Roger Waters’s Anti-Israel Message Elicits Anger In Latin America
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BUENOS AIRES (JTA) – Jewish institutions in Argentina have launched a campaign against British singer Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd frontman.
Waters’ Us +Them tour has been traveling around Latin America for the last month.
Waters participated in an event of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel in Buenos Aires on Friday, a day before performing a concert there. “We must insist to our local governments to pressure Israel, in favor of the human rights of the Palestinians” he said during the program titled “A world Without Walls,” organized by BDS Argentina.
The Argentina Zionist Organization called Waters “one of the great anti-Semites of our time” in an online campaign protesting what it called his hate speech.
Shows in which Waters displays a pig with a star of David also have irritated some Jewish global leaders.
“Waters came to Uruguay and Argentina to promote BDS – Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions – declared illegitimate in a growing number of European jurisdictions as based on the attacks in Nazi Germany on Jewish shops and enterprises to the cries of “Kaufen nicht bei Juden” (No Buying from Jews). The timing of his hatefest tour led up to today’s 80th anniversary of “Kristallnacht” (the Night of Broken Glass),” said Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s director for International Relations, in a statement issued on Friday.
Waters performed two shows in Buenos Aires, following concerts in Brazil and Uruguay, and will perform through mid-December in Chile, Colombia and México.
The Argentina Zionist Organization’s on-going online campaign, urges residents throughout the region to reject the Waters’ presence and next concerts. Its Change.org campaign states: “We, Latin Americans, say to Roger Waters – we wish you weren’t here!” – echoing the Pink Floyd song “Wish You Were Here.”
Wiesenthal Center officials called on Waters´s Latin American hosts to denounce his abuse of their hospitality and his message of hate. It also called on sponsors of Waters’ concerts, including companies Entel, Cencosud, Grupo Aval, Bac Credomatic y Citibanamex, to withdraw their financial support.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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