I have adapted and paraphrased the late Tony Benn’s oft made comment, “It’s not about personalities. It’s about politics!” for the title of today’s blog-post.
The BBC report (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjewg9enx27o) that Miss Eden Golan (above), the contestant from Israel has been booed at the rehearsals for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Given the present situation, that is only to be expected.
Politics has always dominated the contest and one can have little more trust in the probity of the Eurovision’s voting process as one can with that of North Korea’s.
What I find most irritating is when the contestants in such politically dominated competitions be they athletes, sportspeople or artists are prevailed upon to make political statements along the lines the organisers approver of. These individuals might indeed honestly state their own opinion but one cannot avoid pondering that they have been asked to tow a particular line. That is an abuse of the human right of free expression.
That Miss Golan has been subjected to this abuse and is likely to receive such during her performance annoys me.
I have been (on and off) actively involved in politics since the 1980s. During that time I have been subject to much abuse, verbal and physical. When I started in politics in 1981 I was 26, and was a chap who had been in various places in the world, had been in some sticky situations and was able to deal with these situations.
However to subject a young woman of just twenty years to this is completely unacceptable.