He’s got a new album and tour, but In his latest interview with Rolling Stone, Roger Waters can’t stop talking about Israel.
Waters, an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights, also speaks about the latest, improbable Floyd reunion. On October 6th, Waters, guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason announced a message of support on Pink Floyd’s official Facebook page for the Women’s Boat to Gaza, 13 activists sponsored by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition who were intercepted when they attempted to breach the Israeli navy’s blockade of Gaza. “It is an issue I care about deeply,” Waters says. “I knew the women – one of whom I know [Mairead Maguire, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Northern Ireland], all of whom I admire – were going to try and get through the blockade. And we knew they would be arrested.
“I was really happy that Dave and Nick joined me on this,” the bassist adds, “to be finally united with them, taking this stance.”
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How will you integrate the older Floyd material into the new theme?
Until I have figured out the theater, I won’t know the answer to that question. The theater is all important. What do you do to make a show useful and entertaining but also philosophically engaging without being preachy and dictatorial? That’s what The Wall is. But I am 40 years older. I have other things I am interested in saying. I am no longer interested in talking about my childhood or my wife leaving me. But I still feel I have a lot to say.In the show we do [at Desert Trip], at the end of it, I make a speech that will upset a few people [about Palestine]. But it may encourage other people – you can’t sit on a fucking fence. Well, I can’t.
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How did the social-media reunion with David and Nick over the Flo-tilla arrests come about?
Two days ago, I emailed them and said, “C’mon, it’s time. They just emailed me back and said, “Fine by me.” We had been sort of talking – “Should we get united on this?” But if you read all the trolls on the Pink Floyd official Facebook page…
I posted about David Gilmour and Nick Mason joining Waters over a week ago, but this is a good reminder that it took bashing Jews to create some good unity between them.
