Roger Waters United Nations Speech: Ceasefire Now!

Roger Waters Addresses United Nations February 8, 2023.

“The invasion of Ukraine by The Russian Federation was illegal. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Also, The Russian invasion of Ukraine was not unprovoked, so I also condemn the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms.

“We the people, want universal human rights for all our brothers and sisters all over the world irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or nationality. To be clear, that would include but would not be limited to the right to life and property under the law, for instance, Ukrainians, and for instance Palestinians.

“Today our brief is the possibility of peace in the Ukraine with special reference to the arming of the Kiev regime by third parties. … What do the voices of millions have to say? They say, thank you for hearing us today. We are many who do not share in the profits of the war industry. We do not willingly raise our sons and daughters to provide fodder for your cannon. In our opinion, the only sensible cause of action today is to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine. No ifs, no buts, no ands, not one more Ukrainian or Russian life is to be spent, not one. They are all precious in our eyes.

“My mother country England is, thank god, an empire no more. But in that country now there is a new catchphrase: eat or heat, you can’t do both. It’s a cry echoing around the whole of Europe. Apparently the only thing the powers think we can all afford is perpetual war. How crazy is that? So from the 4 billion or so brothers and sisters in this voiceless majority, who together with the millions in the international anti-war movement represent a huge constituency, enough is enough. We demand change.

“President Biden, President Putin, President Zelenskyy,
USA, NATO, Russia, the EU, all of you.
Please change course now.
Agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine today.

“That of course, will only be the starting point, but everything extrapolates from that starting point. Imagine the collective global sigh of relief. The outpouring of joy. The international joining of voices in harmony singing an anthem to peace! John Lennon pumping the air with his fist from the grave. We have finally been heard in the corridors of power. The bullies in the schoolyard have agreed to stop playing nuclear chicken. We’re not all going to die in a nuclear holocaust after all. At least not today. The powers that be have been persuaded to drop the arms race and perpetual war as their accepted modus operandum. We can stop squandering all our precious resources on war. We can feed our children, we can keep them warm. We may even learn to cooperate with all our brothers and sisters and even save our beautiful planet home from destruction. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Roger Waters is a musician (founding member of the band Pink Floyd). He blogs at rogerwaters.com.