Tonight Kiev will see the last act of the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine that has seen it emerge from a post-Soviet autocracy to one of the latest democracies in Eastern Europe.
It has been described in Ukraine as the most significant event in the country’s history since the fall of Hitler. 38 other countries will be sharing it with the people of Ukraine. Few Americans are aware of the real spark one year ago that lit the flame of freedom and led to the revolution. It has nothing to do with Bush’s promotion of “liberdy”. Yet without knowing about it, it will be impossible to understand how to achieve peace between nations and how the USA has fundamental cultural problems in using the technique.
So what ignited the revolution in Ukraine? Well believe it or not it was winning a song contest exactly a year ago. The Eurovison Song Contest is run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a consortium of mostly national broadcasters which now takes in the entire continent and beyond to Turkey, Lebanon and Israel. The contest is so popular that there are now “semi finals” before the main event. This year’s is the 50th annual contest.
Each country gets to enter a song, usually chosen within the country by popular vote. Usually this is a pop song but has in the past included some novelties like a song in Lapp in a traditional idiom. All the countries get to allocate points up to 12 for the most popular songs from other countries. Earlier on these were allocated by juries in the home broadcaster’s studios. For the past few years all countries have used cellphone text message voting.
What started as a way of demonstrating the possibilities of live TV links involving different TV systems has evolved into a way of playing out national rivalries in a peaceful way.
Last year the Ukranian entry burst onto the screens with an upbeat song with choreography reminiscent of Zena Warrior Princess in a leather fantasy. The prize is the mixed blessing of hosting the next year’s contest. In Ukraine the win provoked an outpouring of nationalism and self-assurance. The knowledge that they could participate in and be accepted by Europe spurred on the final break with the Soviest past. This year their entry is the song that was the anthem of the Orange Revolution.
WE WON’T STAND THIS – NO! REVOLUTION IS ON!
‘CAUSE LIES BE THE WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION!
ALL TOGETHER WE’RE ONE! ALL TOGETHER WE’RE STRONG!
GOD BE MY WITNESS WE’VE WAITED TOO LONG!
Фальсифікаціям – ні! Махінаціям – ні!
Понятіям – ні! Ні брехні!
Віримо – Так! Можемо – так!
Знаю переможемо – Так! Так!Разом нас багато нас не подолати!
WHAT YOU WANNA SAY TO YOUR DAUGHTERS AND SONS?
YOU KNOW THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER TILL THE BATTLE IS WON!
TRUTH BE THE WEAPON! WE AIN’T SCARED OF THE GUNS!
WE STAY UNDEFEATED, ‘CAUSE TOGETHER WE’RE ONE!
Ми – вже разом! Ми – назавжди!
Ми – України доньки і сини!
Зараз як ніколи годі чекати
Разом нас багато – нас не подолати!Разом нас багато – нас не подолати!
While the EBU is not an organ of the European Union, the contest has helped to shape atitudes towards it. The wins by Estonia in 2001 and Latvia in 2002 before their Accession also gave an affirmation of recognition and acceptance that increased support for entry. Having to host the contest even showed the benefits of entry when their national broadcasters got huge support from the big players in the EBU to upgrade their studio and OB facilities.
So if playing out national rivalries in what is after all a piece of flimflam, what lessons can the Americans take from it? Well deepite the rather irreverand presentation in the UK, it is treated pretty seriously elsewhere. Obviously we are unlikely to see a US entry in this contest but a similar playing out of rivalries in a (fairly) peaceful manner also comes through sport. Unfortunately somewhere along the line the USA seems to have lost the “Corinthian spirit” that the important thing is not winning but taking part.
The odds on winning “Eurovision” are really quite low so there is an acceptance of loss. In sport, for the most widely played games like football have similar probablities of that a nation will not keep on winning major contests. Where the USA does compete internationally, especially in the Olympics, the focus is on the individual winners. The most popular team sports are almost all peculiar to the USA. Baseball has a following in a couple of countries like Japan and Ice Hockey is played in northern Europe and Canada but for he most part the “World” in American “World Series” is confined to the USA.
By contrast “english” games have been spread worldwide. Soccer is played virtually univerally. Cricket is mostly in the old Empire but there is a big following in Afghanistan and actually baseball was promoted by the Marylebone Cricket Club in the USA as a means of teaching cricket techniques! Rugby is mostly old white commonwealth based but there are strong teams from Italy and France. International competitions are therefore very much more a part of the sports scene outside the USA.
