On Saturday, Iceland chose the three-man band Hatari to represent it at the upcoming Eurovision music contest to be held in Tel Aviv in May. The band performs in garb that suggests the sexually deviant practice of bondage and discipline. Hatari describes themselves as an “anti-capitalist BDSM (bondage, discipline, sadomasochism) techno performance art group” and claim the group’s primary aim is to bring about the downfall of capitalism. They won the contest with the song “Hatrid Mun Sigra” (hatred will prevail).
Iceland will be sending Hatari to be their representative at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv!@RUVEurovision #Söngvakeppnin #12stig#DareToDream #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/PKNiEdBthq
— Eurovision (@Eurovision) March 2, 2019
The band has said in the past that they intend to use the Eurovision as an opportunity to protest against Israel. The rules of the contest state, ““no lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political, commercial or similar nature shall be permitted during the Eurovision Song Contest.”
The possibility of being expelled from the contest did not dissuade the Icelandic performers.
“Perhaps we will be driven out of the contest, but it would be just as revealing as any act that we can think of onstage,” band members told the Icelandic news service Stundin in February.
“It is really absurd to allow a state that repeatedly violates human rights to participate in such a competition, whether the state is called Israel, Russia, Qatar or anything else,” the band said in the interview. “If Iceland’s contestant does not use their influence to point out the obvious, the absurdity of frolicking and dancing at the same time as millions live just a few miles away with reduced freedom and constant uncertainty about their own wellbeing and safety, then we have failed. If Iceland’s contestant ignores the fact that the competition is inherently political, he does little to diminish the need for a critical conversation about Israel.”
At the time, an anonymous spokesman for the group made an announcement in English on the Rás 2 radio station, challenging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a bout of “trouser wrestling”, an Icelandic competitive sport. The spokesman suggested that a UN-appointed judge could referee the bout that would be held directly after the Eurovision contest. They offered to give control of Vestmannaeyjar, an archipelago located off the southern coast of Iceland to Israel should the prime minister win. But if the band member wins, then the group will set up a colony in Israel on the Mediterranean coast dedicated to the practice of their preferred form of sexual deviance.
Source: Israel in the News
