The city of Munich will not ban the concert by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, who has been criticized for anti-Semitism, on May 21 in the Olympiahalle. For legal reasons, it is not possible to terminate the contract with the concert organizer extraordinarily, according to the decision taken by the city council on Wednesday.
Instead, the city will set signs for international understanding, international solidarity and against anti-Semitism around the concert, as well as for Israel’s right to exist and the sovereignty of Ukraine.
Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) also wants to work with the Bavarian state government to find ways to create a legal basis so that municipalities can ban performances in similar cases. It was unspeakable and unbearable to allow an artist to perform at a concert where it was almost certain that propaganda critical of Israel, and in some cases clearly anti-Semitic slogans, would be thrown around, said Reiter. “I don’t want him here and we have to endure it now.”
Among other things, Waters has been criticized for his proximity to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign, which calls for a boycott of the State of Israel and its assets because of the Palestine policy. At concerts he released pig-shaped balloons with a Star of David. Statements about the war in Ukraine also caused a stir.
Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, was critical, referring to a line from the famous Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall” in a tweet. “Roger Waters believes ‘We don’t need no education,’ but he desperately needs tutoring. Anyone who paints a Star of David on a pig
The Bavarian anti-Semitism commissioner Ludwig Spaenle also criticized Water’s appearance in Munich and suggested a boycott. “In a democracy, one can criticize the concrete policies of the Israeli government,” said the CSU member of the state parliament. “But the State of Israel’s right to exist is non-negotiable.”
Waters plans to perform in Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt am Main in May. There were protests and calls for bans in all five cities. In Frankfurt, the city magistrate and the state government of Hesse instructed the trade fair, as the hall’s lessor, to terminate the contract extraordinarily, but this did not initially lead to the cancellation of the concert.
Waters then announced legal action against possible bans and invoked freedom of expression. In addition, he was not anti-Semitic, he said through his management. “My well-known views relate solely to the policies and actions of the Israeli government and not to the people of Israel,” he said. “Anti-Semitism is abhorrent and racist and I condemn it as unreservedly as all forms of racism.”
In the news magazine “Der Spiegel” he commented on the balloon in the form of a flying pig. It’s part of every show where he plays the song “In the Flesh”. He removed the Star of David after complaints. But he stands by his original decision to use it. “He was one of many symbols that stand for dogmas that I hate. Religious dogmas like Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” Waters told Der Spiegel.
