Boycott Israel says Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters

Sun Mar 24 21:56:07 GMT 2013

Boycotting Israel is the "way to go," says Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters
David Cronin The Electronic Intifada Brussels 18 March 2013

http://electronicintifada.net/content/boycotting-israel-way-go-says-pink-floyd-legend-roger-waters/12287

Roger Waters, British rock legend and co-founder 
of the group Pink Floyd, visits Israels wall 
surrounding the West Bank town of Bethlehem, 21 June 2006.
(MaanImages / Magnus Johansson) Roger Waters is 
the most famous rock star to have publicly 
supported the campaign for boycott, divestment 
and sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

A founder of Pink Floyd  a British rock group 
which has sold more than 250 million albums  
Waters decided to become active in the 
international Palestinian solidarity movement 
following a trip to the West Bank in 2006. 
Shocked by the oppression that he witnessed, 
Waters spray-painted the words we dont need no 
thought control  a line from one of his biggest hits  on Israels wall.

More recently, Waters has served as a juror on 
the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, an initiative 
aimed at drawing attention to how Western 
governments and companies aid Israels violations 
of international law. In that capacity, he 
addressed the United Nations during November last year.

Visiting Brussels for the tribunals final 
session, Waters said he would explore the idea of 
releasing a single urging musicians not to 
perform in Israel. He intends to discuss this 
project with Steven Van Zandt, the guitarist in 
Bruce Springsteens E Street Band, who assembled 
many well-known musicians to record Sun City, a 
protest song against apartheid in South Africa during the 1980s.

Waters spoke to The Electronic Intifadas David Cronin.

David Cronin: Do you think the campaign for a 
cultural boycott of Israel is having an impact?

Roger Waters: Id like to think that it was.

My experience when I speak to people to and say 
dont go is either they reply that sounds 
good or they say dont you think its better to go there?

Well, no, I ****ing dont.

I think that the kind of boycott that was 
implemented against the apartheid regime in South 
Africa back in the day is probably the most 
effective way to go because the situation is that 
the Israeli government runs an apartheid regime 
in Israel, the occupied territories and 
everywhere else it decides. Let us not forget 
that they laid waste to most of Lebanon around 
the time I started getting involved in this 
issue. They destroyed airports, hospitals, any public buildings they could.

They are running riot and it seems unlikely that 
running over there and playing the violin will have any lasting effect.

DC: Have you personally asked any fellow musicians to boycott Israel?

RW: Yeah, I have.

DC: Would you prepared to say who those musicians were?

RW: No, I wouldnt be. It was entirely private between me and them.

All I would say is that part of my involvement 
here in the Russell Tribunal today and tomorrow 
is that I am about to publish an open letter 
written to all my colleagues in the music 
industry, asking them to join me in the BDS 
movement. This is not just to colleagues in the UK or US but around the world.

What caused me to write this public letter was an 
affair where Stevie Wonder was hired to play a 
gala dinner for the Israeli Defense Forces on 6 
December last year. I wrote a letter to him 
saying that this would be like playing a police 
ball in Johannesburg the day after the 
Sharpeville massacre in 1960. It wouldnt be a 
great thing to do, particularly as he was meant 
to be a UN ambassador for peace. It wasnt just 
me. Desmond Tutu also wrote a letter.

To his eternal credit, Stevie Wonder called them 
[the galas organizers] up and said I didnt 
quite get it [and canceled the performance]. 
This happened one week after I made a speech to 
the UN. Neither of these events were reported 
anywhere in the mainstream media in the United States of America.

Both events were almost as important as [TV 
personality] Kim Kardashians bra size. The way 
they are not being reported means the media must 
be under instructions from somewhere not to 
report these things to the American public, on what grounds I cannot guess.

DC: How do you feel about the support for Israel 
offered by David Camerons government in your native Britain?

RW: Cameron has absolutely adopted Tony Blairs 
wolfs clothing that he [Blair] adopted so 
eagerly and happily when he went to war in Iraq on George Bushs coat-tails.

Cameron is entirely content for Great Britain to 
be a satellite nation of the US. None of us can quite understand why.

There is a glimmer of light at the end of the 
tunnel. The EUs diplomatic emissaries [in the 
West Bank] joined together [recently]. They 
protested the settlements and asked for 
sanctions. This is almost unprecedented. But the 
governments of these emissaries have done nothing and continue to do nothing.

I have been very disillusioned with UK foreign 
policy really since [Harold] Wilson [a Labor 
Party prime minister during the 1960s and 1970s]. 
It was such a political turnabout from [Labor 
leaders] Keir Hardie and [Clement] Attlee and the 
principles of British socialism. It was a 
precursor for taking over the country with the 
appalling monetarist strategies of Margaret 
Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Im quite ashamed of 
the way we have behaved. The UK has been royally 
fucking the world over for centuries  not least you bog Irish.

DC: One of your fellow jurors on the Russell 
Tribunal, Stéphane Hessel, died recently. Did you know him well?

RW: I knew him very little. What a brave, 
eloquent, good-hearted, brilliant man.

DC: As a musician, have you had a chance to check 
out the vibrant Palestinian hip-hop scene?

RW: I havent. But if it thrives, I cant find 
anything negative about that, so long as its not 
about bling and booty and wearing a baseball cap 
sideways. So long as its about protest and 
realism, rather than the flight from realism that hip-hop is in the US.

DC: In your speech to the UN, you paid tribute to 
Rachel Corrie. Is there anything you would like 
to say about Rachel Corrie, given that its the 
tenth anniversary of her murder?

RW: Her parents attended the [Russell Tribunal] 
session in New York [last year]. It was very moving.

DC: Do you support the hunger strikes being 
undertaken by a number of Palestinian prisoners?

RW: The thing about political prisoners is: it 
doesnt matter if you are in the Maze [in 
Northern Ireland] or in a prison somewhere in 
Israel, your options are very limited. Hunger 
strikes or dirty protests are some of the very 
few options to bring attention to your specific predicament.

I respect the brave men and women who go to those 
lengths. As we know, hunger-striking is not like 
going on a diet. It is real, dangerous and 
painful. You dont do it without compelling reasons.

David Cronin is a contributing editor with The 
Electronic Intifada. His book Europes Alliance 
With Israel: Aiding the Occupation is published by Pluto Press.
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