied about so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to begin an illegal war. Ex-prime minister Tony Blair should be tried for war crimes, yet he received a knighthood instead. He remains untouched and unaccountable for the untold number of Iraqi deaths he’s caused and the trauma and deaths of the British soldiers who were forced to fight.
Then there’s Yemen. The UK has been a crucial ally for the Saudi-led coalition in its annihilation of the country. The war has killed hundreds of thousands, while millions are suffering from extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition. A United Nations (UN) 2021 report stated that 1.3 million people would die by 2030.
Meanwhile, British arms companies have made billions in profits as the government grants them export licences to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. The UK – and the private arms companies around the country creating the weapons – are complicit in every Yemeni death since.
Israel and Eurovision
Finally, let’s talk about the people of Palestine. Their lives have been torn apart by the UK’s staunch ally, Israel, since Zionist forces ethnically cleansed 750,000 Palestinians from their land in 1948. Eurovision fans across Europe showed either their apathy or their contempt for Palestinian lives when they voted for Israel to win the contest in 2018. Palestinians and their supporters called for an international boycott of Eurovision when Israel hosted it in 2019. However, Palestinian lives were not deemed worthy enough by white Europeans, of course.
Since 1973 – the year that Israel joined the contest – there has never been an all-out ban on the country participating. Not even after Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2008, in which it murdered around 1,400 Palestinians. And not after 2012’s Operation Pillar of Defense, which saw tens of thousands fleeing their homes. In fact, Israel hosted Eurovision 2019 at the same time as its depraved snipers were gunning down Palestinians who were protesting in the Great March of Return.
Once again, it’s British arms companies that are profiting from the never-ending cruelty that Israel inflicts on Palestinian people.
Time to self-reflect
So if, like me, you’re white, and you’re planning to enjoy Eurovision, please take some time to reflect on the possible racism inside of you. Why, as the British public, do we see nothing wrong with locking up Black and brown people, yet condone war when it displaces white people? Let’s ask ourselves: what is the difference between Ukrainian refugees and the people left to rot on the Poland-Belarus border, or in our own Manston detention centre? Why do we show our compassion for people fleeing from one country, yet show contempt for others? The answer is, of course, because of the skin colour and religion of those we’re choosing to either support or leave to die.
The Canary‘s Maryam Jameela previously summed up the mentality of people in Britain when she wrote:
It’s almost as though people in the UK don’t value and respect the lives of Black and brown people. They merely tolerate us. They don’t value us as human beings; they see us as cockroaches to keep out of the way. Ukrainian people are considered as a whole – their culture, their traditions, their communities. Black and brown people don’t get that luxury. This is because white people only consider fellow white people to have inalienable rights.
Of course, the Canary isn’t against the housing of Ukrainian refugees, nor are we against the celebration of Ukrainian culture. But these levels of hypocrisy among the British public can’t go on. If we stand with the Ukrainian people, then we need to stand with every single person who is displaced by war – no matter what their skin colour or religion.
Featured image via YouTube
Support us and go ad-freeWe know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
Why can’t you grow some and be even the tiniest bit critical of Ukraine? “Ukrainian culture” eulogises Bandera the mass murderer. The country’s bankrupt, corruption is rife and a particularly nasty brand of ethnonationalism is being taught to children.
Very true… as it is in Russia as well. Bear in mind that Vladimir Putin has stated that perhaps the major reason for his invading Ukraine is to prevent the spread of what he labels ‘Western ideas’ of equality for LGBT+ people, particularly transgender people whom he seems to despise with a passion.
“please take some time to reflect on the possible racism inside of you” – speak for yourself, Ms Egret. Making the accusation that all white people are secretly racist is not founded in evidence. Certainly, there is plenty of anti-Black and anti-brown racism around in the UK, much of it propagated by our ruling class which welcomes non-white people as members of the elite. The UK’s policies which negatively affect non-white people are supported by those non-white elites.
More from you please, Eliza! Excellent article, on point.
One widdle kinda-criticism – English people have NO KNOWLEDGE of “Ukrainian culture”, or even the Orthodox Xian religion, for that matter. Most of those waving the yellow blue flag would have found it dificult to point to the country on an unmarked map.
