L’University of Foggia, in collaboration with the Erasmus Student Network, has planned a series of meetings in the wake of the “Europe Day” celebrations. Among the events scheduled for this evening, the live television screening of theEurovision Song Contest at Department of Humanistic Studies.
“The Eurovision organization has prohibited the inclusion of any reference to the situation in Palestine, in which entire families are massacred every day according to dynamics that contemporary history scholars are comparing to genocide (see the Holocaust historian Omer Bartov, Brown University). While boys and girls are being massacred, the Eurovision song contest is spreading a message and representation that is totally impartial to what is happening. Eurovision is a stage with an enormous responsibility in the European context, in terms of collective imagination and political representations – and which is hosting a presence – that of Israel – which was born with a strong political and propagandistic connotation (this is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the first song presented by Israel had such oriented lyrics that it received an invitation to modify it not from the Eurovision organization, but from the Israeli media themselves). What does the Eurovision organization do to protect plurality and free expression? Simple: ban the entry of Palestinian flags and/or other objects that could “disturb the success of the event”. In light of what the singing event is proving to support with its choices, and in light of what it should represent, we consider the initiative of projecting the broadcast of the musical contest in a place, the academic one, which should be of comparison, culture, political debate and political elaboration, against any type of invisibilization of identities” declares Marco di Furia, Councilor of the Arcigay Foggia “Le Bigotte” committee.
“As Link Foggia we consider peace and brotherhood between peoples as a fundamental condition for the future and well-being of the planet and, we have always believed that universities should be the places where students are trained as peace workers. in any area. For us, the University is a place where students not only listen to lectures but form their critical thinking, not a large television that broadcasts a Eurovision oriented, censored and which has no problem hosting the state of Israel despite the latter is perpetrating a genocidal policy in the Gaza Strip before the eyes of the world, without any sign of wanting to back down from its positions despite pressure from the international community and civil society. In the Gaza Region, schools and universities, among others, have been hit and forced to close since October, with a number of victims among teachers and students never seen before in a conflict scenario. Precisely in these days, in which the unprecedented assault on Rafah moves towards the completion of the most documented massacre of civilians in history, it seems even more so that the organizers of this festival live on a different planet from that of all the others , and it is absolutely out of place for the University to lend itself to this type of initiative. We express our firm dissociation from this initiative and invite anyone who considers themselves a supporter of peace, inclusion and justice and international law to do the same” concludes Francesca Stella, coordinator of Link Foggia.
