The British Musician and activist Roger Waters wore a Palestinian Keffiyeh when presenting the men’s category Coupe des Mousquetaires of the Tennis French Open.
Waters presented the trophy along with actress Lea Seydoux prior to a match between the Austrian Dominic Thiem and the Spanish Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on Sunday.
L'artiste anglais Roger Waters, membre des #PinkFloyd, avec un #keffieh #Palestine-n pour présenter le trophée #RolandGarros2018. #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/HBNJsaD5EY
— Khaldi Nazim (@nzmkh) June 12, 2018
The former Pink Floyd member joined the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, BDS, movement in 2011 but he had supported it for years before when Palestinian advocates of the boycott convinced him to visit the separation wall to reconsider his planned 2006 concert in Tel Aviv.
His act of solidarity at the popular international sport event came just days after he took some time ahead of a concert in Berlin to defend the BDS movement and highlight the plight of Palestinians in Gaza after the recent extrajudicial killings perpetrated by Israeli forces on the border between Gaza and Israel during this year’s Great March for Return protests, in which more than 100 demonstrators were killed by sniper fire.
Roger Waters speaks in favour of Palestine (U Arena, 2018) https://t.co/Lw9Vm5fPzw
— khadija sellami (@1970Khadija) June 12, 2018
Endorsing the movement, Waters penned an opinion piece published by The Guardian in 2011 saying:
“In 1980, a song I wrote, Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, was banned by the government of South Africa because it was being used by black South African children to advocate their right to equal education.”
Roger Waters: 'I'm prepared to be wrong about everything' – The Guardian http://t.co/rfZcnM23gT #Palestine #Israel
— GazaOlive (@GazaOlive) September 24, 2015
He added:
“Twenty-five years later, in 2005, Palestinian children participating in a West Bank festival used the song to protest against Israel’s wall around the West Bank. They sang: ‘We don’t need no occupation! We don’t need no racist wall!’.”
Now, Waters is one of the most high-profile members of the BDS movement.
(TeleSur, PC, Social Media)
