Pro-Palestine Activists Strike at Scotiabank Yet Again

Two dozen Palestine supporters returned to the Scotiabank branch at the corner of Douglas and Yates in Victoria, pleading yet again for the bank to fully divest from a weapon manufacturer largely responsible for the civilian death toll in Gaza.

This protest, held by the local chapter of Independent Jewish Voices Canada, was part of a national day of action against the bank, the organisers encouraging local groups to adopt a branch in their community. Such coordinated actions typically strike at dozens of location across the country. No list of targeted branches were published in this specific instance. UPDATE 2024/06/27: The campaign organisers have just released a total count of 35 actions nationwide, including in Vancouver, Coquitlam, Edmonton, Charlottetown, and of course Victoria.

Scotiabank has been a repeat target of activists since the escalation of the conflict in Gaza last October. Their demand is full divestment from Elbit Systems, which manufactures ordnances used by the Israel Defence Forces in perpetrating the genocide of Palestinians. Elbit Systems itself has been such a target of radical activists sabotaging its factories that Scotiabank has been compelled to reduce its holdings, most likely to mitigate the risk of such a controversial investment.

Elders For Ancient Trees, a group of old growth forest defenders known for its flashy performances, held a ceremony at Centennial Square, in which they ritually stained themselves with fake blood, before joining the rally. While I participated in their first performance at the People’s Park encampment at the University of Victoria last month, I declined to attend today for being indisposed, and did not stay for the whole duration of the rally at the bank either.

Today one in attendance took the mic to announce he had closed his account with Tangerine, which I have learned today is actually a subsidiary of Scotiabank. Investments in war crimes in Gaza are indeed so pervasive that they prove very difficult to avoid even by those conscious of how their financial assets are managed.

I assumed leaflet duty for a while, as I typically do at such demonstrations. Public reception was mixed as usual. Some bystanders cheered us on and even joined us, while others ripped the leaflets we handed them. Polarisation gets more acute with each event and shows no sign of subsiding.

The rift gets particularly acute among Jewish people, evidenced by Independent Jewish Voices’s previous rally at City Hall to counter Councillor Marg Gardiner’s recent motion on antisemitism, itself encouraged by Zionists among the local Jewish community.