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It's back to 1991 this evening with #EurovisionAgain... https://twitter.com/eurovisionagain/status/1266802797233700864
I may be a bit quieter on #EurovisionAgain this evening so as not to crowd out important conversations about racism many of us on here are having after events in the USA this week - remembering it isn't just a US problem https://twitter.com/wdynarski/status/1266783905836871685?s=21
But I have been helping #EurovisionAgain delve into the politics behind the contest as usual - and this was the year when Eurovision happened just as Yugoslavia was breaking up... https://twitter.com/eurovisionagain/status/1266803574799024128?s=21
In fact Eurovision 1991 happened even more directly in the middle of the crisis than I had time on that video to explain - it happened on 4 May, 2 days after the killing of 12 Croatian police tipped Croatian public opinion even further towards independence https://twitter.com/richmondbridge/status/1266805075961315332?s=21
93% of voters in Croatia's independence referendum on 19 May voted for independence (though not in municipalities controlled by the Serb nationalist militia, which boycotted the referendum) - while Slovenia had voted yes to independence in December https://twitter.com/richmondbridge/status/1266807031727611904?s=21
And all this had happened in between Toto Cutugno winning #Eurovision 1990 in Zagreb with a song looking forward to European unity in '92, and him reprising it in 1991... #EurovisionAgain https://twitter.com/elainovision/status/1266808438966964227?s=21
Yugoslavia happened to be drawn first in 1991, so Bebi Dol opened with 'Brazil' - a song with more than a little to do with the Lambada #EurovisionAgain
Even Yugoslavia's Eurovision selection had been drawn into Milošević's takeover of the federation - juries in republics/provinces he controlled systematically voted TV Zagreb's top song down and 'Brazil', from TV Belgrade, up #EurovisionAgain
Juries from Serbia, Montenegro, Vojvodina and Kosovo had enough votes to put 'Brazil' through on their own - and Yugoslavs in other republics knew Milošević could rig the federal council the same way #EurovisionAgain https://twitter.com/richmondbridge/status/1266812480820523016?s=21
In fact, Vojvodina and Kosovo were only under Milošević's control because he had revoked their autonomy, hounded their leaders and subjected Kosovo's Albanian majority to martial law - a fate more and more people in other republics feared by 1991 https://twitter.com/richmondbridge/status/1266813101808201729?s=21
Eurovision trivia, for those who are here for that: the TV Zagreb song that Milošević's juries kept out of Eurovision 1991 was by Danijel Popović, who'd represented Yugoslavia in 1983 #EurovisionAgain
'Ma daj obuci Levisice' was a male counterpart of Yugoslavia's rock 'n' roll 1990 entry (also from TV Zagreb) - with a title translating as 'Put your Levis on' #EurovisionAgain
Two different videos got made for 'Brazil' in the end - one opened with this image of a man digging through a map of Yugoslavia 
#EurovisionAgain
(So he could connect it to Brazil...)
#EurovisionAgain (So he could connect it to Brazil...)
