As contestants from 41 countries walked the orange carpet in Tel Aviv for the opening ceremony of the Eurovision song contest on 14 May, Palestinians showed the world they remain defiant in the face of Israeli aggression. Amid the rubble of an eight-storey Gaza apartment complex recently bombed by Israeli airstrikes, Palestinians artist held their own song contest, Gazavision.
“We want to send a message to the Israeli occupation that Gaza will not surrender. Like the phoenix when it is turned to ashes, Gaza will rise again”, organiser Salem Harara told the news website Middle East Eye. The Palestinian youth organisation We Are Not Numbers initiated Gazavision as one of a series of concerts known as Globalvision, part of a global campaign calling for the boycott of this year’s Eurovision contest in protest against Israeli apartheid and military occupation. Concerts were also held in London, Dublin, Bethlehem and Haifa.
Read the diatribe from Red Flag.