The appeal to colleagues is a genre that Roger Waters often engages in.
In a piece published on his official website titled “Stop the Genocide,” the musician, currently on tour in Brazil, addresses Kendrick Lamar.
“It’s November 6, 2023. I’m in São Paulo, Brazil. Last night, some people touring with me attended a concert/party held after the Formula 1 race that took place here yesterday. Kendrick Lamar was the headliner. Here’s the point, Kendrick.”
Followed by a section in all caps: “They are killing children! Encouraged by the United States, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. Join the chorus, brother. Make your voice heard. Take a stand. What if it were your child under the rubble, cold, dead, alone?”
I am in São Paulo, Brazil.
Last night some of my touring party went to a gig / party following the F1 car race here yesterday.
The headliner was Kendrick Lamar. So here’s the thing @kendricklamar.
“THEY’RE KILLING THE CHILDREN!”https://t.co/BdUdnWMPPF
— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) November 6, 2023
The section of Waters’ website called “To my colleagues in rock and roll” is full of appeals of this kind. Waters reminds Lamar: “Ten years ago, precisely in December 2012, a few days after delivering a speech to the UN Human Rights Committee, I wrote a letter to you, Kendrick. Perhaps you never received it. I’m not blaming you, brother, but not many of my colleagues ‘got it.'”
Followed by writings in support of Nigel Kennedy, who described Israel as an apartheid state, and a letter to Stevie Wonder, who had refused to perform in Florida after the killing of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of his killer but had joined a gala for the Israeli military.
Tonight, in a tweet, Waters also addressed Annie Lennox: “Dear Annie, I know you are well-intentioned, so please stop making appeals to both sides. They are not equivalent: there are the oppressed, the Palestinians, and an oppressor, the Israeli government. The oppressor has been killing the oppressed for 75 years. Join the voice of the people, the great global chorus of protest and demand that the Israeli fascists STOP THE GENOCIDE NOW. NO IF, NO AND, NO BUT. NOW!”
https://twitter.com/rogerwaters/status/1721686269846036817