UPDATED: The British rock star was invited by Russia to address the council Wednesday morning. Watch Waters’ speech and the full meeting, and read the text of his address.
Text of Waters’ speech follows this recording of the full meeting, which includes statements from the representatives of Russia, the U.S., Ukraine, Britain, France, China and other council members. The U.S. and Ukrainian representatives spent considerable time trying to humiliate Waters.
Waters spoke to the Security Council via video link. He spoke for the “voiceless” masses around the world who wanted peace and a secure life and blasted arms manufacturers for profiting from war.
The Pink Floyd co-founder has been an outspoken critic of U.S. policy in Ukraine and has called for an end of arms shipments to Kiev. Here is the text of his speech delivered on Wednesday to the Security Council:
Madame/Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I feel profoundly honoured to be afforded this singular opportunity to brief your excellencies today. With your forbearance, I shall endeavour to express what I believe to be the feelings of countless of our brothers and sisters all over the world, both here in NY and across the seas. I shall invite them into these hallowed halls to have their say.
We are here to consider possibilities for peace in war torn Ukraine, especially in light of the increasing volume of weapons arriving in that unhappy country. Every morning when I sit down at my laptop, I think of our brothers and sisters, in Ukraine and elsewhere, who, through no fault of their own find themselves in dire and often deadly circumstances.
Over there, in Ukraine they may be soldiers facing another deadly day at the front, or they may be mothers or fathers facing the awful question how can I feed my child today, or they may be civilians knowing that today the lights will go out, for sure, as they always do in war zones, knowing that there is no fresh water, that there is no fuel for the stove, no blanket, just barbed wire and watch towers and walls and enmity.
Or, they may be over here, in a big rich city like New York, here brothers and sisters can still find themselves in dire straights. Maybe, somehow, however hard they worked all their lives, they lost their footing on the slippery tilting deck of the neo liberal capitalist ship we call life in the city and fell overboard to end up drowning.. Maybe they got sick, or maybe they took out a student loan, maybe they missed a payment, the margins are slim, who knows, but now they live on the street in a pile of cardboard, maybe even within sight of this United Nations building.
Anyway, wherever they are, all over the world, war zone or not, together they make up a majority, a voiceless majority. Today I shall endeavor to speak for them.
We the people wish to live. We wish to live in peace in conditions of parity that give us the real opportunity to look after ourselves and our loved ones. We are hard workers and we are ready to work hard. All we need is a fair crack of the whip. Maybe that’s an unfortunate choice of idiom, after five hundred years of imperialism, colonialism and slavery.
Anyway, Please help us. To help us you may have to consider our predicament, and to do so you may have to take your eye off the ball for a moment, to put your own goals momentarily to one side. What are your goals by the way? And here maybe I direct my enquiries more to the five permanent members of this Council. What are your goals? What is in the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? Bigger profits for war industries? More power globally? A bigger share of the global cake? Is mother earth a cake to be gobbled up? Does not a bigger share of the cake mean less for everyone else?
What if today, in this place of safety, we were to look in another direction, to look at our capacity for empathy for instance, to put ourselves in other’s shoes, like, right now, for instance, the shoes of that chap on the other side of this room, or even the shoes of the voiceless majority, if they have any shoes that is.
The Voiceless Majority is concerned that your wars, yes your wars, for these perpetual wars are not of our choosing, that your wars will destroy the planet that is our home, and along with every other living thing we will be sacrificed on the altar of two things, profits from the war to line the pockets of the very, very, few and the hegemonic march of some empire or other towards unipolar world domination.
Please reassure us that that is not your vision for there is no good outcome down that road. That road leads only to disaster, everyone on that road has a red button in their briefcase and the further we go down that road the closer the itchy fingers get to that red button and the closer we all get to Armageddon. Look across the room, at this level we’re all wearing the same shoes.
Waters on screen above Security Council on Wednesday. (U.N. screenshot)
So back to Ukraine. The invasion of Ukraine by The Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Also, The Russian invasion of Ukraine was not “unprovoked”, so I also condemn the provokateurs in the strongest possible terms. There, that’s got that out of the way.
When I wrote this speech yesterday, I included an observation that the power of veto in this council only lay in the hands of its permanent members, I was concerned that that was was undemocratic and rendered This Council toothless…. This morning I had a revelation……..TOOTHLESS! maybe toothless is in some ways a good thing……..If this is a toothless chamber……..I can open my big mouth on behalf of the voiceless without getting my head bitten off……. How cool is that.
I read in the paper this morning, some anonymous diplomat quoted as saying, “Roger Waters! To address the Security Council? Whatever next?….. Mr Bean! Hwah! Hwah! Hwah! For those of you who don’t know, Mr Bean is an ineffectual character in an English comedy show on TV. So it’s a penny to a pound the anonymous diplomat is an Englishman, Hwah! hwah! hwah! To you too Sir!
Ok, I think it’s time to introduce my mother, Mary Duncan Waters, she was a big influence on me, she was a school teacher, I say was, she’s been dead for fifteen years. My father, Eric Fletcher Waters, was a big influence on me too, he too is dead, he was killed on the 18th of February 1944 at Aprilia near The Anzio Bridgehead in Italy, when I was only five months old, so I know something about war and loss.
Anyway back to my Mum. When I was about thirteen I was struggling with some knotty adolescent problem or other trying to decide what to do, it doesn’t matter what it was, I can’t remember anyway, but my mum sat me down and said, “Listen, you’re going to be faced with many knotty problems during your life and when you are here’s my advice, read, read, read find out everything you can about whatever it is, look at it from all sides, all angles, listen to all opinions, especially ones you don’t agree with, research it thoroughly, when you’ve done that you will have done all the heavy lifting and the next bit is easy.”
“Is it? Ok mum what’s the easy bit?”
“Oh, the easy bit is, you just do the right thing.“ Hmm!
So speaking of doing the right thing brings me to human rights.
We the people, want universal human rights for all our brothers and sisters all over the world irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or nationality. To be clear, that would include but would not be limited to the right to life and property under the law for, for instance, Ukrainians, and for instance Palestinians.
Yup, let that sink in. And obviously for all the rest of us. One of the problems with wars is that in a war zone or anywhere where the people live under military occupation, there is no recourse to the law, there are no human rights.
Today our brief is the possibility of peace in the Ukraine, with special reference to the arming of the Kiev regime by third parties.
I’m running out of time so,
What do the Voiceless millions have to say?
They say,
Thank you for hearing us today
We are the many who do not share in the profits of the war industry.
We do not willingly raise our sons or daughters
To provide fodder for your cannons.
In our opinion
The only sensible course of action today
Is to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine.
No ifs, no buts, no ands.
Not one more Ukrainian or Russian life is to be spent.
Not one.
They are all precious in our eyes.
So, the time has come to speak truth to power. You all remember the story of the Emperor’s new clothes? Of course you do. Well the leaders of your respective Empires stand, in one degree or another, naked before us.
We have a message for them. It is a message from all the refugees in all the camps, a message from all the slums and favelas, a message from all the homeless, on all the cold streets, from all the earthquakes and floods, on earth. It is also a message from all the people, not quite starving but wondering how on earth to make the pittance they earn, meet the cost of a roof over their head and food for their families.
My mother country England is, thank god, an Empire no more, but in that country now, there is a new catch phrase “Eat or Heat?” you can’t do both.
It’s a cry echoing round the whole of Europe.
Apparently, the only thing the Powers that Be think we can all afford is perpetual war. How crazy is that?
So, from the four billion or so brothers and sisters in this Voiceless Majority who together with the millions in the international anti-war movement represent a huge constituency, enough is enough! We demand change.
President Biden, President Putin, President Zelenski,
USA, NATO, RUSSIA, THE EU, ALL OF YOU.
PLEASE CHANGE COURSE NOW,
AGREE TO A CEASEFIRE IN UKRAINE TODAY.
That, of course, will only be the starting point. But everything extrapolates from that starting point. Imagine the collective global sigh of relief. The outpouring of joy. The international joining of voices in harmony singing an anthem to peace! John Lennon pumping the air with his fist from the grave.
We have finally been heard in the corridors of power. The bullies in the schoolyard have agreed to stop playing nuclear chicken. We’re not all going to die in a nuclear holocaust after all. At least not today. The powers that be have been persuaded to drop the arms race and perpetual war as their accepted modus operandum.
We can stop squandering all our precious resources on war. We can feed our children, we can keep them warm. We may even learn to cooperate with all our brothers and sisters and even save our beautiful planet home from destruction. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Your Excellencies,
I thank you for your forbearance.
Roger Waters
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As someone said, “continuous warfare is the Deep State’s only business product.” It “considers global conflict as the price to pay for maintaining its largesse from the US taxpayer.” US taxpayers are slaves to the US genocide machine and the entire US political class is fine with this. Someone must stop the US. The Russian Federation is our only hope.
I’d like to correct one error in Roger Waters’ fine speech. Russia’s “invasion of Ukraine” was not illegal. In fact, Russia carefully dotted the legal i’s and crossed the legal t’s at each step.
First, the Donbass citizens legally rejected the overthrow of their elected government in 2014, and rejected the new government selected for them by US official Victoria Nuland in that US coup.
Second, the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Donbass legally declared their independence from Ukraine when the Ukrainian government began shelling their citizens, thus forfeiting the legal right to be their government. After eight years of shelling these civilians, during which Ukraine made and intentionally broke three peace agreements (Minsk 1, Minsk 2, Istanbul), at the direction of the UK and US, Russia finally agreed to recognize the independent Luhansk and Donetsk republics. After recognizing their independence Russia granted their request to provide material help in defending themselves against the ongoing Ukrainian attacks.
Then the Luhansk and Donetsk republics held referendums in which their citizens voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation. Russia then went through their legal procedures in which the Duma voted to accept their applications to join the Russian Federation. At that point Ukraine’s attacks on the Donbass became attacks on Russian territory. Finally, the Ukrainian government amassed a large force on the borders of the Luhansk and Donetsk republics, and then dramatically ramped up the intensity of shelling those republics. At that point a massive invasion of the two republics appeared imminent, and Russia sent in troops to help the Luhansk and Donetsk militaries defend their citizens, and ultimately drive out the Ukrainian Nazi brigades.
The Russians’ careful adherence to international law, and its numerous efforts to find a peaceful solution, in stark contrast to the illegal, provocative, and treacherous actions of the Western Oligarchy, are a major reason why the bulk of the world is siding with Russia in this conflict.
On narrow legal grounds, the UN Charter only permits the use of force after authorization of the Security Council or in self defense of a “member state.” Donetsk and Luhansk are not member states of the UN. In this sense the Russian invasion can be considered “illegal.” Russia only recognized the two republic’s independence from Ukraine three days before its intervention.
States can legally request the presence of foreign forces on their territory. Article 42 of the Geneva Convention says: “Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.” The Russian army is certainly not seen as hostile in Donetsk and Luhansk. The murkiness of the legal questions arises on the question of whether Donetsk and Luhansk are independent states or are still part of Ukraine. Independent states are defined under the Montevideo Convention of 1933 as: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:
a permanent population;
b. a defined territory;
c. government; and
d. capacity to enter into relations with the other states.”
Article 3 of the convention says: “The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.”
So Donetsk and Luhansk meet the four requirements of the Convention including capacity to enter into relations with other states, as it has relations with the Russian Federation. The Convention also says a state does not need to be recognized by other states to be considered a state. The republics have been recognized by Russia, Syria and North Korea.
So the Russian intervention is considered illegal under the UN Charter because it was not authorized by the Security Council nor does the self-defense Article 51 of the Charter apply. But the Charter does not prohibit a state from inviting foreign forces onto its territory. A legal argument can be made that the two republics are independent states and have the right to request foreign forces to enter their territory, thus making the Russian intervention in that sense legal.
Thank you for that informative reply.
I would add to this discussion that in a separate analysis of Article 51, Scott Ritter has written:
“of all the claims made regarding the legality of pre-emption under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Russia’s justification for invading Ukraine is on solid legal ground.”
Russia, Ukraine & the Law of War: Crime of Aggression
hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2022/03/29/russia-ukraine-the-law-of-war-crime-of-aggression/
Yes we did not agree with Scott’s analysis there. This issue is up to interpretation. Article 51 clearly refers to member states and the Donbass republics are not member states. Russia is a member state and could act in its own self-defense if it was attacked, and not facing an eventual attack.
Article 51
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.
Was the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 illegal? I believe Russia has referred to this precedent of humanitarian intervention.
A particularly difficult part of Roger’s beautiful appeal here leaves a question that has not been clearly answered, at least for me:
“The invasion of Ukraine by The Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Also, The Russian invasion of Ukraine was not ‘unprovoked’, so I also condemn the provokateurs in the strongest possible terms. There, that’s got that out of the way.”
We should recall that in the days immediately prior to Feb 24, 2022, attacks on areas of Ukraine mostly identifying with Russia, as with the Donbass region, massively increased. Biden announced Russia would soon invade the Ukraine, a remarkable prescience at the time.
As we know well from CN and its comments, RF warnings of red lines regarding NATO expansion, the building up of military resources and threats, the broken agreements had been underway a very long time, even from the early years of the new century. We have also seen numerous analogies as to what the US would do if Baja California was being occupied by a traditional enemy.
The question, then, with all due sympathy and liking for Roger’s brave action here, is what was Russia’s alternative? Was there one?
I am hard put to figure out what it was.
On narrow legal grounds, the UN Charter only permits the use of force after authorization of the Security Council or in self defense of a “member state.” Donetsk and Luhansk are not member states of the UN. In this sense the Russian invasion can be considered “illegal.” Russia only recognized the two republic’s independence from Ukraine three days before its intervention.
States can legally request the presence of foreign forces on their territory. Article 42 of the Geneva Convention says: “Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.” The Russian army is certainly not seen as hostile in Donetsk and Luhansk. The murkiness of the legal questions arises on the question of whether Donetsk and Luhansk are independent states or are still part of Ukraine. Independent states are defined under the Montevideo Convention of 1933 as: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications:
a permanent population;
b. a defined territory;
c. government; and
d. capacity to enter into relations with the other states.”
Article 3 of the convention says: “The political existence of the state is independent of recognition by the other states.”
So Donetsk and Luhansk meet the four requirements of the Convention including capacity to enter into relations with other states, as it has relations with the Russian Federation. The Convention also says a state does not need to be recognized by other states to be considered a state. The republics have been recognized by Russia, Syria and North Korea.
So the Russian intervention is considered illegal under the UN Charter because it was not authorized by the Security Council nor does the self-defense Article 51 of the Charter apply. But the Charter does not prohibit a state from inviting foreign forces onto its territory. A legal argument can be made that the two republics are independent states and have the right to request foreign forces to enter their territory, thus making the Russian intervention in that sense legal.
In this UN session the Ukrainian representative quoted Waters out of context calling Putin ‘the new Hitler’ in a Sept. 2022 interview by Chris Hedges.
(1:42.22. )
I listened to that interview, which is online: hxxps://scheerpost.com/2022/09/29/the-chris-hedges-report-roger-waters-on-his-music-activism-and-this-is-not-a-drill-tour/
Waters says: “How can we stop this war? Well obviously you have to talk to Vladimir Putin, who is the new Hitler. YOU CAN’T EVEN TALK TO HIM”…” at 21:32. The Ukrainian diplomat left out ‘You can’t even talk to him”, and was presumably aware Walters was being ironic.
As I recall, the US / NATO were totally unwillingly to listen / hear Putin say anything in the lead up to this fiasco.
ABSOFLIPNLUTELY, “GOLDEN!!”
Roger Waters rocked the heart & bones of the $h*tuation. “Enough is enough! We demand change.“
“We, the People,” channeling Rogers’ MUM,” (R.I.P.), shout out, “SCORE!” Thank You, ROGER WATERS!!! “You have done the heavy lifting; AND, “Oh,” it came easy, for you, perfectly & thoroughly articulated. A Gentleman. A Statesman. A Peacemaker. W/o a doubt, Roger Waters, “You did the right thing!!!!” THANK YOU!
Indeed, “John Lennon pumping the air w/his fists from the grave.” All we are saying, is give Peace a Chance!!!
“Apparently, the only thing the Powers that Be think we can afford is perpetual war. How crazy is that?” Roger Waters
Today, we met the ‘Powers that Be’, “the bigger piggies in their starched white shirts.” Yes, we, “found the bigger piggies stirring up the dirt. Always have clean shirts, to play around in. In their styes with all their backing. They don’t care what goes on around. In their eyes there’s something lacking.” What they got today, was f/schooled!!!
“Everywhere there’s lots of piggies. Living piggy lives. You can see them out for dinner with their piggy wives. Clutching forks and knives, to eat the bacon.”
Resolution: “AGREE TO A CEASEFIRE IN UKRAINE, TODAY;” CANCEL the Economic Warfare aka $ocial Murder on the People. “GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT,” Peace NOT War; AND, “A Plan to Save the Planet,” developed by Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research & The Network of Research Institutes.” KEEP IT LIT.
Many of the testimonies were childishly petty and detached from reality, but the speech from the Albanian delegate was really something else. I could only imagine an American hand up his ass like a sockpuppet the entire time.
Well done, Roger! I believe that this “crisis” is well predicted in the book by William Strauss and Neil Howe. It is titled, The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy (although it describes the GLOBAL issues of crises, like wars). The theory is much too involved to describe here, but it essentially explains the clashing of societal generations which result in conflict, usually wars, about every 80-100 years (4 generations of people, at 20-25 years each). The major crises are created at these intervals due to the interactions of generations. In the US, you could look at the Revolutionary War (1776), the Civil War (1861), WWII (1941), and potentially WWIII (2024-?). They are separated by about 80 years. I don’t think WWI fits into the American narrative, as it was largely European. Some debate here, agreed. Some people don’t “buy” the theory, but it is interesting.
In this particular case, Waters would be seen as an “ELDER,” who is trying to talk sense to the generations before or around his age, like Boomers. The relevant generations are Gen Z, Gen Y, Gen X, and Boomers, as the oldest generation, “Silents,” are out of the game.
Just something to think about.
Perhaps a minor issue, compared to war, but let us not maintain the false illusion that in the US, “the People” are not unified. We, in the US, are middle class vs. poor, workers vs. those left jobless. We ignore the fact that a few million Americans were stripped of their human rights (UN’s UDHR) to food and shelter because (after years of US job losses long surpassing job gains) they were left jobless. We see the flat indifference toward the fact that, in this :land of wealth” that can transfer tens of billions of dollars to (fascist) Zelensky, over 1,300 homless Americans – refused aid – froze to death last winter.
A meticulous accounting of the homeless situation in the US can be found here:
xttps://lifeandmyfinances.com/2023/02/homelessness-statistics/
Sample:
On a single night in 2022, there were 582,500 people affected by homelessness in the United States. (AHAR to Congress, 2022)
Some reports estimate this number can be ten times higher in reality. (NLCHP, 2019)
About 24.5 million (or 7.4%) of Americans have experienced homelessness in their lifetime. (NCBI, 2018)
What a sad commentary on what so many of world governments are—–I think that one movie character did get it right.
YODA: “Do or do not, there is no try”
Military groups fall into this so often as do so many nations ; i.e. —the action of falling into that very same hole.
I. disagree with Roger’s solution..
Only accomplishing the goals of Russia can SOLVE
the problems.
A cease fire only prolongs the conflict by allowing
rebuilding of the offensive weapons.
Russia’s goal has clearly been that of dismantling Ukraine’s infrastructure with minimal l9ss of life, as a means of stopping Zelensky’s insane push for war. Remember that Ukraine was a region of Russia from the 1700s until the collapse of the Soviet Union – after which Western business (and political) interests poured in. Eastern Ukraine largely identifies as ethnic Russian. Note the US role in Ukraine’s 2014 coup, and in installing Zelensky in 2019, followed by Zelensky’s war on eastern Ukraine. When Zelensky began shooting missiles across the border, hitting towns and villages, the battle line was drawn, and Russia “invaded” (as corporate media puts it) Ukraine. The only way this war can end (short f nuclear world war) is if Zelensky is gone.
I agree with Fabian. There will not be a Minsk 3. There will only be a ceasefire after a total Ukrainian surrender. Rogers was very effective, but still adds the requisite “What Russia did was illegal.” That is certainly debatable, given the impotence, if not the collaboration, of the UN.
I don’t remember ever hearing anyone tell so many powerful people what I think and hope for until Roger Waters did at the Security Council yesterday. My heart brimmed over with gratefulness to him.
Feb 19 at Lincoln Memorial
Rage Against the War Machine rally is going to be HUGE at Lincoln Memorial on February 19th.
Speakers:
Jimmy Dore
Tulsi Gabbard
Ron Paul
Dennis Kucinich
Chris Hedges
Max Blumenthal
Anya Parampil
Scott Horton
Jill Stein
Kim Iversen
I wonder if Roger Waters could be invited!
That’d be marvelous.
Obviously Mr. Waters has made an impact on Ukraine with his speeches and ideals, as the representative for Ukraine spent an inordinate amount of time critising him; virtually ignoring the Russian Federation’s comments.
The UK representative began with “Let’s look at the facts” which of course she didn’t (other than to itemise events beginning only last February)
The supercilious US contingent had some amazing sneering facial expressions. He must have forgotten the US’s role in “illegally invading” other countries by way of an “unprovoked attack”.
The African countries were right to voice concerns about weapons donated to Ukraine finding their way into the hands of rebels in their country.
In the end, nothing of consequence was acheived. And until such time that Russia can be guaranteed there will be no nuclear weapons on their border and that Ukraine will not become a NATO member, then this situation will perpetuate. (And I doubt those guarantees will ever be forthcoming.)
The U.S. representative also said the days of ‘spheres of influence’ are over when the U.S. considers Latin America, Europe, Africa, indeed the entire globe its sphere of influence.
And in a “freudian” slip at one point he said “prosperous” then quickly changed it to “preposterous”.
thank you!
fs
Amazing – Ukraine’s rep is spending his time attacking Roger Waters! And it is clear now what he was doing on his phone during Water’s speech – looking up stuff to bash him with .. It will be interesting to see what Roger does now – pretty gutsy of him to be there ..
Yes, what a disgusting, undignified performance, with his endless bile aimed at Roger.
Perhaps he didn’t know, but Waters could have asked for a right of reply to the Ukrainian ambassador.
Somehow I missed a similar council discussion during US invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan …
God can’t sin. When God does things they are always good. (Exceptionalism in action).
The invasion of Iraq 2003 and the invasion of Ukraine has some similarities. They both contravene UN conventions. They both hurt civilians. The glaring differences are the fact that the Russian invasion was provoked by NATO hovering close to its borders and unlike the WMDs and so called Iraqi alliance with Al-Queda Russia’s claims were actually true. The US also called the invasion of Iraq an “operation”.
Yes, and just to add to your comment, the US is ~6900 miles away from Iraq, with oceans between the two! Iraq posed/poses NO realistic threat to the US nor its allies, even IF they had/were working on a nuclear weapon, since they know as everyone else does that IF they used A nuclear weapon it would open the doors to nuclear retribution by much-more armed adversaries. Additionally, recall the ’Shock and Awe’ bombing campaign that the US so proudly employed in the Iraq War(crime) of 2003! There was virtually no pretense of limited/‘strategic’ bombing during that ‘operation’ because anybody under our bombs is by definition ‘bad’ and deserves it! The hypocrisy/dbl-standard is obvious to anyone NOT engaged in self-illusion.
Thank you, Roger Waters for using your fame to create improvements in the world.
May you be succesful and prevail!
Much love.
Bravo to Roger Waters and the Russian Federation. Sadly, this will not be broadcast to the people who desperately need to see it. The warmongers will carry on as they always do.
CN to be commended for including text.
Roger is to be commended for equating early in his speech for mention of homeless… Outside the War Zone!
Only So much $cript 2 go ’round apparently…
We received the text of the speech from Roger Waters through an intermediary.
Agreed. We must also acknowledge the Russian Federation for inviting him to speak knowing that he would say the invasion was illegal and that he condemned it.
No Western country would have been so tolerant.
A very good point.
It is a bit of a worry to see how disinterested the Ukrainian reps are who are constanting of thier smart phones.
“Antisemite and Russophile” may or may not be correct; what is valid is R. Waters’ denunciation of the continued conflict and bloodshed.
The un has a role of diplomacy; western media presents it as entertainment.
Thank CN for bellowing against war.
Thank you, Roger Waters for using your fame to create improvements in the world.
May you be succesful and prevail!
Much love.
Everyone please share this with others. Lets get lots of people to watch.
I apologize to those whom I have directed here to hear Roger Waters speak at 10am EST and an hour later he has not been seen.
He has spoken. This is a live stream but you can slide the red bar back to -55:00 to see his speech from the beginning.
I’ve tried and it’s not working.
Click on the red line until you find Waters speaking. It is now -3:00. This time will change as the live stream progress. Putting your cursor on the red line allows you to see where you are. If the U.N. posts a recording of the meeting we will post that. Until then you must slide back on the red line until you see Waters speaking.
Thanks for this tip, it helps to make meaningful sharing. (I only picked up when Equador was speaking.)
Also, might there be a transcript available?
Excellent! I love Roger, he is adored in Latin America where, as Kissinger confessed in his memoirs, US orchestrated all military coups, that produced the torture and disappearance of thousands upon thousands innocent civilians in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay (plan Condor). Roger has always been a companero.
I look forward to this. Thankyou CN. Meanwhile Mr. Waters is taking flak from another front:
“Polly Samson, the wife of Pink Floyd’sDavid Gilmour and a lyricist on the band’s two most recent albums, has spoken out against former bandleader Roger Waters on Twitter, describing him as an antisemite and a “Putin apologist”
(the Guardian 7th Feb)
She sounds like someone who can be completely ignored.
This is what she actually said on twitter:
“Sadly [Waters] you are antisemitic to your rotten core,” she wrote. “Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense.”
You would want to ignore someone like that.
Gilmour is still smarting from Waters’ excluding him from an entire Pink Floyd album, decades ago. Roger simply had more talent.
I would not be surprised were efforts made to Corbynize Riger Waters, Valerie, even as more music, “literature” and Hollywood products becomes little more than dull, formulaic nostalgia porn.
Many celebrities are quite happy with the way things are, they’ve got theirs, and we shouldn’t be amazed that many wrap themselves, quite literally, in the flags of convenience and comfortable assumption.
Yes Bartoo. First they came for Jeremy Corbyn.
Valerie,
Mr. Waters has taken flack for being called an anti semite for long before Polly and Gilmore got involved. Every time Roger speaks to support the Palestinians the propaganda begins against Waters.
Honestly, I feel very outraged and at the same time sorry that not only are some ultra religious Zionists conditioned to believe they are above humanities and law but the truly believe they are the only people deserving of the land and push forth the notion of it should be an all Jewish state. And for whatever reason the US funds Israel.
About Russia, there too, it has been for decades the US pushes hegemony whereas the US has broken agreements to not put military bases up to their ‘front door’, all the while there was conflict in Ukraine since 2014. Please research both of these topics in unbiased sources… just like Consortium!
I told Polly that I hope Roger wipes the floor up with her legally since her and Gilmore are now in unison teaming up against Waters and Waters is the consummate political peace promoting truth teller, activist.
Thank you to Joe Lauria for broadcasting this and always providing the best in unbiased News.
Superb comment, Elyss.
It’s an up hill battle that’s for sure. And the truth tellers are thin on the ground.
Of course, when one has no rational argument, they resort to childish name-calling. Self-hating Jew, Anti-Semite, Russian agent, Putin apologist blah blah. We can do that too: David Gilmour is a pompous tosser, and his wife a brainless sycophant.
Today’s “Guardian” headline on the subject:
“Ukraine denounces Roger Waters as ‘another brick in the wall’ of Moscow propaganda”
(I suppose a “war of words” is infinitely preferable to the real horrors of combat.)