The winner of FalastinVision 2024 is Nour Badra

On May 23rd, our incredible host Andreas Magnusson had the pleasure of conducting an engaging Q&A session with Nour Badra, the first-ever winner of FalastinVision. The session digging into Nour’s experiences, challenges, and the journey leading to this remarkable achievement, providing insightful and inspiring moments for all attendees. Andreas’s skillful moderation ensured a captivating and memorable event.

For immediate release: May 11, 2024

Eurovision boycott event Falastinvision names Nour Badra from Sweden as winner Palestinian pop star Bashar Murad put on a heartfelt performance as a guest star, with thousands of people all over the world participating in Falastinvision 

Malmö – In protest of Eurovision’s decision to keep Israel included in the song contest, activists in Sweden staged a rival “genocide-free” song contest called Falastinvision. The rival event drew thousands of viewers away from Eurovision, with hundreds of people attending the live show and thousands participating in the overall event. 

The alternative song contest featured 15 finalists listed below, with Nour Badra from Sweden taking the final award for his song F.T.R.T.T.S.

On the song, Badra said: “This song was made to inform the ignorant and to motivate those knowing of the history of Palestine. It’s a tribute and a protest in the name of my country against the racist, genocidal ethno-state Israel.”

He continued: “Spreading awareness on this topic has always been difficult and expressing my solidarity through music has been a coping method for me. FalastinVision has now given me a new platform to spread my music and message and for that I am so grateful.”

 With only weeks to plan Falastinvision and working on a shoestring budget, the organisers streamed the event online to a global audience, incorporating pre-recorded entries with live performances.

Each contestant’s song was previewed on a large screen, as a dance party unfolded in the live crowd. Voting was conducted between the live audience, the online audience, as well as the esteemed jury. Online voters joined in from all over the world, from Europe to Chile, United States, South Africa, to Australia. 

 The event kicked off with an introduction from the exuberant host Andreas Magnusson, a Swedish climate activist with Fridays for Future. Andreas spoke about how music has been part of Palestinian resistance since the beginning of its plight. 

After introducing the event, a rap act from Gaza called Darg Team performed live. The rappers did a set of 6 songs in Arabic, including their hit songs “We Don’t Care” and “Nakba”. They finished their act with a song called “Gaza”, where they asked the venue to dim the lights and for the audience to light up the stage with their mobile flashlights, as a symbolic gesture to stand with Gaza.

Another guest live performance was by a father-daughter act – Nellie Shabani and Hussein Eriksson. Their song Bomberna Faller is their first together, and centers the bombing and destruction that Palestinians face. 

 The songs from the contestants were all focused on Palestine. The full list of the artists and their bios can be found here. 

During the intermission, Palestinian pop singer Bashar Murad stunned the audience with a 40 minute set where he opened with a famous traditional Arabic song called “Mawtani” which translates to “my homeland.” He performed several of his songs, including his hit song “Wild West” which caused a major eruption from the crowd as they sang along.

 The jury consisted of Swedish Palestinian activist and entrepreneur Mohamad Kiswani, and musician and poet Huseein Eriksson.  

Eriksson spoke about how difficult it has been for him to talk about Palestine since losing his parents in the 80s. He said he found his voice in recent months after witnessing the genocide unfolding in Gaza. 

Eriksson said: “My parents were tortured and murdered, and that’s why I was forced to flee to this beautiful country. Sometimes I worry this country is going a bit too far to the right, and when I saw what’s happening in Gaza, I realized this is the time to speak out. This is the start of me expressing what I’ve been through, and to show that I understand what people are going through.” 

On being a jurist, Kiswani said: “I’m not doing this to ‘show solidarity’ – I’m participating in Falastinvision as a way to campaign for freedom and justice for my people.”

Regarding the songs, Kiswani said: “I have heard them all and it’s very hard to pick winners and to judge. I like all of the contributions, they’re all really good. Hopefully you’ll like them as much as I have” 

When a tech glitch happened, host Magnusson recovered by reiterating that this is a grassroots event with “basically no funding”, and shared how challenging it has been to put on an event like this without many resources, to which the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. 

