Accuses Bon Jovi of ‘standing with Israeli oppression’
In an op-ed for Salon, Waters accuses Bon Jovi and his band mates of standing “shoulder to shoulder” with Israel before listing many of the casualties suffered by the Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli government.
I won’t waste my time drawing parallels with Apartheid South Africa and the moral stand that so many artists took then and that thousands are taking now in the face of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians. So the die is cast, you are determined to proceed with your gig in Tel Aviv on October 3. You are making your stand. You stand shoulder to shoulder
With the settler who burned the baby
With the bulldozer driver who crushed Rachel Corrie
With the soldier who shot the soccer player’s feet to bits…The dead can’t remind you of the crimes you’ve ignored. But, lest we forget, “To stand by silent and indifferent is the greatest crime of all.”
UN is an ‘entirely corrupt body’
In an interview with Russia Today, Waters talks about the release of Roger Waters: The Wall, the media, and the UN.
It is an entirely corrupt body with wonderful intentions and often with very good men at the head of the general assembly – and rather inferior men pulling the strings behind the Security Council…There can be things that are fundamentally important politically – particularly in the Middle East where everyone is fighting everyone else as hard as they can all of the time – which can never actually get the support that they deserve, or a lot of the things can’t … unless the United States decides that they can.
He also criticizes the media.
[The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal are] a mouthpiece for the government. The people, you Americans, would have to wake up to the fact that these newspapers and the rest of the media are not giving you the news.
New York Times interview
Waters is interviewed by the New York Times, where he discusses The Wall.
Maybe the making of the piece was my way of escaping from the cell of isolation I found myself in as a young man. I’ve spent my life trying to find the courage to expose myself to other people in order that they may love me or not, and to discover who other people are and get them to expose themselves to me. Which is tearing down walls.
He says that after the final performance of The Wall in 2103 he decided to visit his father and grandfather’s graves.
I had an absolute need to go and visit my grandfather’s grave, because I’d never been. And I knew I wanted my three children to be with me; I wanted them standing by that grave with me. And I knew I had to go and visit the memorial to my father, which was in Monte Cassino, because I’d never been to that garden, either. Here I was, 70 years old, and I had never done it, so I had to do it. And I thought, This is what the movie’s about, so we will film it.
He says he is working on a new album, with the working title Lay Down Jerusalem, the story of a boy who has nightmares and asks his grandfather, “Why are they killing the children?”
The grandfather promises that they will find out the answer to that question, and so they go looking. And, of course, they don’t find that answer because it’s too difficult.
Ctiticizes Trump
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Waters criticizes Trump.
I have [laughed] except it’s not funny that he’s as popular as he is. His ideas [are] not outlandish at all. It’s American exceptionalism gone crazy and delivered under the umbrella of absolute ignorance. He is pig-ignorant and he always was and he always will be. He lives in the illusion that he’s admirable in some way. And obviously for somebody like me, he stands for everything that is not admirable in American society. “Let’s Make America Great Again” [is] the worst possible slogan anybody could ever come up with. It’s silly and disgusting as well, unless they wanted to hark back to the potential. If the Founding Fathers hadn’t been so up their own asses, they might have come up with a system that fell somewhere between republican democracy that was going to work and that had proper checks and balances to prevent it disintegrating into what it has become, which is a country for sale to the highest bidder with the Supreme Court at the top of it, who’s appointed by the highest bidder eventually.
Calls Warwick ‘profoundly ignorant’
Waters responds to Warwick’s comments about not succumbing to his pressure.
First, in my view, Dionne Warwick is a truly great singer. Secondly, I doubt not that she is deeply committed to her family and her fans. But, ultimately, this whole conversation is not about her, her gig in Tel Aviv, or even her conception of boundaries and art, though I will touch on that conception later. This is about human rights and, more specifically, this is about the dystopia that can develop, as it has in Israel, when society lacks basic belief in equal human value, when it strays from the ability to feel empathy for our brothers and sisters of different faiths, nationalities, creeds or colors.
I believe you mean well, Ms. Warwick, but you are showing yourself to be profoundly ignorant of what has happened in Palestine since 1947, and I am sorry but you are wrong, art does know boundaries. In fact, it is an absolute responsibility of artists to stand up for human rights – social, political and religious – on behalf of all our brothers and sisters who are being oppressed, whoever and wherever they may be on the surface of this small planet.
Will not be pressured into canceling Tel Aviv concert
Warwick says she will not submit to pressure from Waters, who has called on entertainers to not perform in Israel.
[Ms. Warwick] would never fall victim to the hard pressures of Roger Waters, from Pink Floyd, or other political people who have their views on politics in Israel. Waters’ political views are of no concern to Ms. Warwick, as she holds her own unique views on world matters. Art has no boundaries. Ms. Warwick will always honor her contracts. If Ms. Warwick had an objection to performing in Israel, no offer would have been entertained and no contract would have been signed.
Amused to Death interview
Waters discusses the 2015 edition of Amused to Death, talking about the release on vinyl, sound manipulations, and its relevance today. When asked if it’s an angry record:
Angry no., Angry feels sort of undirected to me. Is Amused to Death sarcastic? I’ve definitely used sarcasm from time to time in my songwriting career. Probably some of it is sarcastic, and probably some of it pretends to by cynical, but it’s not. There’s nothing cynical about the record at all. I’m often described as a being a cynic, and I’m not.
