Read About the World

“I’ll learn my song well before I start singing.”

— Bob Dylan

 

 

Roger Waters, the lyricist and bassist of Pink Floyd, has always been a staunch advocate for Palestine’s freedom and rights. He is often asked in interviews about the reason behind his stance, when most musicians — or in fact, most people — are either keeping mum or are plainly ignorant about Israel’s oppression of Palestine.

In response, he would share a piece of advice that his mother gave him when he was 13, that changed his life since. 

“All through your life, you’re going to be faced with difficult questions and you’re going to have to figure things out,” she told him. “This is my advice: when anything crops up, you must read, read, read, read, read. Learn everything you can about the subject that’s troubling you. Look at it from both sides. It’ll take some time. It’ll be hard work. But when you’ve done that, the work is over. You have done all the heavy lifting. The rest of it is easy.”

“What is the rest of it?” Roger asked her. 

She replied, “You do the right thing.”

Arguably, though, doing the right thing is rarely easy. If it were, the world would be a much better place. 

The reality is that doing the right thing and speaking out against injustice is uncomfortable. It comes at a cost. As artists, this could be detrimental to our reputation, marketability, partnerships, ticket sales — these are real things that we risk when we do what’s right.

Many of us fear this — being labeled, misunderstood, or blacklisted. Some of us simply might not know enough about the injustice going on in the world, or prefer not to look too closely. Because ignorance, after all, is easier than having accountability.

Quite predictably, Roger has faced backlash due to his support for Palestine. He’s been dropped by venues, and conveniently labeled as antisemitic for speaking out against Israel. 

But he keeps doing what he does anyway. Because he’s done his homework, and he knows it’s the right thing. With that, he uses all the resources and platforms he has to encourage other people to do their homework too, and to not mindlessly consume information that is published on the media.

“This would be a good time for people to do what my mother suggested,” he advised the audience in one of his interviews. “Read, read, read. Read everything that you can find about (Palestine). Read the history. Don’t listen when people say October the 7th.”

Roger remains one of those few artists willing to speak out so unapologetically. He doesn’t give a fuck about the criticism. 

And while the silence from the majority can feel deafening, every now and then, another voice joins in. And then another, then another. Take Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, for example. During a concert in Malaysia, he draped himself in the Palestinian flag. And more recently, at Coachella, he tweaked the lyrics of Jesus of Suburbia to reflect his solidarity with Palestine.

As you can expect, not every Green Day fan was happy about this. (Think for a minute about how retarded this is. You can’t listen to Green Day and support the Zionist regime.)

These acts may seem small — a flag onstage, a few changed lyrics here and there. But in an industry where silence and doing nothing are often safer than speaking the truth, every act of resistance matters — especially when it risks career comfort or public approval.

Art doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It exists in the world — this world — where bombs fall on children, histories are erased, and the truth is constantly suppressed.

And in such a world, it shouldn’t be “brave” to speak out. It’s time we say it’s necessary.

So read. Learn. Do your homework. 

Then, when you know your song well, sing it. Sing it fucking loud.