Activists Strike Back at Scotiabank

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.