The municipality of Frankfurt is canceling a concert by Roger Waters, according to the German city ‘one of the world’s most prominent anti-Semites’. The former frontman of rock band Pink Floyd will also visit Amsterdam in April. Those three concerts in the Ziggo Dome will probably continue. But: “Ziggo and Mojo do have a responsibility.”
“Fuck ‘Em!” Roger Waters leaves it Twitter there is no misunderstanding about what he thinks of his canceled show in Frankfurt. The city council, together with the state government of Hessen, took the decision on Tuesday morning to cancel his planned concert. On May 28, Waters would perform there in the Festhalle.
The Festhalle, a concert hall just outside the center of Frankfurt, has a fraught history. In 1938 thousands of Jewish men were rounded up there, mistreated and deported to concentration camps. A memorial plaque at the Festhalle recalls the dark years of the Second World War.
Stars of David and dollar signs
It is precisely this history that makes it painful for Frankfurt and Hessen that one of the world’s ‘most influential anti-Semites’ would perform in the Festhalle. Waters has been criticizing Israel for years, which according to Waters is an apartheid state. In recent years, however, Waters has gone further and further in his criticism, says the Center for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI). “It is of course allowed to criticize Israel”, emphasizes staff member Hans Wallage. But anti-Semitism, insulting groups and using stereotypes and prejudices are not.
“Jews as pigs has been a stereotype since the seventeenth century”
And that is precisely what Waters is guilty of, Wallage believes. “In an interview he once showed a Star of David and a dollar sign side by side.” In doing so, he believes, he promotes an ancient conspiracy theory that Jews are after money and power.
And in a previous tour, Waters once lifted pig balloons with Stars of David on them. “The idea that a Jewish person is a pig has been a stereotype since the seventeenth century.” Outright anti-Semitism, says Wallage.
Watch the footage of the balloons and an interview with Wallage here (article continues after the video):
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Should the city council of Amsterdam also think about canceling the concert? Not as far as Wallage is concerned. “In our opinion, organizer Mojo and the Ziggo Dome should make good agreements with the artist.” Because the responsibility that there are no anti-Semitic statements on stage and in the audience also lies with the Ziggo Dome and Mojo, Wallage believes: “If they cannot guarantee that, we would ask them to reconsider whether the concert is can continue.”
In a response, a spokesperson for Mojo says to it AD that artists often express an opinion. “That does not mean that we support his statements.” The concerts, which are not yet sold out, will therefore continue.
No owner
In addition, the question is whether it is possible in Amsterdam, says Wallage. “Frankfurt and Hessen own the company behind the Festhalle, and were able to put a line through the concert.” Amsterdam has no shares in the Ziggo Dome and cannot enforce a similar decision.
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