It used to be said that the English won their wars “on the playing fields of Eton”. Maybe these days peace is winnable in the international stadia by sublimating the conflicts of war into playing sport. Unfortunatly for the world the USA literally does not play cricket.
after Iran kicked our ass in the World Cup. We’ve been on a downhill trend ever since.
After rewarding myself this afternoon with some of the FA Cup live, I am now punishing myself with Eurovision.
It’s all you fault LB, I had to.
But actually it’s not so bad. If you can fight through the hallucogenic camerawork, and the demure countries testing the limits of female flesh exposure for their cultures. A crazy drum band from Bulgaria had a grannie on stage, while Moldavia, Turkey and Albania stuck to their versions of the musical scales and their phrasing.
Its quite a salad
I have to get back…
Serbia and Montenegro’s entry look like teenagers anywhere in Europe, tackling an up-tempo ballad.
Someone should have told them about the leather trousers, And no-one likes an over-cocky drummer
next please…..
This is going to be a big win for European operators – millions of people voting by fixed phones and mobiles in 39 countries.
Denmark up next….
Oho… This is Simply Red meets boy bands meets bland.
Are the red shoes a hint?
Sweden goes for a fishy intro video.
Then straight out into a Hit the road Jack riff and an entirely irrelevant song about Las Vegas – a winking, glossy, plastic amateur concept as apart as far as you can get from Sweden.
This is embarrassing. I’m begin to fancy Bulgaria…
Macedonia (cool flag)
Highly mainstream EuroPop with 8th note trlling on some long notes, in a futile attempt to link back into homeboy culture.
Oho ….they’ve suddenly gone full ethnic in the bridge. More big drums. Are these the Euro SUVs?
OK here’s comes the host country Ukraine…
AMAZING since we know where this song came from. This is surreal.
The street anthem that united millions replayed with hi-tech.
The dancers lose their chains at the end – hopefully not a reference to V.I.Lenin
Quirky German black leather song sung by black haired cutie, but sadly you can hear this sort of thing in clubs around Europe any night of the week.
I’m still rooting for Bulgaria
Hmm I like the look of the Croatians in their country-intro video.
Gypsy emotion meets Jacque Brelles, then comes that sharp unison female choir that you can hear all across Europe . even Varttina from Finland.
Oho MORE big drums. Is this the Year of the Tympanii?
Can you imagine the bagpipe solo?
Hedre comes the bookies’ favourite Helen of Greece.
Shania Twain meets Zorba. I’m half expecting them to break C&W plates in a moment…
Oh dear I’ve just realised I haven’t listened to any of the words of any of the songs. But a quick check on Greece tells me I have missed nothing. “You are my lover, undercover…”
Oh no
Hmmm Russia has Avril Lavignski
Well I suppose they still have a lot to catch up on.
They just took every music tradition they had and dumped it in the cultural cutout bin.
Sorry this is never ending – I’ll elide a few entries.
Bosnia and Hertz has obviously bought all the Abba DVDs and hired Buck’s Fizz costumier. Total trash blonde.
Swiss cheese girlie band – first the Cuckoo clock and now this?!! This sounds like the songs my daughter writes and records. Mmmm there goes the statutory modulation….’Cool Vibes’? gimme a break!
Latvia: two pretty boys playing acoustics like they were on a beach at Midsummer. Not a bad song. They are even doing lyric signing for the deaf -possibly?
Trust the French to come up with something left-field. Yuu’ll never catch THEM singing in English, (Did I see them in Sin Citry? The French always seem to do aggressive sexuality so well – scares the willies out of me)
We are voting – while listening again to massive drums. Maybe Europe has rediscovered ‘Tribal’. Scenewise there’s lots of orange as the host entertains us.
The Ukrainian hostess is a Fembot (Oh do behave, Richard!)
