Taking on the trolls
On September 29, rock musician and political activist Roger Waters published a statement responding to a scurrilous video about him called The Dark Side of Roger Waters (an unsubtle reference to one of the greatest albums he’d recorded with Pink Floyd).
The statement was necessary because the authors of the film, the Campaign Against Antisemitism, had persuaded some gullible mainstream media that there was merit in a 33-minute confection based on 13-20 year-old stories from two hostile interviewees, interwoven with unashamed Zionist commentary accusing the pro-Palestinian Waters of hating Jews.
His statement acknowledged that being “mouthy and prone to irreverence”, he may have upset the two individuals who appear in the film, for which he apologised. This may not satisfy some of his critics but it is a statement made in good faith which you can read below or on his website. It explains his commitment to Universal Human Rights, working to make the world “a better, more just and more equitable place for all my brothers and sisters … irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or nationality.”
Trolls will never give up their demonisation of Waters and other prominent critics of Israel. Hence attacks from the likes of Sharon Osborne on TalkTV, demanding he should be banned from playing the London Palladium next week because, she fantasises, “he’s always making jokes about Jews, always making comments about money.” Or David Aaronovitch hailing the “revelations” in the film and attacking former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis for appearing with Waters outside Belmarsh Prison after visiting detained journalist Julian Assange.
Human Rights advocate Steven Donziger is one of many who take a different view. He tweeted:
“I have had the honour of personally knowing Roger Waters for over 10 years. He is a compassionate man and truth-teller who defends victims of human rights violations without fear or favor. I stand by him.”
(NWI)
Roger Waters answers the Campaign Against Antisemitism
September 29, 2023
Earlier this month the Campaign Against Antisemitism contacted me about a film they have made. They gave me seven days to respond to multiple questions about matters dating back to 2002 and 2010. Initially I took the view that their attacks on my character did not deserve a response. However, now that the attacks are in circulation, I want to put my response on record.
All my life I have used the platform my career has given me to support causes I believe in. I passionately believe in Universal Human Rights. I have always worked to make the world a better, more just and more equitable place for all my brothers and sisters, all over the world, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, from indigenous peoples threatened by the US oil industry to Iranian women protesting for their rights.
That is why I am active in the non-violent protest movement against the Israeli government’s illegal occupation of Palestine and its egregious treatment of Palestinians.
Those who wish to conflate that position with antisemitism do a great disservice to us all.
People need to know about the CAA, the organisation that made this film. Following complaints to the Charity Commission the CAA is facing scrutiny. Its core purpose is waging partisan political campaigns against critics of the state of Israel. So I knew their questions were not asked in good faith.
Truth is, I’m frequently mouthy and prone to irreverence, I can’t recall what I said 13 or more years ago. I’ve worked closely for many years with many Jewish people, musicians and others. If I have upset the two individuals who appear in the film I’m sorry for that. But I can say with certainty that I am not, and have never been, an antisemite – as anyone who really knows me will testify. I know the Jewish people to be a diverse, interesting, and complicated bunch, just like the rest of humanity. Many are allies in the fight for equality and justice, in Israel, Palestine and around the world.
The film totally distorts and misrepresents my views about the Israeli state and its political ideology, Zionism. It relies on a definition of antisemitism that sees criticising Israel as inherently antisemitic and assumes that Zionism is an essential element in Jewish identity. These opinions, clearly shared by the presenter and the two interviewees, are widely contested by many, including many Jewish people.
The CAA film manipulates footage and quotations to serve its agenda and is seriously misleading in many respects. What it says about my latest tour, This Is Not A Drill, repeats a series of falsehoods that have already been debunked, many times, not just by me, but in the German courts, after attempts were made to have my show banned there. The offensive words I referenced in quotes in an email 13 years ago, were my brainstorming ideas on how to make the evils and horrors of fascism and extremism apparent and shocking to a generation that may not fully appreciate the ever-present threat. They are not the manifestation of any underlying bigotry as the film suggests. Quite the opposite. I have been trying to expose the evils of fascism ever since learning of my father’s death fighting fascists in World War II.
In summary, the film is a flimsy, unapologetic piece of propaganda that indiscriminately mixes things I’m alleged to have said or done at different times and in different contexts, in an effort to portray me as an antisemite, without any foundation in fact.
END
“Initially I took the view that their attacks on my character did not deserve a response.”
Big mistake!
I think that Jeremy Corbyn suffered from a similar problem which greatly contributed to his downfall.
“A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on” as Mark Twain reportedly said. We should always remember that.
When the Zionists seem to demonise our prominent supporters such as Ken Loach or Roger Waters they do it for a reason. It is because they have nothing to say in defence of the Israeli State. Their strategy is simple. To attack the messenger rather than the message.
