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Paulo Kirk's avatar

Wonderful poem. And, so much more powerful than Billionaire and George W. Bush Lover, Bono:

“It was a festival of music and peace,” Bono told the audience. “A festival of music and peace. Can you imagine?”

Bono changed some of the lyrics of their song to reflect the tragedy.

“Early morning, October 7th,” he sang. “The sun is rising in the desert sky / Stars of David, they took your life / But they could not take your pride.”

“Pride (In the Name of Love)” originally paid tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and referenced his assassination on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

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Roger Waters, a loud and consistent critic of Israel, has thoughts on Bono's salute to the victims of the October 7 attack on the Supernova music festival by Hamas.

Waters describes Bono's tribute, which took place during one of U2's residency shows at the Sphere in Las Vegas, as "disgusting" while labeling Bono "an enormous shit."

The comments that incensed Pink Floyd's former mastermind arrived before U2 launched into "Pride (In the Name of Love)" back in October.

"In the light of what's happened in Israel and Gaza, a song about non-violence seems somewhat ridiculous, even laughable, but our prayers have always been for peace and for non-violence," Bono told the crowd. "But our hearts and our anger, you know where that's pointed. So sing with us … and those beautiful kids at that music festival."

"We have to start saying to these people, your opinion is so disgusting and so degrading … sticking up for the Zionist entity," Waters added. "What he did a couple of weeks ago in the Sphere in Las Vegas, singing about the Stars of David, was one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen in my life."

Waters knows people like Bono simply hadn't done enough research on the matter. "My mother told me, when faced with difficult problems, the first thing to do is to read — read, read, read," Waters said. "Then, the next part is easy: Do the right thing."

https://paulokirk.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/143342042/share-center

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Say, Gaza by Linda Backiel (Feb 01, 2022)

He is turned, slightly,

just a boy, in his own home.

Say, Gaza.

Someone took a photograph

in the ruin of what was

his life. Black and white. Sharp

shadows. Light falls on what is not

exercising its own right of return;

picture a bad dream. His city. A fringe

clinging to the sea. A window open. No,

broken. At first, you don’t see it. You

don’t want to. You say “rubble.” But

there is a bomb in the bed.

The bed is broken by the bomb,

much bigger than the bed.

Don’t worry, no blood. But

there is a boy in the room

with the bomb in the bed.

The bed, a broken V, sunk

across the middle. Sheets rumpled,

not from sleeping.

The boy wonders where

will he sleep? When

will it explode?

His home, a fringe

clinging to the sea.

Say, Gaza.

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David Avenell's avatar

It's so good to know that others can see what I saw on Oct 7. The organisers had all of Israel to hold their party, but the whole event was intended to taunt and humiliate Palestinians.

They were getting pissed and mooning Palestine.

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