Tear Down The Wall – Roger Waters Won’t Entertain Apartheid
Recently, there has been debate within the mainstream music community about whether there is in fact a cultural boycott of Israel in effect, and whether it is yet time to endorse such a boycott, as was done during Apartheid South Africa. Therefore, it is significant that Pink Floyd artist Roger Waters, during a recent visit to the West Bank, has expanded upon his previous disgust with the illegal apartheid wall in Palestine-Israel, and has formally announced that he will not entertain within the 1967 borders until the wall comes down(AP).
“If they take this thing down, I would be delighted to come and do a concert here. In fact, I would insist on it…It’s actually very, pretty depressing, coming back here three years later and seeing that the political situation has changed very little – there are more settlements, there has been more grabbing of land,” – Roger Waters, June 2nd 2009
In 2006, Roger Waters circumvented the PACBI boycott by playing in Neve Shalom, an integrated Palestinian-Israeli community, a decision about which he now feels ambivalent.
Check out the news clip below, from 2006, which includes Roger Waters discussing the Apartheid Wall: “It fills me with horror, the thought of being, you know… constrained by something like this, is horrific. It’s like living in a giant prison, isn’t it? I mean it literally is like living in a giant prison.”
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Radian Records Stands in Solidarity with the Artists of Palestine at Radian Records Blog - June 18, 2009
[...] tour is planned to conclude in Tel Aviv, Palestine-Israel in September. In a recent interview, Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd announced that he too would not play in Israel again until the dismantling of the Apartheid Wall. Further [...]
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