Episode Details

Roger Waters, the British rock legend and co-founder of Pink Floyd, is in the midst of his “This Is Not A Drill” tour. In his concerts he weds his musical genius to the most pressing social issues of our day, including permanent war, police violence, the crimes of Israeli occupation against the Palestinians, including the killing of the Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by the Israeli military and the imprisonment of Julian Assange. When Waters performs the song “The Powers that Be” above him on the enormous video screens are animated scenes of police brutality. The names of George Floyd, Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor and others flash on the screens. Their crime is listed as being Black. Their punishment is listed as death. Back and forth he shows the forces of repression, including images from the Collateral Murder video, the Israeli bombing of Gaza and numerous other police murders including those of the Syrian Ali Al-Hamda, killed by Turkish police, Rashan Charles, killed by British police, and Matheus Melo Castro, shot by police in Brazil. Slogans of resistance pepper the performance -- “F**k Drones,” “F**k the Supreme Court” “F**k Occupation,” “You Can’t Have Occupation And Human Rights.” He dedicates a song to the water protectors and has a montage of U.S, presidents from Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, all labeled as war criminals. Waters returns us to the era when artists were not denuded of moral authority by commercial interests. He stands unequivocally with the oppressed. He stands unequivocally against the forces of repression. Like Victor Jara, Mercedes Sosa or Woody Guthrie he knows who we must fight for and who we must fight against. Joining me to discuss music and his tour is Roger Waters.