PR: Pink Flyod's frontman, Roger Waters, writes open letter to fellow "Rock and Roll" musicians

PRESS RELEASE: Pink Flyod's frontman, Roger Waters, writes open letter to fellow "Rock and Roll" musicians

In an impassioned and hard-hitting open letter to fellow "Rock and Roll" musicians, Roger Waters (frontman and lead guitarist of world-famous rock band, Pink Floyd) has invited and called-on his peers to join the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel campaign (find the full letter attached or here: http://tinyurl.com/k9cul93). In a letter issued from Warsaw (Poland) earlier this morning, Waters writes:

"To cut to the chase, Israel has been found guilty - independently - by international human rights organizations, UN officials, and the International Court of Justice, of serious breaches of international law. These include, and I will name only two…the Crime of Apartheid…[and] the Crime of Ethnic Cleansing...[I]t falls to civil society and conscientious citizens of the world, to dust off our consciences, shoulder our responsibilities, and act. I write to you now, my brothers and sisters in the family of Rock and Roll, to ask you to join with me, and thousands of other artists around the world, to declare a cultural boycott on Israel."

Waters explains in his open letter that there are two recent events that have prompted his letter, one of which was the December 2012 cancellation by Stevie Wonder of a headline performance at a benefit dinner for the Israeli Defence Force. Water adds that he, together with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, "wrote to Stevie [Wonder] to try to persuade him to cancel. My letter ran along these lines, 'Would you have felt OK performing at the Policeman’s Ball in Johannesburg the night after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960?'"

Roger Waters (60) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and composer best known for his role in world famous rock-band, Pink Floyd. Waters served as bassist, co-lead vocalist, lyricist, principal songwriter and conceptual leader of the band. Pink Floyd subsequently achieved international success with the concept albums "The Dark Side of the Moon", "Wish You Were Here", "Animals", "The Wall" and "The Final Cut". Pink Floyd has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the United States as of 2013.

In his open letter from this morning to rock and roll musicians, Waters also challenges mainstream media and specifically criticizes the USA media, stating that: "The clear inference would be that the media in the USA is not interested in the predicament of the Palestinian people, or for that matter the predicament of the Israeli people. We can only hope they may become interested as they eventually did in the politics of apartheid South Africa."

The open letter by Roger Waters ends with reference to the former Apartheid regime in South Africa, the 1980s international boycott of South Africa movement and specific mention of the African National Congress' (ANC) recent Mangaung boycott of Israel resolution:

"Back in the days of Apartheid South Africa at first it was a trickle of artists that refused to play there..then it became a stream, then ariver then a torrent and then a flood. (Remember Steve van Zant, Bruce and all the others? “We will not Play in Sun City?”)...The sports community joined the battle, no one would go and play cricket or rugby in South Africa, and eventually the political community joined in as well. We all as a global, musical, sporting and political community raised our voices as one and the apartheid regime in South Africa fell...Maybe we are at the tipping point now with Israel and Palestine. These are good people both and they deserve a just solution to their predicament. Each and every one of them deserves freedom, justice and equal rights. Just recently the ANC [African National Congress], the ruling party of South Africa, has endorsed BDS. We are nearly there. Please join me and all our brothers and sisters in global civil society in proclaiming our rejection of Apartheid in Israel and occupied Palestine, by pledging not to perform or exhibit in Israel or accept any award or funding from any institution linked to the government of Israel, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights."

With Israeli discrimination, human rights abuses, violations of International Law and illegal settlement construction on the increase, Palestinians, inspired by the successful boycott and isolation of Apartheid South Africa, called on the international community in 2005 to play a decisive role in their struggle for self-determination and an end to Israel’s Apartheid policies. Palestinians called on global civil society, artists and multi national corporations to impose a program of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The Palestinians laid out three demands that Israel needs to respect for the boycott to be called-off. Firstly, an end to the illegal Israeli Occupation. Secondly, allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. And, thirdly, for Israel to ensure full equality for Palestinian citizens living inside Israel (see: www.bdsmovement.net/bdsintro). Activists mantian that the BDS campaign is not a malicious, blunt or punitive one which is out to punish Israelis but rather it is a practical, non-violent, goal-orientated and focused campaign that is uncompromisingly entrenched in international law and human rights – and also one that is increasingly supported by (progressive) Israelis themselves. Just some of the artists and intellectuals who have publicly lent their support and respected the boycott in recent years include: award-winning musician, Stevie Wonder; Jazz artist, Cassandra Wilson; Maxi Jazz of the UK band, Faithless; musician, Elvis Costello; Pultizer-prize winning author, Alice Walker; intellectual, Stephen Hawking and most recently, the film director, Mira Nair.

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