Roger Waters, Brian Eno απαντούν στον Nick Cave που υπερασπίστηκε την εμφάνιση του στο Ισραήλ

"Nick, με όλο τον σεβασμό, η μουσική σας δεν έχει σημασία για αυτό το θέμα".

Ο Rogers Waters απάντησε στον Nick Cave στο αίτημα του να ακυρώσει την συναυλία του στο Ισραήλ το περασμένο Σαββατοκύριακο.

Τον περασμένο μήνα, ο Waters έστειλε επιστολή στον Cave να ακυρώσει την εμφάνιση «ενώ το απαρτχάιντ παραμένει».

Η συναυλία έγινε χθες το βράδυ, με τον Cave να λέει στον τοπικό Τύπο πώς είναι προκλητικό " να προσπαθεί κάποιος να λογοκρίνει και να κάνει τους μουσικούς να σιωπήσουν".

"Στο τέλος της ημέρας, ίσως είναι δύο λόγοι για τους οποίους είμαι εδώ. Ο ένας είναι ότι αγαπώ το Ισραήλ και τον λαό του, και δεύτερον να πάρω θέση εναντίον αυτών που θέλουν να κάνουν τους μουσικούς να σιωπούν.

Τώρα, ο Waters απάντησε άλλη μια φορά και υποστήριξε ότι "δεν πρόκειται για μουσική. Πρόκειται για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα. "

"Ο Nick νομίζει ότι πρόκειται για λογοκρισία της μουσικής του; Τι? Nick, με όλο τον σεβασμό, η μουσική σας δεν έχει σημασία για αυτό το ζήτημα, δεν έχει σημασία αν είναι μουσική του Brian Eno, του Beethoven, η δική μου, δεν πρόκειται για την μουσική, αλλά για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα ", δήλωσε ο Waters.

«Εμείς, εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες από εμάς, υποστηρικτές του BDS και των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων σε όλη την ιστορία σε όλο τον κόσμο, ενώνονται στη μνήμη του Sharpeville και όλων των θυμάτων σε όλο τον πλανήτη και ανυψώνουμε τις γροθιές μας σε ένδειξη διαμαρτυρίας.

BRIAN ENO

I admire Nick Cave as an artist and I know he has been generous in his support for Palestinian humanitarian causes. I think he has every right to come to his own conclusions about whether or not he supports BDS. However, I think I also have the right to present him with another side to this argument, which I have done – privately, as politely and discreetly as I could. Given the content of his press conference, I think that argument now needs to be restated publicly.

The BDS argument is simple enough: Israel has consistently – and lavishly – used cultural exchange as a form of ‘hasbara’ (propaganda) to improve the image of the country abroad, and to “show Israel’s prettier face” in the words of a foreign ministry official. The BDS campaign is simply asking artists not to be part of that propaganda campaign.

I’m basing these comments on press reports of what Nick said. They may be unreliable. My response to what I’ve read is this: this has nothing to do with ‘silencing’ artists – a charge I find rather grating when used in a context where a few million people are permanently and grotesquely silenced. Israel spends hundreds of millions of dollars on hasbara, and its side of the argument gets broadcast loud and clear. Coupled with the scare-tactic of labelling any form of criticism of Israeli policy as ‘antisemitic’, this makes for a very uneven picture of what is going on.

Who do the Palestinians have to present their side? If you ask them, they’ll say “BDS”. It’s just about the only hope they feel, as they watch more and more of their country being illegally occupied by settlers, and watch new generations of their own people growing up behind concrete walls patrolled by soldiers.

As it happens I share a birthday with Israel: I too was born on May 15 1948. It’s a random coincidence, but perhaps it’s partly responsible for predisposing me to a sympathy and admiration for the country and its technical, intellectual and social achievements. I still admire all those things, but, as I learn more about the despicable situation Israeli ambitions have created for the Palestinians I feel a growing dread. To me it seems that Israel is digging itself into a deep, dark hole, where it will doubtless find company with Trump and various other nationalists around the globe.

So in parallel to what is now happening to the Palestinians, there is another disaster in progress. Israel – at least that Israel of humane values in which so many people, Jewish and otherwise, placed their hopes – is disappearing.

ROGER WATERS

I read Nick Cave’s press conference statements with a mixture of sorrow, rage and disbelief. No wonder he avoided a conversation with anyone from BDS before going ahead with his shows in Tel Aviv.

Ok, first: Disbelief. Nick thinks this is about censorship of his music? What? Nick, with all due respect, your music is irrelevant to this issue, so is mine, so is Brian Eno’s so is Beethoven’s, this isn’t about music, it’s about human rights.

Next: Rage. This is about children, like the young boys blown to bits while playing soccer on the beach in Gaza. Boys murdered by Israel. Boys symbolic of the thousands and thousands of children sacrificed in Israel’s “Mowing of the lawn.” Israel’s terminology, not mine.
We, hundreds of thousands of us, supporters of BDS and human rights throughout history all over the world join together in memory of Sharpeville and Wounded Knee and Lidice and Budapest and Ferguson and Standing Rock and Gaza and raise our fists in protest. We hurl our glasses into the fire of your arrogant unconcern, and smash our bracelets on the rock of your implacable indifference.

Lastly: Sorrow? What if it was your demolished home? Your invaded country? Your villages razed to the ground to build stadiums for the invaders to promote pop concerts on? Your uprooted olive trees? Seven million of your brothers and sisters living in refugee camps? Victims of ethnic cleansing? Would your sorrow trump your obsession with concerns about the censorship of your music?

By the way, on one of the Israeli news sites I was directed to a video of yours on YouTube. Towards the end I picked up on the following lyric:

“Let us sit together in the dark until the moment comes.”

Nick, the moment came and went brother, you missed it, if at some point in the future you want to climb out of the dark, all you have to do is open your eyes, we, in BDS will be here to welcome you into the light.

Love

Roger Waters and Co.