Der pro-palästinensische Boxing Day-Protest im Eaton Center dauerte etwa 10 Minuten

Focused protests that raise awareness and inconvenience those who want to pretend the atrocities in Gaza are not happening is a good thing. I understand there was no violence and also no racist messaging, which shows good discipline and focus. We need more of this.

Of course some people would just prefer that no one protest and the world forget about it.

We’ve had so many protests lately, patience is wearing pretty thin. In fairness, though, the context of this one should be known before we dismiss it.

Many people don’t realize that Heather Reisman, the founder and CEO, and her husband, Gerald Schwartz, who serves on Indigo’s board, still control over 60% of the company’s shares. The issue being protested is that Reisman and Schwartz established the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers and presumably fund it from wealth generated through indigo. HESEG provides scholarships and living expenses to non-Israeli individuals who volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and choose to remain in Israel post-service. HESEG provides between $5.5 million and $6.5 million to support these IDF soldiers each year, and has since around 2005.

This is the reason why there have been calls within the Palestinian solidarity movement in Canada to boycott Indigo. Protests and campaigns have been organized, urging consumers to avoid shopping at Indigo to prevent indirectly supporting the IDF through the HESEG Foundation. Indigo recently sued to shut down the website Indigokillskids.ca that was shaming them for this association.

Many Canadians don’t care if citizens use their wealth in order to provide material aid to the IDF, others do. Some of those who do take it upon themselves protest. As long as they do it peacefully, as seems to be the case with this one, I personally don’t care.

I have no horse in this race, and I’m generally disdainful of what I perceive as bronze age superstitions and the divisiveness they breed within civil society.