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.