Roger Waters vows to play Frankfurt despite gig cancellation over anti-Semitism claims
Roger Waters has said he will play in Frankfurt despite a planned performance there being cancelled over claims of anti-Semitism.
The former Pink Floyd frontman was supposed to play at the publicly owned Festhalle on May 28, but the council called off the performance over the musician’s views on Israel. They later described him as “one of the world’s most widely-known anti-Semites”.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the cancellation notice cited Waters’ boycott of Israel – also known as the BDS campaign – as well as the musician’s talks with Hamas-affiliated media, comparisons of Israel to apartheid South Africa and what many see as anti-Semitic imagery at shows.
It also referenced the sensitivity surrounding the venue, which was used as a detention centre for some 3000 Jewish people who were then deported to concentration camps in 1938.
Now, however, Waters has suggested he’s “coming anyway” despite the cancellation. He posted an update to Instagram alongside a photo of the grave of Sophie Scholl, a German student and anti-Nazi activist who was beheaded via guillotine in 1943 for distributing anti-war leaflets around the University of Munich.
The post also suggested that Waters has filed an injunction against the council but has not had a response. He had previously indicated that he could take legal action against the motion to cancel his performances, which he argued was “unjustifiable” and an attempt to “silence him”.
“Frankfurt Council were legally required to respond to Roger Waters [sic] interim injunction by midnight April 14,” Waters wrote. “Did they? Nobody knows? We can only guess at what’s going on in Frankfurt? Are they playing for time? Who knows?”
He continued: “Not that it matters much! We’re coming anyway! Because human rights matter! Because free speech matters! Yes!
“Frankfurt City Council, we remember Kristallnacht! Like Sophie Scholl our fathers stood with those three thousand Jewish men and today we stand with the Palestinians! We’re coming to Frankfurt on the 28th of May! [sic] Love, R.”
A petition was launched last month to reverse the decision made by Frankfurt City Council, which was signed by the likes of Eric Clapton, Rage Against The Machine‘s Tom Morello and Pink Floyd’s own Nick Mason.
Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel and Soft Machine founder Robert Wyatt have also shown their solidarity, as well as actors Susan Sarandon and Julie Christie, and film director Ken Loach. Currently, the petition has more than 34,000 signatures.
“Waters’ criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is part of his long-term advocacy on behalf of human rights across the globe,” read the description alongside the petition. “The officials vilifying Waters are engaging in a dangerous campaign that purposely conflates criticism of Israel’s illegal and unjust policies with anti-Semitism.”
It continued: “Officials in Germany, concert organisers, and music platforms must not succumb to the pressure of those individuals and groups who would rather see Waters’ music removed than engage with the issues his music highlights.”
A second petition has also been launched online, opposing the first.
During an interview last year, Waters referred to Israel as “a supremacist, settler colonialist project that operates a system of apartheid” for its continued occupation of Palestinian territories.
Waters also insisted he was “absolutely not anti-Semitic”, and argued that “saying Israel does not have a right to exist as an apartheid state, any more than South Africa did or anywhere else would, is not anti-Semitic”.
The artist’s views on Israel have sparked controversy over the years. Earlier this year, David Gilmour attacked his former Pink Floyd bandmate on Twitter, continuing a decades-long rift between the pair over claims of anti-Semitism. Gilmour’s wife, the author Polly Samson, shared a tweet in which she accused Waters of being “anti-Semitic to [his] rotten core”.
She continued: “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”
Gilmour then re-shared Samson’s tweet, adding that “every word [is] demonstrably true”.
Shortly prior to Gilmour’s post, Waters himself issued a statement in which he called Samson’s comments “incendiary and wildly inaccurate” and said he “refutes [them] entirely”. He added that he is currently “taking advice as to his position” regarding the claims.
Waters has also re-recorded Pink Floyd’s classic ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ solo. Former bandmate Nick Mason hailed his version, declaring: “Annoyingly, it’s absolutely brilliant.”
Last month, Waters kicked off the European leg of his ‘This Is Not A Drill’ farewell tour. He will then come to the UK from May 31, with stops in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester.
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Emma Wilkes
NME
