The Wall

Roger Waters and the smear campaign against him

Roger Waters performing The Wall on tour in 2012

In recent years, talk of “The Wall” has referred to the proposed barrier on the United States/Mexico barrier that Trump made famous. Biden has of course continued to work on it, but that’s largely ignored by the media. But that is not “The Wall” I want to talk about today. Today I’ll be making a few comments on the great Pink Floyd rock opera of the same name.

Roger Waters has been in the news recently because his recent performance of the rock opera in Berlin has been used to disingenuously attack him. Here is what happened according to CNN:

Police in Germany have launched a criminal investigation into Roger Waters, the co-founder of Pink Floyd, after he appeared dressed in a costume resembling a Nazi uniform during two concerts in Berlin last week.

Waters was wearing the costume while performing from Pink Floyd’s 1979 concept album “The Wall,” in which the album’s protagonist hallucinates that he is a fascist dictator. The satirical routine has been a part of Waters’ solo shows for at least 30 years, including a famous live performance of the album in Berlin in 1990. This week appears to be the first time the German government has launched a criminal investigation following his performance, however.

Berlin police spokeswoman Jennifer Bähle confirmed to CNN Friday that Waters is being investigated for suspected incitement during two concerts in the city last week, on May 17 and 18. ”We have received information from the public including pictures and videos which according to the external appearance are suitable for fulfilling the offense of incitement to hatred,” she said.

In spite of the obvious anti-fascist message of The Wall, Roger Waters is now under investigation for inciting hate for an performance he has routinely carried out for years. Nothing has significantly changed in his performance. But he has boldly spoken out against empire and notably against the settler-colonial state of Israel and their attacks on the Palestinian people. His politics aren’t new either, but with the current state of world affairs he has now been targeted in a smear campaign.

Roger Waters performing the Wall live in Berlin, 1990. He was not investigated following this performance.

The US State department decided to join in saying that Roger Waters has “a long track record of using antisemitic tropes.” However, when questioned on what these tropes might be, they had no answer:

QUESTION: — on the Roger Waters —

MR PATEL: Uh-huh.

QUESTION: — issue that was discussed in this room a couple days ago, and the AP articles that our esteemed colleague wrote, Matt, in – yesterday. And you responded to him that Roger Waters has a long track record of using anti-Semitic tropes and so on, and then you went on to say Special Envoy Lipstadt’s quote tweet speaks for itself, that the concert in question which took place in Berlin contained imagery that is deeply offensive to the Jewish people and so on.

Now, my question to you is: Where is the evidence of his past things and so on, the anti-Semitic tropes and so on? This seems to be an issue that every time there is a high-profile personality who comes out critical of Israel and in support of the Palestinians, he’s labeled as anti-Semitic. We’ve seen it even with someone like Ken Roth, who headed the Human Rights Watch, and many, many others. There are so many others.

So could there be, like, a definition or something where you can be critical of Israel and supportive of the Palestinian cause without crossing that line?

MR PATEL: Said, I am – I am just not going to categorize this in the way that you asked. I don’t have a specific litany, a list to share with you. As I said, as we said, the special envoy’s quote tweet certainly speaks for itself.

But I would take issue with the other part of your question. When any officials have said hurtful, problematic, dangerous things as it relates to any community, when we’ve been asked about it we have spoken out clearly. It’s something you’ve seen me do. It’s something you’ve seen Matt do. It’s something you’ve seen Ned do when he was in this job up here as well. So I certainly take issue with the characterization that we are only doing this in one circumstance.

They were happy to baselessly smear Roger Waters, but had nothing to back it up. Roger Waters responded to the attacks:

My recent performance in Berlin has attracted bad faith attacks from those who want to smear and silence me because they disagree with my political views and moral principles.

The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms. Attempts to portray those elements as something else are disingenuous and politically motivated. The depiction of an unhinged fascist demagogue has been a feature of my shows since Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in 1980.

I have spent my entire life speaking out against authoritarianism and oppression wherever I see it. When I was a child after the war, the name of Anne Frank was often spoken in our house, she became a permanent reminder of what happens when fascism is left unchecked. My parents fought the Nazis in World War II, with my father paying the ultimate price.

Regardless of the consequences of the attacks against me, I will continue to condemn injustice and all those who perpetrate it. 

Anyone familiar with Roger Waters and his work would know this. Which brings us back to The Wall. This is an album I never grow tired of. It is a very nuanced album, which seems to have gone above the heads of those attacking Waters. In his essence, much of the work is about alienation. This is a theme that resonates with Marxists, for after all it was Marx who came up with the concept of alienation. While The Wall doesn’t tie the alienation of Pink to the capitalist system, these feelings are something entirely relatable to many people. The critique of the school system in Another Brick in the Wall certainly stands the test of time.

In estranging from man (1) nature, and (2) himself, his own active functions, his life activity, estranged labor estranges the species from man. It changes for him the life of the species into a means of individual life. First it estranges the life of the species and individual life, and secondly it makes individual life in its abstract form the purpose of the life of the species, likewise in its abstract and estranged form. - Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

The alienation created by the capitalist system feeds fascism. In The Wall, we see the alienation of Pink leads to his breakdown and fascist hallucinations. It is this part of the show that suddenly has become objectionable to so many people even though it is a critique of fascism, not an endorsement. The same people who support the actions of Israel in murdering Palestinian children every day are the ones who are calling Roger Waters anti-Semitic. It is not anti-Semitic to support the Palestinian people and their right to exist.

The Wall is art as well as being an anti-fascist commentary on our system and a critique of war. It is musical genius combined with a profound social statement. We cannot hide behind walls of our own making and alienate ourselves from society.

If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat? - Pink Floyd