World of Chig   

20.2.03

Country which produced Lasgo and the Smurfs in neo-Nazi Eurovision shocker!


Chig is shocked. Not so much by the revelation that this year's singer of Belgium's Eurovision entry has a Nazi past. More by the fact that this story has appeared on the front page of the Grauniad. Good job there's nothing important happening in the world, eh?

UPDATE: Little did I know that Mike had already mentioned this in my comments yesterday. As he says, see Urban Trad's website (if you can read French or Flemish) and the BBC version of the story. It will be sad if we don't get to hear this song, as this is the one that's supposedly in a 'made-up language'. And I don't mean esperanto.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Someone on the Eurovision list at yahoogroups, to which I faithfully subscribe and occasionally send nonsense of my own, asked, in relation to this Belgian hullaballoo, how it would be if the BBC sent an IRA sympathiser to represent the UK. This got Chig going, leading him to compose the following reply:
But how do you know that the UK hasn't already sent an IRA supporter to represent us? The point is, we don't know the political views of 99% of Eurovision entrants. Most of them keep quiet about anything important, for fear of alienating any potential support, not just at Eurovision, but in the big wide world too. Any broadcaster has the right to choose who represents them, and HOW they are represented. If the Belgians don't like this singer's attitude, and fear she may embarrass them, who could blame them for ditching her? They only have to look at Ping Pong [Eurovision 2000, for Israel] to realise that sometimes the act won't follow the party line, and ends up embarrassing their broadcasters. Sometimes though, that's a good thing.

My other point is that we have to believe in the potential of people to change their views. If we don't believe that, then all election campaigning, and perhaps politics in general, is a waste of time, as no one would ever be persuaded to another point of view. Plenty of people who now work in anti-fascist organisations were once fascists themselves, but then saw the light. In short, it's up to Belgium how they judge Urban Trad's singer, but if they're going to do that, they should judge her on her views NOW, not when she was younger and more naive. Sermon over.

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