"I’m not particularly interested in being a spokesperson for Roger Waters. His controversial status is well deserved. However, given the waves of misinformation following his recent Berlin concert and the subsequent misrepresentation of his performance, I feel compelled to try to provide some basic information that Michael Levitt left out."
June 1, 2023
Re: “Shame on those who treat antisemite Roger Waters as rock royalty”
I’m not particularly interested in being a spokesperson for Roger Waters. His controversial status is well deserved. However, given the waves of misinformation following his recent Berlin concert and the subsequent misrepresentation of his performance, I feel compelled to try to provide some basic information that Michael Levitt left out.
Waters’ so-called “Nazi-evocative imagery” was a direct reference to the explicitly anti-fascist 1982 film “The Wall,” based on the Pink Floyd album of the same name. These mischaracterizations of his costume are doubly insensitive and inflammatory given that Waters’ father died fighting against fascism and Nazism during World War II.
The inflatable pig has long been a feature of Waters’ performances and has changed over time. Ithas adorned the symbols of various religions, not just the Star of David. The pig itself is a reference to Pink Floyd’s album “Animals,” which features an inflatable pig in the sky on the cover and contains three different songs with “Pigs” in the title – including “Pigs on the Wing.” The pig is popularly seen as a nod to Orwell’s Animal Farm, in which pigs are authoritarians.
There are valid criticisms to be made of Waters, but omissions and misrepresentations stifle the possibility of an honest public discourse on what are often challenging issues.
Jason Toney
Director of the Media Accountability Project
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)