This isn’t AT ALL about “Ukrainian culture”, it is purely the mentality of the Bully Society. The lamestream note that suddenly a racism is not only allowed, but actively encouraged. To be ‘allowed’ to be racist against Russians, is predicated on pretending to “care” about Ukraine.
Suddenly the mouthbreathers and backbirths among us can project the subconcious self-loathing of Imperial nations who have caused MILLIONS of deaths, and countless destruction and refugees, onto another country.
They can cost-free virtue-signal, and be hate-filled racists with no fear of censure.
The reason why so many actual anti-racists are nervous, is that this ‘system’ can now easily be used against any other ethnic group/nation.
How long until your local Chinese shops and restaurants will need anti-fash outside to protect their windows (While police watch nearby to arrest the anti-fash, and protect the fash)?
How long until CHINESE culture fares the same as Russian culture just did?
Banning TCHAIKOVSKY?? TOLSTOY Studies?
The Post-War Era is now well and truly over. Welcome to the nu19th Century, where peoples targetted by fascist and Imperialist regimes in the ‘West’ are first dehistorified, decultured, dehumanised, demonised – in preparation for destruction, and eventual genocide.
See example: Palestine.
It is no coincidence that this week, China just announced the de facto alliance with Russia, and 80% of the Global South are lining up to join THEM.
Airlane, its important to recognise something. The Soros-controlled “Gay Rights” movement is a front. They care no more about actual Gay Rights than B’Liar cared about Iraqi victims of Saddam.
If you regard them as corrolates of the entirely dishonest “A-S Campaign against Corbyn”, you wouldn’t be far wrong. It is the CIA’s newest cunning lever to force Imperial neolibs/neocons into political office in targetted nations.
Needless to say, this stunningly hypocritical geopolitical manouvre leaves a vulnerable minority holding the bag when it fails. Again, just like if Corbyn-supporters decided to be angry at the “Jewish Lobby” for deposing the decent guy, – and took it out on normal hassis on London. >_<
So how do you think Western corporate media will paint this struggle? Yes, they dissemble even over their lies. JUST like they are STILL doing to Corbyn, to make him afraid to run again.
Because if he joined the Green Party, lets just say the Greens might do VERY well in the next elections, coming up rapidly.
Quite how the West, which up until the last decade or so treated Homosexuality as a MENTAL DISEASE, or moral failing, has now become a "champion" of gay rights, is a sign of just how shallow most people's Historical consciousness really is.
FWIW, no Islamic nation had laws against Homosexuality, until the European colonisers forced such legislation onto their books.
“The Soros-controlled “Gay Rights” movement is a front.” I haven’t the slightest interest in Mr Soros. I do care about the freedoms of ordinary, working-class people to be whatever gender or sexual orientation we want, and those freedoms are never guaranteed under capitalist, theocratic or nationalist regimes such as that in Russia under Putin. Blame the “West” all you like – and you are correct about the legacies of Western empires – but Putin hearkens back to the days of the Tsars and Greater Russia which is bad news for ordinary workers.
Blah blah blah. Putin this, Putin that. What do you imagine the West’s “Capitalists and Imperialists” would do to “ordinary Russians”?
Would you prefer to live in Russia, or Libya/Haiti/Mali/Iraq/Afghanistan? Do you think under the West’s poodle Yeltsin, that Gay Rights were respected and promoted?
Get some historical perspective. Sure, Liberal freedoms are preferred, but also bear in mind that “The West” does not REEEEAAAALLLLYYY give two shits about such matters. Would you be gay in our “Great Allies” the Sauds Regime?
Judeo-Xianity, for whatever reasons, LOATHES homosexuality – and Women’s Rights, the Natural World, any other religions, and critical intelligence. The only way this changes is a strong civil society. The notion that Putin alone is some wild-eyed loner dragging Russia away from Gay Rights is pure bonkers, pure Western propaganda.
Do you IMAGINE when Nuland chose the next Ukrianian leader after 2014 US coup, “What is his opinion on Gay Rights?” was on the top of her sociopathic Imperialist mind?
Seriously?!?
And maybe you SHOULD be looking into what “Billionaires” are meddling with, from Kochs, to Gates, to Musk, to Soros, to Mercer.
NONE of them have the Public’s best interests at heart – any more than our Tory regime has.