by Elliot Claesson and Innes Taylor
The biggest music event this year is being hosted in Sweden. All while global conflicts are all over the news. Israel’s participation has ignited strong feelings in people on the streets.
– Eurovision is not welcome in Malmö.
Foto: Innes Taylor.
Eurovision is behind the corner, and this year the competition is being held in Malmö. A city The shopping street Södra Förstadsgatan is filled with people, but there will be even more in a couple of weeks. Among shoppers are people collecting money for Gaza, and people putting up posters for a Gaza demonstration. The group of people putting up posters are eager to talk about their involvement.
– We are members of RKP, a newly formed communist party, says Embla.
The Revolutionary Communist Party is the Swedish section of the International Marxist Tendency. They organize to spread the ideas of Marx, and right now the genocide going on in Gaza is a top priority.
Foto: Elliot Claesson. Poster. Tape. Onto the next. – Are you a communist?
– A big part of the people stand with Palestine, especially here in Malmö. There are a lot of people that are Palestinians or who know people from Palestine. I feel like a lot of people in Malmö have a personal attachment to the Genocide, says Embla.
Following the mass immigration to Sweden in 2013, lots of people from the Middle East found themselves in Sweden. With the first big city being Malmö, it is only natural that there are a lot of pro-Palestinians willing to demonstrate and show their support.
Right now, the decision to let Israel take part in the competition has sparked controversy. Especially since Russia has not been allowed to participate following the invasion of Ukraine. In response to this there will be demonstrations in connection to the Eurovision that will take place when Israel is participating in the qualification as well as the final.
– During Eurovision we are going to organize a protest together with a bunch of different organizations. We expect between 20-30 thousand people attending. There were 10 thousand during Black Lives Matter, and we expect way more now, says one of the members of RKP.
– There might even be buses going from Stockholm so that even more people can take part. We are also expecting organizations from Denmark to join.
Foto Elliot Claesson. “Palestinagruppen i Malmö” collecting money for Gaza outside of Victoriateatern.
From Stortorget to Möllan. The goal of the protest is to signal that the genocide going on in Gaza need to stop. That is why RKP is putting up posters to try and get as many people as possible to attend.
– The genocide has been going on for half a year. People are starting to lose hope, but we need to keep going, says Embla.
– Media can not be netural to genocide. I think a lot of people feel like the media isn’t representing the people. Look at this street, most people recognize what is going on is a genocide, but the media does not.
The protests will mean that there will be a higher security level during the competition, there will be police reinforcements from both Norway and Denmark. The Israeli representative for Eurovision, Eden Golan, will have a much stronger security team to accompany her due to fears for her and other Israeli visitors’ safety.
The security level in Sweden has been increased to four out of five. The police of Malmö have also received a request to burn a Quaran in connection with Eurovision, if it gets passed it is possible that it will spark even more controversy and potential violence.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is in charge of deciding whether or not to accept a song. The Israeli song was denied twice because it referenced October 7:th, but the current version was allowed by the EBU. For pro-Palestinians living in Malmö, the only option now is to protest the competition to put pressure on the EBU, the city of Malmö and Sweden.