Before the winner was announced, Bashar Murad proclaimed to the crowd: “Events like Falastinevision are so important, especially during this time when Palestinians are being dehumanized and not allowed to be on the world stage.”

This award that will be presented to the winner of FalastinVision 2024 symbolizes the quest for liberation from the attempts of sinister forces to stifle creativity, deny freedoms and to make culture invisible.

A cedar-colored piece of Swedish pinewood in the shape of historic Falastin rises out of the once impenetrable black cube. Just as FalastinVision is now rising up around the world as a symbol that we must also create, be creative and share the hope in our hearts with each other.

The artist behind this work of art, Michel Rowinski, has tried to illustrate that the fight for freedom or that all creativity that happens around it will never be able to be wiped out as long as there is hope.

There may come times when everything is razed to the ground and threatened with annihilation, but it is also at these times of desperate struggle for survival when the possibilities for change can express themselves the clearest and gain solidarity worldwide and be recognized as legitimate.

Just as FalastinVision comes from a place of deep sorrow and the will to fight and now has spread its message of hope around the world and that what we now see happening is the beginning of the end of this horrible story.

Out of the deepest recesses of darkness there can radiate up hope, which is illustrated by a wooden profile of historical Palestine or Falastin. A piece of wood machined by hi-tech mashies that have been working on a surface of Swedish pine and then by means of a suitable lye been transformed into a beautiful cedar wood-like representation of Palestine and its peoples will to never give up. It also symbolizes the strong movement that once existed in Sweden and which in solidarity joined hands with the oppressed and stood on their side against the oppressors.

The black cube symbolizes the darkness that always comes before the light, the struggle that first takes place in hidden recesses before being brought up to the surface. The difficulty that can exist in seeing a bright future before it is then a matter of course that it would always be overcome. The creativity that can sometimes seem hampered and mute and then give birth to a massive world movement with music and other arts in the fight for freedom.

Priset som kommer överlämnas till vinnaren av FalastinVision 2024 symboliserar en strävan för befrielse ur mörka krafters försök att kväsa kreativitet, fängsla frihet och att osynliggöra en hel kultur.

Ett cedarträfärgat svenskt furustycke i formen av det historiska Falastin reser sig ur de en gång så ogenomträngliga svarta kuben. Precis som FalastinVision nu reser sig världen över som en symbol för att vi måste även skapa, vara kreativa och dela med oss av våra hjärtans hopp.

Konstnären Michel Rowinskis tanke bakom detta konstverk har varit att illustrera att kampen för frihet och att allt skapande som sker runt omkring denna, aldrig kommer att kunna utplånas så länge det finns ett hopp.
De må komma tillfällen då allt ser ut att ha raserats och hotas av total förintelse men det är också då möjligheterna till förändring kan yttra sig i den desperata kampen för överlevnad och få solidaritet världen över och erkännas som legitim.

Precis som FalastinVision kommer från en plats av djup sorg och kampvilja och nu sprider sitt budskap världen över med en förhoppning om att det vi nu ser hända är början på slutet av denna hemska historia.

Att det ur det djupaste mörker kan det resa sig ett strålande hopp vilket här illustreras av  en träprofil över det historiska Palestina eller Falastin. En träbit formad av modern teknik som fått arbeta på en yta av svensk furu för att sedan medelst en passande bets omvandlas till en vacker cedarträliknande representation av Palestina och folk som aldrig ger upp. Även en symbol för den starka rörelse som funnits i Sverige och som i solidaritet krokat arm med de förtryckta och ställt sig på deras sida mot förtryckarna.

Den svarta kuben symboliserar det mörka som alltid kommer innan ljuset, den kamp som först sker i det fördolda innan den kommer till ytan, den svårighet som kan finnas att se en ljus framtid innan det sedan är en självklarhet att den alltid skulle övervinnas.  Den kreativitet som ibland kan verka tillsluten och stum för att sedan föda en massiv världsrörelse med musik och andra alster i frihetskampen.