Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters faces backlash and boycotts in Latin America over support of Palestine
Roger Waters, the Pink Floyd co-founder, has accused influential Israeli lobbies of trying to sabotage his Latin America tour due to his vocal support of Palestine in an interview with *TRT World* in Santiago on December 5.
Waters is amongst the growing number of celebrities who are opposing Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians and calling out the human rights violations by Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza.
“You can’t possibly put yourself in that position, in their position. Those mothers and fathers, those children, those 2.3 million, well a bit less now, people living in Gaza being bombarded by F-16s day and night, week after week after week,” he said about the Israeli assault on Gaza.
He also criticised US support for Israel, calling it “disgusting beyond all belief.”
Waters discussed the Israeli lobbies’ influence during his Argentine tour, claiming they took over hotels in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, organising a boycott based on lies. “They [the Israeli lobbies] were in Buenos Aires as well, tried to get my shows in Buenos Aires cancelled on the grounds that I’m an anti-Semite, which I’m not, obviously! It’s such outright nonsense,” he said.
According to a local daily, Pagina/12, the singer was forced to stay in Sao Paulo instead of Argentina due to a lack of available hotel rooms.
During a performance in Buenos Aires, Waters told the audience he was being silenced for his belief in human rights. Legal action was taken against him in Argentina, with a complaint filed by a lawyer for spreading ‘hate’.
In Uruguay, a lawmaker called for removing Waters’ title as distinguished visitor and he faced backlash from Jewish organisations.
In response to this, the Latin American Confederation of Workers provided hotels for Waters and his band, citing international solidarity and defence of human rights. Waters met with former Uruguayan president Jose Mujica and officials from Club Deportivo Palestino during his tour.
In an Instagram post, the club thanked him for solidarity with Palestine and for giving their community a voice.
Waters, who is one of the highest-grossing touring musicians, has publicly boycotted Israel and called out its illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank.
