Roger Waters Refuses to be Another Brick in Israel’s Wall
Written by Haitham Sabbah on 20. April 2006, 2017hrs // Part of Haitham Sabbah's adventure in Breaking News, Good News, Israel, Music, Palestine, Peace // Other posts by Haitham Sabbah
Why do I love Roger Waters? Why do I respect him more now…
Update: Roger Waters has moved his summer concert from Tel Aviv to the joint Jewish-Arab village of Neve Shalom.
Ramallah — Reiterating his opposition to the Israeli occupation and expressing his support for the Palestinian people in “their struggle to be free,” the internationally renowned rock star Roger Waters has announced that he is relocating his Israel performance in recognition of the problematic nature of the previously planned Tel Aviv venue, particularly at a time when Israel is escalating its repression and apartheid designs to further dispossess, ghettoize and ultimately ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland. The former member of Pink Floyd and the writer of its timeless song “Another Brick in the Wall” called off his Tel Aviv gig, heeding an appeal by many Palestinian artists and cultural organizations and their supporters around the world who feared such a performance, particularly by a respected and progressive artist like Waters, would have given legitimacy to Israel’s colonial Wall, condemned as illegal by the International Court of Justice at The Hague in July 2004.
Supporting the Palestinian letter to Waters, a group of Israeli refuseniks (conscientious objectors to service in the occupation army) also appealed to Waters to either cancel the Tel Aviv show or dedicate it explicitly to the struggle against Israel’s military occupation.
Waters has been unswerving in his condemnation of Israel’s Wall, which he blames for inflicting poverty and devastation upon the Palestinians in the Occupied Territory. In his press statement announcing this telling change of venue, Waters writes: “The suffering endured by the Palestinian people during the Israeli occupation of the last 40 years is unimaginable to us living in the west and I support them in their struggle to be free. I have moved the concert to Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam as a gesture of solidarity with those voices of reason, both Palestinian and Israeli, that seek a non-violent route to a just peace.”
By calling off the Tel Aviv gig, Roger Waters has reconfirmed his commitment to freedom, equality and peace based on justice. Indeed, Waters’s moral compass has proven to be not only live but pointing in the right direction as well.
Reacting to the news, Palestinian civil society has warmly saluted Roger Waters for his courage and for his valuable contribution to bringing down all walls of oppression and subjugation, Israel’s Wall of shame included.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) : www.PACBI.org * Email: info@boycottisrael.ps
The open letter to Pink Floyd’s - Roger Waters was signed by so many Arts, Cultural and Civil Society Organizations from all around the world. You can find a list of these organizations and copy of the letter here.
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April 20th, 2006 at 11:26 pm
[...] 76. Roge [...]
April 21st, 2006 at 12:01 am
Waters impressed me since 1991, when his “Amuzed to Death” album was published. A popstar apparently part of the starsystem, that used sarcasm to unveil what was and is going on in Iraq, Meddle East and generally in the neocons/neocolonial button room to keep safe the western way-of-life.
I’m very happy he moved the show. I’m happy to share with him also the vision of a different world.
April 21st, 2006 at 2:42 am
I appologize in advance, this will create an unpleasent controversy. Roger Waters did not cancel his show in Israel, nor did he respond to any calls from Palestinian-supporting artists. In support of talks (unlike you and your boycott supporting colleagues) he moved the show to the ISRAELI village of Neve Shalom (Peace Oasis). And let me tell you also that afetr Mondays bombing and Hamas’ refusal to condamn it I assure you Mr. Waters would not be as tact-less (as Hamas) as to suggest he is devoting that show to Palestinians. For as you know, the truth is out there following Monday, Mr. Waters must earn his keep and Palestinians nor any other Arab Islamist country will pay for tickets.
Happy Passover
April 23rd, 2006 at 12:27 pm
I love the new lyrics …
I’ll wait till an arab singer forgets his “issues” and makes a real song. ..
Ah seems I’ll wait forever …
Ok I’ll do it!
April 23rd, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Where is “Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam” located? sounds very 48′ish??
April 30th, 2006 at 11:00 am
Why won’t musicians just full-out boycott Israel like they did South Africa?
Doesn’t anyone remember, “I ain’t gonna play Sun City” ?
http://www.anc.org.za/un/reddy/cultural_boycott.html
http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/boycotts/cultural.html
May 31st, 2006 at 1:00 am
D. bowie joined members of pink floyd on stage to perform 2 songs monday night! see the video, pictures and review at http://www.outsidethewall.net
June 20th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
damnit, roger is going to come to israel and not lebanon, turkey and not beirut, this is not fair. if anything this is THE BEST TIME TO SEE ROGER, performing one of the THE best (next to meddle) pink floyd albums, one which touchs me more and more.
hey sabbah, you know the masters email? i would love to ask why isnt he coming to lebanon for this tour. last time he had a hoot, iam sure, i never sat on the damn chair all through the concert.
Man,this is so unfair.
please respond to my email if possible, or CC me if you end up sending him the mail
i wont fill his mail box with my emails (oki maybe i will, but who wouldnt :()
June 21st, 2006 at 9:11 pm
come?” dicono in sintesi. “Con quello che sta succedendo in Palestina, l’occupazione, il Muro e tutto ci????e sappiamo, tu prendi a vai a suonare a Tel Aviv? Ma ti sembra il caso?” E lui ci ha pensato, ha concluso che effettivamente non era il caso eha spostato il concerto. Ne sono felice: ?na vita che penso che gli si fa solo un favore, alla coscienza degli israeliani, mettendo in pratica il buon vecchio strumento del boicottaggio, sia pure soft come questo. Bravi quelli del
June 23rd, 2006 at 10:48 pm
Waters had hundreds of people gathered to show him a good time after the concert, children playing music, tables of food and drumming circles of love and peace. Of course, he came to say his slogans and take off without saying goodbye…leaving us wondering…does he not know himself his reasons for coming? To whom does he say these slogans?
July 23rd, 2006 at 8:58 pm
[...] 13, 2006, 1:49:15 PM Hey buddy, Did you hear about Roger Waters issues in Israel? [link] 3. I almost died in a car wreck too.– [...]
October 4th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Just saw Roger Waters AKA Pink Floyd in Phoenix, AZ. Awesome show! No opening act and he played nearly 3 hours! The only thing I dispised was that he just HAD to inject his political OPINIONS into it. Since the majority of the crowd was in support of his OPINIONS, that went over well. Lets just take this a hypothetical step further. Suppose Mr. Waters took the other side of the coin, woulden’t thousands have been pissed that he took that time to do so? Especially the cost of concert tickets thesedays? Just a hypothetical question. We are there to rock and be entertained, not be fed propoganda from whatever side it comes from. Lastly, the Flying Pig that had Bush’s name on it’s anus didn’t include Hamas, Hesbollah or Al Quaida ANYWHERE on that flying pig. Whats up with that? Not all Jews appreciate anti-semetic symbology and/or remarks.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Found a second hand dvd of The Wall In Berlin. 1990?? where has time gone? I was amazed then and watched it this evening. Amazed now. I sometimeswonder if people get the concept of tearing down these petty thin walls that we as a species put up. I hope to hear of an encore concert be it berlin, china, US, even Canada. lol
An open concert televised as before as it was in 1990. 17 years is enough time for peoples of this planet to forget human decency. We are still all brothers and sisters. Bless you all.