For Roger Waters to pass the-adorno-test he must make a stronger call, that is a call to start a march (not a “parade”) to Belmarsh Jail for freeing Assange.
Roger Waters has just made a press declaration saying that the political prisoner Julian Assange is still in Belmarsh and awaiting for extradition from one rogue state —the UK— to another rogue state —the US (the definition “rogue state” belongs to us, not to Roger Waters):
Which is worse : taking risk for feeling once again as a human or staying down as another brick in the wall..?
Roger Waters is a great artist, political rock musician. Since 30 years he kept on reminding people the difference between being a brick in the wall and being a political subject in charge to tear down the wall. He successfully commercialized this idea of being “a political subject” in charge to change something in the physical world (namely, tearing down a wall). Here we strictly avoid using the trendy term “activist” which designates taking docile and unrisky actions as, for example, participating in a “parade”. For example, Kermit-the-Frog can be an activist, but not a political subject.
The music of Roger Waters is superb, his show is fantastic. Still, we can definitely argue that for his fans the idea of the show — the ideological interpellation — is more appealing than the aesthetic qualifications of the show.
Thus, here is the bitter question :
Did the aesthetic qualities in his show function as a limiter for his ideological interpellation ? Did they function as a mean to discharge the reactionary emotions contained within the concerts and to reconciliate the audiences with the discontents in everyday life, that is, keeping people behind the threshold of taking a risky collective action?
The question above was previously asked by Theodore Adorno. Now it’s the right time for a test for Roger Waters.
We call it the-adorno-test.
For Roger Waters to pass this test — the-adorno-test — he must make a stronger call, a call to start a march (not a “parade”) to Belmarsh Jail for freeing Assange.
Or shall we keep on indefinitely enjoying his show :