Sing for Democracy: Human Rights and Sexuality Discourse in the Eurovision Song Contest

The ‘gay Olympics’? The Eurovision Song Contest and the politics of LGBT/European belonging

“…These social, cultural and colonial histories all existed within wider discursive, political and legislative frameworks of ‘Europe’, meaning that this politics of belonging could define ‘Europe’, as well as individual nations (Lentin and Titley, 2011). Indeed, critiques of this reworking of national and geopolitical identities informed studies of incidents around Eurovision in 2012 and 2014 (Gluhovic, 2013; Ulbricht et al, 2015).…”

“…Contextualising her participation must also, however, account for critiques of Israel’s self-promotion as LGBT-inclusive: Puar (2011: 135), among many critics of so-called Israeli ‘pinkwashing’, contrasts the marketing of ‘Israel’s gay decade’ in the 1990s with restriction of Palestinians’ mobility after the 1993 Oslo Accords. Milija Gluhovic (2013: 202) already asks whether selecting Dana contributed to this strategy. Critical studies of Israeli nationalism’s sexual politics, however, have a complex answer, acknowledging that her success could be co-opted but also arguing that her biographical and musical identity as simultaneously Mizrahi, Arab, Israeli and queer (Swedenburg, 2014) might have ‘help[ed] open public space for … deeper critiques of Jewish collective existence’ by radical activists (Solomon, 2003: 151).…”

“…This itself exemplified the Eurovision–Olympics convergence, as suggested by one study including Baku 2012 in coverage of mega-events in post-socialist Eurasia (Müller and Pickles, 2015: 122). However, Gluhovic’s (2013) study of Baku 2012 reveals further parallels — origins of a discursive connection that strengthened in 2014 when Russia hosted the Winter Olympics shortly after passing a federal ‘anti-homopropaganda’ law.…”

“…Baku 2012, like Beijing 2008, demonstrated the potential for international human rights NGOs and domestic activists to create a temporary ‘transnational public sphere’ (Brownell, 2012) around a mega-event to publicise host authorities’ human rights violations. Several Baku-based activist groups formed a ‘Sing for Democracy’ campaign and held events for international journalists during Eurovision, with Sweden’s Loreen Talhaoui — who won Eurovision 2012, enabling Sweden to host in 2013 — notably meeting Sing for Democracy activists in Baku (Gluhovic, 2013: 208). Another participant in the broadcast, the German presenter Anke Engelke (giving Germany’s votes live from Hamburg), was also interpreted as drawing attention to Azeri governmental authoritarianism when she said ‘Tonight nobody could vote for their own country, but it is good to be able to vote, and it is good to have a choice.…”

“…Baker, 2008; Bolin, 2006; Carniel, 2015; Heller, 2007; Johnson, 2014; Jones and Subotić, 2011; Jordan, 2014b; Miazhevich, 2010, 2012; Mitrović, 2010; Pajala, 2012; Rehberg, 2007; Sieg, 2013a; Tragaki, 2013; Ulbricht et al, 2015); its functions for fan communities (e.g. Lemish, 2004; Singleton et al, 2007); the political, financial and cultural structures surrounding its organisation (Badenoch, 2013; Fricker and Gluhovic, 2013; Gluhovic, 2013; Motschenbacher, 2013; Singleton, 2013); and how journalistic and viewer discourses have drawn Eurovision into international LGBT politics (Gluhovic, 2013; Ulbricht et al, 2015). Eurovision, a popular-cultural text/event produced by a non-state international actor, illustrates significant dynamics in international politics that Queer IR acknowledges but does not necessarily centre.…”