Activists Strike Back at Scotiabank
Lightning never strikes at the same location twice, it is said. But activists are recidivists, and do strike at the same locations ad nauseam. Enjoy!
Once again a small group of activists, predominantly Jewish, struck at Scotiabank at the corner of Douglas and Yates in Victoria, pressuring it to divest itself from its 500M$ share of Elbit Systems, whose weapons enable the Israel Defence Forces’ atrocities against the civilian population in Gaza.
This action follows other protests targeting Scotiabank, such as a protest at the exact same location last month, and a die-in at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre last week, the latter to spoil Scotiabank’s Hockey Day in Canada.
Today’s plan was bolder than last time; whereas the previous protest at the bank had merely picketed outside, this time activists briefly entered the branch, forcing a security lockdown. I arrived belatedly, the demonstration having been carried out without advance notice, and by then everyone was standing outside, while the branch had already reopened. I am not aware that law enforcement intervened.
Once again I volunteered for leaflet duty. Although public reception was as mixed as for the previous protest, nearly every leaflet found a taker. Unlike last time though, I witnessed no overt hostility and there were no hecklers, while a greater proportion of bystanders thanked us for what we were doing. I would infer that the message is slowly but surely making its way into the mainstream.
Someone who hanged out with us for a while wondered how many among those who took the leaflet actually cared, or instead just took it with the intent of shutting us up then throw it away. In retrospect, I might have replied that I know exactly how many people we would sway if we invoked that excuse to do nothing. Either way, we’ll keep trying until Soctiabank yields and Palestine is free.
