– Press release –
Jewish association “WerteInitiative” on Berlin’s silence over the Roger Waters concerts
On Wednesday and Thursday evening Roger Waters, one of the most prominent advocates of the anti-Israel and antisemitic BDS campaign (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel), is being given a stage in Berlin on two days.
Through public appeals and a multitude of letters, organisations concerned with Jewish life in Germany have tried to raise the awareness of politics and society so that they would take a stand against his hatred of Jews. But in Berlin this unfortunately remained largely in vain.
While those bearing political responsibility in Munich and Frankfurt – other venues of the Waters tour – have contradicted his antisemitic attitudes clearly and audibly, little has happened in Berlin so far.
Elio Adler, the chairman of the WerteInitiative, on this: “It is more than frustrating. Why is it once again a matter for us Jews ourselves and our close friends to stand up against this antisemitic hatred? Waters is the figurehead of Israel-related antisemitism in the art sector. He openly describes himself as a BDS supporter. Beyond that, he also sees himself as a multiplier of Putin’s cruel war rhetoric and defends his actions. If those with political responsibility are already declaring that they cannot ban his appearances because they are covered by artistic freedom and freedom of expression, then we would at least expect loud protest and clear positioning. Instead, a deafening silence prevails in Berlin.”
Neither the Abgeordnetenhaus nor the new Senator for Culture, and hardly any of those responsible for the fight against anti-discrimination, racism and antisemitism in the parliamentary groups or in the state government, have so far seen cause for political statements, let alone actions. On the day before the concerts, the CDU parliamentary group at least called on the operator of the Mercedes-Benz Arena to cancel the concerts of the “well-known antisemite Roger Waters”.
Together with our alliance partners we will respond to Waters’s appearances in Berlin and elsewhere.
