No anti-Semitism here: this shot from Roger Waters’s Berlin concert shows the flying pig (from the cover of the Pink Floyd album ‘Animals’. It is emblazoned with many slogans but not with the Star of David, as liars have claimed.
I wonder if Keir Starmer put Christian Wakeford up to this.
In the House of Commons last Thursday, he lied to his fellow MPs as follows:
“Roger Waters is due to play at the AO Arena in Manchester next month. Mr Waters performed in Berlin this week and used the name of Anne Frank to stoke division, performed while dressed as an SS soldier and used the star of David on a giant pig to insinuate that Jewish people run the world, forcing the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester to issue a statement condemning his divisive actions. Will the Leader of the House agree that such concerts have no place in our society and should not go ahead? Will she agree to a debate in Government time on the record levels of anti-Jewish hatred in this country?”
None of what Wakeford said about Roger Waters’s performance was true. Not a single word.
This Site has already addressed the mention of Anne Frank, whose name was mentioned in connection with that of murdered Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. I’ll repeat it here, for anybody coming late to this scandal:
The claim is that this is anti-Semitic because it links Israel with Nazism (Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by Israeli military forces and Anne Frank died in a Nazi concentration camp).
it seems far more likely that the musician was linking Jewish people with Palestinians by pointing out that both races have suffered oppression – the former historically and the latter currently.
In both cases, their only crime (according to the on-screen verbiage) was belonging to a race that a foreign political regime had chosen to oppress, and in both cases the result was the same: death.
As for the pig… Here’s Alex Nunns:
It's become a fact that Roger Waters had a pig emblazoned with the Star of David at his gig in Berlin.
It has been used by MPs to call for his shows to be pulled, featured in headlines in the Daily Mail, repeated by the BBC etc.
Except, he didn't. Here is the pig in Berlin: pic.twitter.com/3bQFG4Dv5w
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 28, 2023
The inflatable pig has been a feature of Roger Waters' shows for years. Each iteration has different symbols on it. In 2013, the pig featured the Jewish Star of David, the Muslim crescent and star, and the Christian crucifix, presumably in a statement against organised religion.
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 28, 2023
Subsequent tweets stated explicitly that the pictured pig featuring the Star of David was from the Berlin show, which was false. pic.twitter.com/pB9lQRM5dF
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 28, 2023
Tory-turned-Labour MP Christian Wakeford claimed in parliament that, in Berlin, Waters had "used the Star of David on a giant pig to insinuate that Jewish people run the world." He wrote to the AO Arena in Manchester urging them to pull Waters' gig there. pic.twitter.com/amhLdfS1s8
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 28, 2023
As for the main accusation against Waters, that he dressed up as an SS officer as an antisemitic statement (when he was in character as Pink from The Wall, who descends into fascist delusions), it's too stupid to engage with.
— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) May 28, 2023
He’s mistaken on that last point; we need to engage with that stupidity in order to shut it down. Fortunately, Twitter itself has been on hand to set the false claim right:
VILE: Roger Waters not only co-opted the Holocaust in his concert, he dressed as an SS agent and flew a pig with a Star of David on it…in Germany!
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) May 25, 2023
The material Roger Waters is performing has been a part of popular culture for nearly half a century and has not been questioned before. There’s a very easy answer to the question, “Why now?”
Animals was released in 1977.
No-one called it antisemitic at the timeThe Wall was released in 1979.
No-one called it antisemitic at the time.In 2023, supporters of apartheid Israel have decided they're both antisemitic.
Why?
Because Roger Waters supports Palestinian rights. pic.twitter.com/dsloBS8IFA— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush🥀🇵🇸🇾🇪 (@OwenPaintbrush) May 28, 2023
Roger Waters himself has made the following statement:
— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) May 26, 2023
The statement reads:
“My recent performance in Berlin has attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles.
“The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms. Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated. The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in 1980.
“I have spent my entire life speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression wherever I see it. When I was a child after the war, the name of Anne Frank was often spoken in our house, she became a permanent reminder of what happens when fascism is left unchecked. My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, with my father paying the ultimate price.
“Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it.”
So there you have it. No Star of David on the pig, no anti-Semitism in the show. Just a lot of hatred stirred up against a man whose father died fighting the Nazis, and all of it politically-motivated.
All of it could have been disproved by broadcasters (and, indeed, political party leaderships), simply by watching video of the show. Here, I’ll show you how easy it is:
And that brings us back to Christian Wakeford.
There is no excuse for him to have brought these lies about one of the UK’s pop music – indeed, pop culture – legends to Parliament. The facts were available to him before he spoke in the House of Commons.
So either he was ignorant of the facts, which makes him too stupid to be a member of Parliament because he did not do his research properly, and he should make a statement to the Commons, correcting the record…
Or he was deliberately lying, in which case the Speaker should launch proceedings against him for contempt of Parliament and an investigation should take place with possible expulsion as the most extreme sanction against him.
And in the background, I wonder if somebody else put him up to it. Labour leader Keir Starmer is known to be influenced by those lobbyists who scream “anti-Semitism!” at every opportunity.
What’s his role in this? Did he authorise Wakeford to make his statement? Did he ask him to?
And what’s the best thing we can say about Starmer, Wakeford and their party, in the context of this controversy?
Is it that they are just another brick in the wall?
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