Alright, so you all know I love a good protest, even a literary one.
A few years ago I boycotted Chapters after they continually placed feminist magazines like Bitch, Ms. and Girlfriends in the "Mens" section of their magazine area. This happened after I spent a good 20 minutes searching for my favourite magazine and found it beside the Sport Illustated "Swim Suit Edition".
Yes, feminist response to pop culture and the most maturbated to magazine really do belong side by side. If only for the pure irony of it all. Argh.
So began my boycott of Chapters. I wrote letters, informed staff that this was disgusting as well as offensive and took my business elsewhere.
A few months later I was informed that the feminist magazines had moved and found themselves in the "Womens" section. Right next to Cosmo and Glamour. Small steps, people, small steps.
Well, it seems that there is another reason to start boycotting Chapters and all the boook stores owned by its conglomerate....
A few weeks ago the first boycott happened at the Chapters on Wellington Rd. in London, and a couple of weeks later they brought the protest to the Chapters in Masonville.
If anything this whole movement is interesting, especially now that Rabble.ca has joined the boycott.
The gist of the protest is that the major shareholders of this coporation have created a not for profit organization that helps Israeli soldiers get educated...and seeing as how Israel's occupation is a teensy bit brutal folks don't like spending money when the profit go to mowing down houses and killing.
Check out the below article explaining why they're boycotting Chapters/Indigo/SmithBooks/Coles/Etc...
If you're into the Middle East situation it's interesting enough...and really the last thing that Isreal needs is another Western force donating money or power to further any hostilities. That being said, it's not a one sided argument in the least.
But I will say that we can get into a lot of trouble if we bring conflict from the Middle East to Canada (Londoners will remember the "The Wall" incident at UWO a few years ago).
My suggestion is that we start talking about what's going on without coming to blows over a situation that's physically so far away.
But I will say that protest is the matrix for change, and that living in such an apathetic area such as SW Ontario makes me want to ruin some people's lawns and smash their stupid lawn gnomes. WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR PEOPLE TO START THINKING ABOUT THE BIGGER PICTURE WHEN IT COMES TO CONSUMPTION?
Sigh.
Maybe the Chapters protests won't work, but sitting around certainly won't help.
The book lounge joins boycott of Chapters/Indigo
Bound but not gagged
We at rabble have decided to join with Palestinian solidarity activists in their boycott of the Chapters/Indigo family of companies. As a result, we will no longer be publicizing events taking place at Chapters, Indigo, The World’s Biggest Bookstore, Coles, Smithbooks, and The Book Company.
The boycott aims to pressure Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz — the owners of the Chapters/Indigo group — to halt their financial backing of the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers. Founded by Reisman and Schwartz in 2005, HESEG provides scholarships to former “lone soldiers” of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) who are pursuing post-secondary education. It has been commended by Israel’s former Minister of Defence, Shaul Mofaz, for “directly supporting the morale of the IDF.”
As their title suggests “lone soldiers” are non-Israeli individuals who volunteer to serve in the IDF. As IDF soldiers, they support an army that systematically oppresses Palestinian citizens by operating checkpoints, restricting Palestinian freedom of movement and enforcing the occupation of Palestinian land. The IDF has been found responsible by human-rights groups and Israeli courts for countless rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza including the unlawful killing, arbitrary detention, torture and assault of hundreds of Palestinians.
This boycott is being spearheaded by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine, Palestinian and Jewish Unity and the Jewish Alliance Against the Occupation. The boycott is part of the larger International Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign, which is endorsed by 170 Palestinian Civil Society Organizations. —rabble book lounge staff
