(Buenos Aires) A complaint of “anti-Semitism” was filed in Argentina on Wednesday against British author, composer and performer Roger Waters, who complained that he could not find accommodation in hotels where he gave in Montevideo and Buenos Aires must concerts and condemned a boycott led by “the Israeli lobby”.
Updated yesterday at 4:51 p.m.
The former Pink Floyd co-founder and leader, who just performed several concerts in Brazil as part of his “This Is Not a Drill” tour, is scheduled to perform in Montevideo on Friday and in Buenos Aires next Tuesday and Wednesday.
But the 80-year-old artist told Argentine newspaper Pagina 12 that he had no choice but to stay in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he performed on Saturday and Sunday, and fly to both sides of the Rio on the day of his concerts de la Plata.
“Somehow these idiots from the Israel lobby managed to co-opt all the hotels in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and organize this extraordinary boycott based on malicious lies […] about me,” he told Page 12.
Hotels in Montevideo were contacted by AFP and declined to comment.
The presidents of the Jewish Central Committee of Uruguay, Roby Schindler, and the NGO B’Nai B’Rith, Franklin Rosenfeld, accused Roger Waters of being a “propagator” of Jewish hatred in the Uruguayan capital in letters at the Sofitel Hotel this week and will be in broadcast on social networks.
Mr. Schindler called Mr. Waters “misogynistic, xenophobic and anti-Semitic,” while Mr. Rosenfeld threatened to launch an anti-Sofitel campaign if the hotel hosted “the anti-Semitic artist.”
“I have never had a single anti-Semitic thought in my entire life,” defended Roger Waters on page 12, emphasizing that his critics point to the actions of the Israeli government.
Complaint
On Wednesday, a person filed a complaint in a Buenos Aires court against Roger Waters for “inciting racial hatred and advocating crimes,” believing that the musician’s “position” was “his safe and undeniable opportunity to spread his message of hate.” During his concerts in Argentina he promoted the escalation of anti-Semitism.
“We want the Argentine authorities to assess Mr. Waters’ conduct. The migration authority can consider whether he should be banned from entering the country,” said lawyer Carlos Broitman.
The musician, who campaigned in defense of human rights in 2023, was surrounded by several controversies. At the United Nations, he condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also those who provoked it.
Or during a controversial concert in Berlin, after which the US State Department denounced “anti-Semitic elements for denigrating Jews.” Mr. Waters represented “a message against fascism, injustice and bigotry in all its forms.”
In recent years, the musician has also defended actions to boycott Israeli products in the name of defending the Palestinian cause.
The This Is Not a Drill tour, which began in the United States in July 2022 before continuing in Europe, ends December 9 in Ecuador after final performances in Chile, Peru, Costa Rica and Colombia.