• Alaskaball [comrade/them]@hexbear.netM
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        1 day ago

        Shizrael gets to participate in that European music festival competition that’s exclusively for European countries. As far as I’m concerned, germany’s stealing the spotlight.

        • AstroStelar [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 day ago

          “Exclusively for European countries” it’s a bit more complicated than that, technically it’s about countries that are (partially) covered by this area:

          The boundaries of the European Broadcasting Area have their origin in the regions served and linked by telegraphy cables in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The European Broadcasting Area plays a part in the definition of eligibility for active membership in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and thus participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. As of February 2022, the European Broadcasting Union has 66 members from 55 countries, 31 associates from 20 countries, and 8 approved participants.

          Australia is one of the associate members and got to participate for an anniversary, but for whatever reason they stuck. Morocco participated once in the 1980’s, where they placed second to last. Reasons for the lack of Arab countries are probably lack of interest, the participation of Israel and cold reception by Europeans.