Sting, a first-magnitude rock star from Britain, interrupted his concert in Warsaw on Saturday evening to denounce russia’s war on Ukraine as “an absurdity based upon a lie” and warn that democracy is under attack worldwide.
Addressing the audience with assistance of popular Polish actor Maciej Stuhr acting as an interpreter, he said that democracy is “in grave danger of being lost unless we defend it.”
“The war in Ukraine is an absurdity based upon a lie. If we swallow that lie, the lie will eat us. The lie is terrified by the truth. The truth must be heard. And we must not lose this battle,” Sting said.
“The alternative to democracy is a prison, a prison of the mind. The alternative to democracy is violence, oppression, imprisonment, and silence,” the musician said, running his hand across his neck in a throat-cutting gesture.
After his speech he performed “Fragile,” whose lyrics include the words that “nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could.”
