Stats Britain

ALT We call on Olly Alexander to show moral consistency and withdraw from Eurovision. Olly Alexander had signed a letter last October that said, “we, as LGBTQIA+ people, cannot let others weaponise our struggles for freedom on the basis of sexuality and gender identity to justify systemic occupation and genocide of a people.” And yet, participating in Eurovision while Israel is included would only help pinkwash and artwash its genocide against Palestinians as well as its underlying regime of apartheid. As with South Africa in the past, true solidarity entails heeding the calls of the oppressed, rather than opting for insignificant gestures while patronisingly claiming that they serve their best interests. We applaud the thousands of artists, including many queer artists, supporting the boycott of Eurovision 2024 over Israel’s participation. This is the moment for Eurovision participants including Olly Alexander to make history, instead of letting it pass them by.

ALT PACBI, a founding member of the largest Palestinian coalition that is leading the global BDS movement, welcomes the refusal of nine Eurovision contestants to remain silent. However, by participating in Eurovision alongside apartheid Israel while it carries out its live-streamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, armed and enabled by many European governments, the contestants would be complicit in artwashing these crimes. Feigning symbolic gestures of support while dismissing the call of the oppressed reflects a patronising and colonial attitude on the part of the contestants that is familiar to Palestinians, and many oppressed communities globally. Israel is defying the World Court and the UN Security council. This means everyone has a responsibility to end complicity in supporting or covering up its crimes. We call on all Eurovision contestants to withdraw from the contest, as a meaningful gesture of solidarity and to fulfil this moral responsibility to do no harm