The irony of the so-called Campaign Against Antisemitism attacking anyone for racism takes some beating. Its Chair Gideon Falter is Vice-Chair of the Jewish National Fund, a group that funds the settlement enterprise and which has a history of specifically excluding non-Jews from renting or leasing their land, or even being employed on that land.
Falter himself is on record as supporting the demands of Hindutva, Hindu chauvinists that caste discrimination should not be protected by Britain’s equality legislation.
The fact that the BBC and the media refuse to undertake any critical examination of the CAA or its politics, yet is happy to quote from them as if it were a bona fide organisation, is a damning indictment of these propaganda organisations
It says it all that the media, including the BBC/Montague, unquestioningly take whatever the CAA concoct as gospel, without ever asking for a second opinion or counter view from such an appropriately qualified organisation as JVL.
The truth is easily rendered irrelevant by fraudulent messengers.
It is always worth repeating that the CAA came into being towards the end of Israel’s 2014 bombing of Gaza – a slaughter of 2000+ people, 551 of them children and 10,000 injured. Israel misleadingly titled this ‘Operation Protective Edge’.
The CAA has shamelessly been attempting to invert the status of victim and aggressor, ever since.
A new (? to the best of my knowledge) is susan Hall Tory candidate for London Mayor, who claims that Jews across the capital are afraid of Sadiq Khan. The clip – only as her defenders pointed out – not the full Monty made this allegation clearly and in her own words. Hard to see how much ‘context’ , none of which they even tried to provide or guess at, could dilute, let alone explain, such hysteria. Like Braverman, Hall etc will sink to any and every depth to divert attention from Tory disasters, past, present and future – but also to whip up a much xenophobia as possible. Why imagine that anyone – Jews included – will be exempt from such paranoia?
Roger is a principled genuine human rights campaigner. We know the Campaign of Agitation Against Anti-Semites is a Zionist front: a crude propaganda organisation whom we need to attack from all sides. We need to learn the lessons of Corbyn and the soft left of the Labour Party – ignoring propaganda is like giving them an extra political paintbrush to smear whoever they like.The BBC were given an abject lesson last week by Ken Loach who stopped them in their tracks after they quoted the CAA, saying “have you any evidence for that”[?] Just that one sentence exposed the whole lie of both CAA and the BBC`s role in perpetuating pro-zionist lies and smears.
Its past the stage of being shocked or numbed by these smears and deliberate attempts to destroy peoples careers and their integrity. How many South African Anti-Apartheid Campaigners kept standing up against the likes of Thatcher and her ilk who described Mandela as a “dirty little terrorist”? We never gave up attacking the racists.
There are many in the Labour Movement and certainly JVL and other comrades, who know the tactics of the Zionists. I read recently in the book “The 43 Group” [who fought Moseley`s fascists before and after the second world war ] that the only way to fight racists is by using their tactics. Perhaps we can use social media, demonstrations, letters, try to use radio phone-ins and big media chat colums to attack the zionists. Place demands on those like the Soft Left to join in a concerted campaign to attack these vile racist colonialists. Every time CAA raises its head [and the likes of the Board of Deputies, Harpin, Jewish Chronicle, Akehurst and his apparatchik`s] we have to fight and make as loud a noise as we can. Its time to move
[cut to our limit of 300 words – admin]
I talk to people re being a woman in Taliban Afghanistan, then add same thing re being a Palestinian in Palestine.
The point is made.
Well said
A new (? to the best of my knowledge) is Susan Hall Tory candidate for London Mayor, who claims that Jews across the capital are afraid of Sadiq Khan. The clip – only as her defenders pointed out – not the full Monty -made this allegation clearly and in her own words. Hard to see how much ‘context’ , none of which they even tried to provide or guess at, could dilute, let alone explain, such hysteria. Like Braverman, Hall etc will sink to any and every depth to divert attention from Tory disasters, past, present and future – but also to whip up a much xenophobia as possible. Why imagine that anyone – Jews included – will be exempt from such paranoia?
Harvey, I have little doubt that the BBC and the rest of the MSM are fully aware that the CAA (along with the JLM and LAA) is a black propaganda outfit.
The most despicable thing about these groups – and the BoD and the CST and the Jewish newspapers and the MSM – is that they had no qualms whatsoever about causing concern and consternation and worry amongst many British Jews and playing on their historical fears – namely the Holocaust – in their quest to destroy Jeremy Corbyn (and the left).
In my book that is just pure unadulterated evil! There really is no other way to describe it.
Further to what Tony Greenstein says above, there seems to me to be something fundamentally wrong when people are unable to take seriously the utterly sincere and always extremely well-informed combination of those two totally different characters, Ken Loach and Roger Waters.