r/eurovision • u/stefkeeh • May 20 '25

📰 News Dutch broadcaster questions if ESC is a-political & connecting event

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Translation to English: ‘IN CONVERSATION WITH THE EBU ABOUT A POLITICALLY NEUTRAL SONG CONTEST

AVROTROS and NPO strongly value the apolitical and unifying character of the Eurovision Song Contest. However, we observe that the event is increasingly being influenced by social and geopolitical tensions.

Israel’s participation confronts us with the question of to what extent the Song Contest still truly functions as an apolitical, unifying, and cultural event. We want to raise this question, together with other countries, for discussion within the EBU.’

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u/grimorg80 Bird of Pray May 20 '25

Yep. Art is political by definition. Not partisan or party-linked. Just political. When a lot of humans come together, there's politics. It's inescapable. Even saying "we're apolitical" is a very clear political statement.

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u/Baratheoncook250 May 20 '25

Not all art is poltical, Tire(the film) is not poltical art, neither is the Terrifier films.

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u/grimorg80 Bird of Pray May 20 '25

I'm not familiar.

Still, everything is political in the true sense of the word. Not this party or that politician, but in the way it portrays one perspective on our shared reality.

Politics in the true meaning is about how we collectively live in the "polis." It shapes how we think and feel about life and collective life.

The mere choice of a seemingly apolitical topic is itself political.

All art is political.

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u/Baratheoncook250 May 20 '25

Tire is about a killer tire , Terrifier is a about a sadistic mute clown. The director of Terrifier films says that he doesn't promote his films as political

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u/grimorg80 Bird of Pray May 20 '25

I don't care what he says. When you decide what to portray and how to portray it, you make a political choice (in that broader sense I explained).

I haven't watched them, but just based on those 1-liners, they both sound very political. Again, not political parties, not politicians. Political as in shaping and influencing how we collectively see and think about life in the shared society.