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Tina Askanius, Malmö, 15 April 2024

 

As soon as I step out of the train, I’m greeted by colorful banners and posters that say “United by music”. When walking through town to the university, police helicopters and drones circle in the air. On the dock outside of campus a group of heavily armed police officers are having ice cream in the sun. Im struck by the weird contrast and by how unfamiliar it is to see police in this part of the city, let alone armed police. I take a walk to the so called Eurovision Village, or as it’s actually called, Folkets Park – the park of the people. Some roads around the park are closed off and now serve as what seems like an interim police headquarters closed off to the general public. I’ve never seen so much police in Malmö before, or so many police officers with automatic weapons in one place.

Pro-Palestinian protest banner mimicking the lyrics of ‘Only Teardrops’ by Emmelie de Forest, winner of the 2013 Eurovision also held in Malmö

Amist all of the police, security and surveillance the United by Music signs But they  are competing for space and attention alongside another even more ubiquitous sign and message –  Palestinian solidarity protests contesting Isreals participation in the contest. Palestinian flags hang from windows everywhere. They pop up as stickers on lamp posts, as graffiti on the walls, on posters and flyers spread across the city. People of all ages wear the keffiyeh, or pins with the Palestinian flag on their jackets. Demonstrations against Israel’s participation in the competition are being organized all over the city – more than 20,000 people will participate in the demonstrations this weekend, I’m told. The event organizers continue to claim it’s not a political event and that politics should be left out of it. They play this phrase on repeat as if it would make it more true. But it feels as if Malmö has never been this politicized.

Political symbols have been banned inside the arena, including, or perhaps in particular, the Palestinian flag. But Eurovision itself seems as one big political symbol imposed on the city with its big neon messages of unity and European community. It’s a vision for Europe, a vision for unity and tolerance – a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, not least. How is that not political? Visions and values we will be voting for in just a few weeks with the EP elections.

Everywhere I look there are calls for people to celebrate diversity, come together and take care of each other. You can take selfies in glittering frames, the streets are decorated in pink and rainbow flags, and you can attend free concerts and cultural events all week. The contrast of the message, the frivolous pink aesthetic with the heavily politized, polarized, and policed city space is hard not to notice. The people I talk to feel besieged in their own city. United by Music rings untrue and hollow somehow. The city seems divided by music right now. ”

Activists protesting the Eurovision Song Contest at Malmö Central Station

When the party is over and all the glitter and decorations are taken down, and Eurovision Village will once again go back to being Folkets Park, the city will return to normal. In a few weeks the posters for the EP elections will be on every lamp post around the city but this year they will most likely be accompanied by ‘Stop the genocide’, ‘Genocide Song contest’, and ‘Boycott Israel’ posters. The elections are bound to take place against the backdrop of all the frictions and contentious politics surrounding Eurovision. As I head back home later that afternoon.

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