British musician Sting interrupted a live performance in Warsaw on Saturday evening to warn his viewers that democracy is beneath assault world wide and to denounce the conflict in Ukraine as “an absurdity based mostly on a lie”.
He requested a preferred Polish actor, Maciej Stuhr, to return on stage to translate his warning that democracy is “in grave hazard of being misplaced except we defend it.”
“The choice to democracy is a jail, a jail of the thoughts. The choice to democracy is violence, oppression, imprisonment and silence,” Sting stated, then rubbed his neck in a gesture of defiance. throat lower.
The 70-year-old delivered his message in a rustic bordering Ukraine, the place Russia launched its invasion on February 24 that has killed tens of hundreds and displaced thousands and thousands. Poland has turn out to be the place of refuge for extra Ukrainians than another nation.
“The conflict in Ukraine is an absurdity based mostly on a lie. If we purchase into that lie, the lie will eat us up,” Sting stated.
He appeared to be referring to justifications Russia has tried to present for its invasion, together with Russia’s declare that it seeks to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, a democracy led by a Jewish president.
These within the viewers on the Nationwide Stadium in Warsaw would even have understood a reference to their very own nation.
Additionally learn: Justin Bieber seems on stage for the primary time since he was recognized with Ramsay Hunt syndrome
Sting obtained loud applause specifically when he stated that democracy is a messy and irritating factor “however nonetheless value preventing for.”
Poland’s populist authorities is usually accused by the European Union and human rights organizations of eroding democratic norms with its efforts to tighten management over the courts and the media, curtail girls’s reproductive rights, and interact in rhetoric anti-LGBTQ.
After his speech he carried out ‘Fragile’, the lyrics of which embody the phrases that “nothing comes from violence and nothing may”.