Austria votes for the old Yugoslavia 1 2 and 3
Lithuania votes for their good neighbour Latvia
Portugal goes Balkans
Monaco Israel and its looking pretty SE Europe so far
Belarus votes the party line and goes Russia
Holland votes Turkey – hmmm anayines contest at the moment
UK, France fail to score so far. Germany, Sweden at the bottom. Old Europe taking a bad thrashing
Iceland goes for neighbour Norway
Belgium goes Greece, Israel leads
Estonia whack 12 to Switzerland
Finland goes Norway and glam-rock (Swiss leading)
Andorra (do they have TV personalities- wow) gets boos for voting Spain
Swiss lead
Bulgaria (first time voting) gives pre-favourite Greece a 12 pt lift
Ireland “(here is de results of de Oirish Telly Vote”) to Latvia who take the lead with the two cute campfire boys
Slovenia’s young lady announcer is cute and votes all neighbours . very diplomatic
Poland (hors de combat) gives 12 to the hosts – and its anyones contest – scored really close
Hungary says Greece but Latvia still leads
UK is a little bit tiddly on Buck’s Fizz and goes for holiday destination Greece
Malta takes on another nearby island for 12
(only another 19 countries to vote – phew) LATVIA LEADS (My friend Ed will be happy)
Romania slips a cool 12 to nearby Moldova
Norway goes gene pool with Denmark
Turkey does a very diplomatic 12 for Greece, and Latvia slips to second
Moldova lifts Latvia again – wow this is exciting (yawn)
Albanias double-headed eagle goes Greasy
Cyprus gives Greece a big lead
Spain (they always vote wonky) opts for Romania, who go berserk
Israel (why aren’t the politicians this sexy?) keeps Romania in the game – but it looks like Greeces’ to win
Serbia + Monty makes it fairly sure for Greece
Denmark goes gene pool of course
Sweden scatter votes in all directions
Oooh I love Ms macedonia but she voted Albania
yes we are in the TWILIGHT ZONE
Ukraine = Molldova
Germany (I’m flagging now) = Greece
It’s all over bar the shouting. Greece wins, I am sure
Croatia gives 12 to Serbia – some of those points must belong to Bill Clinton!
Greece = Cyprus (The fix is in)
Russia = Malta – wow that was not on the cards
Bosnia + Hertz = does the Balkan (we are all friends again) with Croatia
Swiss go Serbia+Monty
2 more to go
Latvia = 10 to Russia and 12 to Swiss
Diplomacy is working overtime tonight. Bush please note
France (last to vote in a foregone conclusion) gives 12 to Turkey
And there you go. Greece does the job. And the Cradle of Civilization is finally brought down to the level of EuroTrash.
Of course Eurovision has low musical content, lowest common denominator culture, deification of the bimbo, nil literary merit, etc etc. We know this – we laugh at it and with it. We take a certain ‘nod and a wink’ perverse enjoyment in it.
However I’m not so sure these matter in a public forum watched – interactively – by tens of millions around Europe. Those reciprocal votes given by the Balkan countries and ex-Yugoslavia components to each other, probably did more to cement peace than anything else in the last 15 years.
IMO the neighbourly voting (totally partial) was immensely significant. It is not a competition. Eurovision is a celebration of all the things we have in common and all the sustainable ways in which we are different as Europeans.
Clearly a lot of isolated European cultures have been ‘westernized’ in the last few years. But at the same time they bring a rich new set of cultural influences that will change mainstream Europe.
I am not sure if you can call US and China monocultures, but the biodiversity on display in Eurovision tells me that the European DNA is going to be very robust indeed. Mongrels are always healthier than thoroughbreds.
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So I had to watch TV, switch to the PC and do the running myself!
Man U had a clear edge during the game, just look at the lobsided statistics, and both sides played with closed defense. I missed the passion of two “English” sides during the game, and they didn’t crawl off the pitch.
Both Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robin van Persie scored in the penalty shoot-out. The game can be as cruel as real life.
Biggest mistake of manager Sir Alex Ferguson was to sell captain David Beckham to Real Madrid, after the famous shoe incident in the locker room. Man U misses last two seasons his perfect pass to launch Ruud van Nistelrooy! Cost a lot of goals in a season and makes all the difference.
Scoring in Euro 2004
PS Will Glazer lower his bid for the remaining outstanding stocks? Did he already lose $ millions after single match.
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité
I didn’t find it a disappointing game. These were two game-long sets of tactics meant to cancel each other out. A chess game.
Rooney was the only one capable of upsetting the balance, and for that reason Man U had the edge. But he was matched by a superb goalie – who made the one crucial save in the shoot-out.
It wasn’t a great game, but it was well worth it.
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See rest of yesterday’s article and the many comments added — TOP 5 ORANGE RIBBON AWARD
“It’s not the beginning of the end, but just the end of the beginning!”
[Galloway in confrontation with Coleman]
Oui – Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité