Comment: Unpacking the controversy behind Roger 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� latest tour Published on: 12 July 2023 Writing for The Conversation, Dr Adam Behr examines why the former Pink Floyd singer's concerts have been controversial , 鈥淚 will not be cancelled,鈥� roared the former Pink Floyd singer Roger Waters at a recent concert in Birmingham, part of a European tour mired in controversy. There have been , and , but Waters has remained defiant. At the centre of the uproar has been onstage imagery, particularly an SS-style leather trenchcoat emblazoned with which Waters has worn while brandishing a prop machine gun. The German investigation, which also precipitated a tirade of criticism in the UK, stemmed from laws forbidding displays of Nazi symbols as part of restrictions on hate speech 鈥� but with exemptions for artistic and educational purposes. 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� 鈥� 鈥淚t鈥檚 called theatre, darling, it鈥檚 called satire鈥� 鈥� is first, that the costume depicts a fictional character who imagines himself a totalitarian icon and, second, is nothing new. The costume derives from the 1979 concept album , whose protagonist descends into madness 鈥� a reflection connecting alienation to fascistic tendencies and, ultimately, a critique of them. Representations of these fevered imaginings have been a feature of 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� set for decades. Another staple has been a flying inflatable pig, based on the 1977 album , which got him into when he adorned it with a Star of David, adding other religious symbols following complaints. The pig doesn鈥檛 feature a Star of David . So why has his tour generated all this fuss now? An increasingly strident position Context is key, particularly 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� political trajectory since recording The Wall, and stances that have become progressively more strident and extreme. Although anti-war themes have infused his writing since his earliest compositions in the , his anti-capitalism and critique of western imperialism have taken on an increasingly conspiratorial bent, overshadowing any message of peace. Animals was based on anti-Stalinist fable , which Waters into a commentary on how industrial capitalism had debilitated British society. He has cited, and to, Orwell at recent concerts. But Orwell 鈥� himself no fan of capitalism or imperialism 鈥� was alive to the risks of giving succour to your . This was a theme that came up regularly in his work (such as ), as he noted the twin dangers of , despite them being on opposite sides of the political fence. 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� critique of western politics, however, has calcified to the point of holding positions which can be seen as aligned with elements of the authoritarianism he claims to abhor. In Poland, Krakow city council earlier this year, objecting to his views on Ukraine. In an to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, Waters accused her husband of caving in to 鈥渆xtreme nationalists [who] have set your country on the path to this disastrous war鈥�. At the , Waters in February, denouncing violence but minimising Russia鈥檚 aggression, alluding to an invasion that was 鈥渘ot unprovoked鈥�, and elsewhere questioning whether Putin is a 鈥渂igger gangster than Joe Biden鈥�. Likewise, for Waters, the 鈥� a Syrian volunteer operation, opposed to al-Assad but with a focus on medical assistance and rescuing civilians from destroyed buildings 鈥� was a 鈥溾��. The group was tainted, he believed, by the support and training it received from European organisation the and its founder, former British Army officer . Waters said Russia鈥檚 interventions in Syria, by contrast, were 鈥溾��, itself a legitimate government 鈥渋n the absence of any evidence that says otherwise鈥�. Waters has also claimed that al-Assad鈥檚 chemical attacks on civilians in Douma were . The former Pink Floyd singer also argues that Taiwan is part of China. And when challenged by a CNN journalist on Chinese civil rights abuses, Waters : 鈥淏ollocks. That鈥檚 absolute nonsense!鈥� Veering towards conspiracy theories Waters has been from Keir Starmer to Michael Gove 鈥� not generally known for their shared opinions 鈥� and lays the blame for his touring travails and controversy, among much else, at the feet of the 鈥溾��. His difficulty here lies in journeying to the margins of political discourse where elements of the conspiratorially minded left and right share common ground in their opposition to the mainstream, despite their mutual enmity. Charges of antisemitism land more heavily in light of all this recent from Waters. While criticism of Israel is of course not necessarily antisemitic, that doesn鈥檛 mean, as he appears to contend, that it can鈥檛 be. 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� definition of valid criticism of Israel is capacious enough to that it 鈥済ave the country to the Tories 鈥� and also installed Keir Starmer as the leader of the Labour Party, who is completely controlled by the Israeli lobby鈥�. Bury South Labour MP Christian Wakeford accused Waters of using the performances to 鈥溾��, and asked the AO Arena in Manchester to reconsider hosting the show. In repsonse to the MP鈥檚 criticsms, Waters called him a 鈥渃ripple鈥�, that he was 鈥渕aking shit up because you were told to by your masters in the foreign office in Tel Aviv鈥�. This could be viewed as carrying echoes of conspiracist tropes focusing on Jewish cabalistic control of the media and economy, dating back to a document called . It was initially produced in pre-revolutionary Russia by supporters of Tsar Nicholas II and re-circulated throughout the 20th and 21st centuries as a purported account of how the Jews plot world domination, despite the document being . It鈥檚 in the context of 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� ossified approach to modern politics, clinging to a hard, unyielding anti-western line, that longstanding elements of his stagecraft have become contentious. And even if it鈥檚 somewhat missing the point to focus too tightly on the trenchcoat and machine gun, he seems unable to grasp how he鈥檚 largely the author of this condemnation. He may be right that the origins of his show lie in antifascism, but not in assuming that鈥檚 the end of the matter. 奥补迟别谤蝉鈥� work has frequently combined personal estrangement with sociopolitical concerns, but his current tribulations are a result of drifting from allegorical to specific, and from empathetic to paranoid. , Senior Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . Share: Latest News 缅北禁地 expert highlights climate crisis in a new film A leading 缅北禁地 climate scientist is featured in a new film about how the climate and nature breakdown will affect the UK. published on: 14 April 2026 Neolithic tombs reveal ancient kinship ties Male individuals buried in Neolithic chambered tombs in northern Scotland were often related to each other through the paternal line and some were interred in the same or nearby tombs, research shows. published on: 14 April 2026 We are our Memories New exhibition by Fine Art graduate Trish Hudson-Moses, 22 April 鈥� 4 May 2026 published on: 10 April 2026 Facts and figures
![缅北禁地 logo](/gomobileassets/img/logo.svg" "缅北禁地"){kind=logo}