Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters might face prosecution after declaring his help for Palestine Motion, an organisation that has been banned by the UK parliament.
Waters posted a video to X during which he praised Palestine Motion as a “nice organisation,” saying they had been “nonviolent” and “completely not terrorists in any approach”.
He additionally expressed help for British punk-rap band Bob Vylan, who had a controversial set at this yr’s Glastonbury Competition after they led a chant of “loss of life, loss of life to the IDF” (Israel Defence Pressure).
As of final Saturday, Palestine Motion was proscribed as a terrorist group within the UK below the Terrorism Act 2000. Because of this membership in or public help for the group is now categorised as a legal offence and is punishable by as much as 14 years in jail and/or a advantageous.
Within the video, Waters additionally confirmed viewers an indication he was making from cardboard saying “Roger Waters helps Palestine Motion”.
“Parliament has been corrupted by brokers of a genocidal overseas energy. Rise up and be counted. It’s now. That is the second. I’m Spartacus,” he stated.
Waters went on to declare independence from the UK authorities.
“I declare my independence from the federal government of the UK, who’ve simply designated Palestine Motion a terrorist, proscribed terrorist organisation.”
Organisations reminiscent of Marketing campaign In opposition to Antisemitism (CAA) have responded to the video on social media, writing: “We have now reviewed this put up. Palestine Motion has been proscribed. Anybody expressing help for it opposite to part 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 commits a legal offence. We stand able to privately prosecute offenders in cases the place an offence has been made out and the authorities fail to behave.”
Waters has beforehand denied accusations of antisemitism in his longtime help for Palestine.
His alleged antisemitic remarks have “infuriated his former bandmates” and final yr, Waters was reportedly dropped by music rights firm BMG over his inflammatory remarks about Israel, Ukraine and the US.
He gained a authorized battle in April 2023 after magistrates of Frankfurt instructed a venue to cancel his live performance, accusing him of being “one of the crucial extensively recognized antisemites on the earth”.
Waters defined that his disdain is in the direction of Israel, not Judaism, accusing Israel of “abusing the time period antisemitism to intimidate folks like me into silence”.
Waters has additionally hit again at different musicians for his or her differing stances on Israel. He instructed Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood that “there isn’t a argument to be made”, including: “It isn’t a battle. It’s a genocide, Thom and Jonny.”
