Naomi Klein to Heather Reisman: Charges must be dropped against Indigo 11

The following text is a speech given by Naomi Klein at an event organized by Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition in defence of activists arrested by Toronto police for putting up posters at an Indigo bookstore.

We’ve heard some powerful words from activists and from legal experts about the arrest of Palestine solidarity activists last week—and I’ve been asked to speak today as an author, someone who has quite a few books for sale in the store in question.

I believe this case should matter to everyone who cares about free speech, political debate, non-violent political activism and who understands these rights to be fundamental to living in a democracy, not to mention to book writing and book reading. The extraordinary raids, arrests and property seizures of the Indigo 11 represent an attack on political speech the likes of which I have not seen in Canada in my lifetime.

And for what? For anti-war postering. For some red paint.

Let me start with the obvious: using red paint to symbolize blood has been a staple of anti-war activism since the 1960s. We are, today, in a time of terrible war and massacre with huge civilian casualties and that means we are all going to have to get used to seeing some red paint. In the past few weeks, activists with red paint have shown up at a U.S. Senate hearing where Secretary of State Antony Blinken was speaking, at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and at the offices of an MP in London, Ont. (Well, that was ketchup.)

The question is: Why Indigo?

As we know, some have claimed it was because this bookstore chain has a Jewish CEO. That is an outrageous slander, one that the police acted upon, and one easily disproven by the slightest bit of research. The answer to the question of “Why Indigo” is right on the posters before us. Whoever engaged in this activism was protesting the CEO of Indigo’s political activity. Not her identity. Not her religion.

Specifically, they were protesting Heather Reisman’s decision to found the Heseg Foundation for Lone Soldiers, which provides millions of dollars of support every year to non-Israeli Jews who volunteered to join the Israeli military (and to some Israeli soldiers as well).  The foundation, co-founded with Gerry Schwartz, provides scholarships, a living wage, and all kinds of perks as a reward for military service with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Armies around the world have long used scholarships and other bonuses to recruit soldiers. Heseg’s two decades of financial contributions are no different: they are an important part of Israel’s ability to recruit soldiers from overseas. In fact, Heseg is listed as the first source of scholarships on the “Draft IDF” website.

The trouble, of course, is that the IDF has committed many documented war crimes and the occupation it is tasked with enforcing is itself illegal under international law, according to a recent United Nations Commission of Inquiry.  In short, Heseg is no ordinary charity. I’ll quote a letter sent to Heather Reisman by the President of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East: “You are encouraging foreign soldiers to join the Israeli Army, and participate in an Army which daily commits violations of humanitarian and human rights law.”

That was written in 2010. In the 13 years since, the violations have only grown more alarming, and never more so than in Gaza over the past seven weeks. Which brings us to the contentious words on the poster over Heather Reisman’s face: “Funding Genocide.”

Let’s review: the indiscriminate killing of civilians, a staggering number of them children; the severing of food, water and medication; the attacks on civilian infrastructure including hospitals; the mass forced expulsions from Northern Gaza; the declarations of intent to ethnically cleanse Palestinians made by Israeli politicians. These are the facts that have led multiple UN experts to describe the situation in Gaza as a “genocide in the making,” stating clearly that “such egregious violations cannot be justified in the name of self-defence after attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7, which we have condemned in the strongest possible terms.” Hundreds of scholars have similarly warned of a “potential genocide” under the 1948 international convention.

Since the words “funding genocide” have, in an Orwellian twist, been cast as “hate speech,” it’s important for us to understand that the warnings and allegations of genocide are very far from marginal. Articles by experts debating the point have appeared in The New York Times and many other leading publications. The Centre for Constitutional Rights has filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration alleging “failure to prevent genocide.”

You do not have to agree that the genocide charge is correct to recognize that the accusation has been made and will continue to be made in the months and years to come. The poster referenced these facts. It said nothing about Jews. Nothing about identity. Used no hate symbols.

Those charged stand for the opposite of hate

That should matter to us. It should matter that the Toronto police called this a “hate-motivated” act with absolutely no evidence to support that claim. It should also matter that the campaign against Heseg and Indigo long predates the current feverish frenzy of censorship and silencing. On point of fact, it began in 2006 and it was held down by originating members of Jewish Women Against the Occupation. Every Friday, a small group of these committed peace activists would gather outside this very store and hand out flyers. I had the pleasure of knowing two of the leaders of that steadfast action: the great Naomi Wall and Amy Gottlieb. Both passed away recently—that’s how long this has been going on. And I can assure you that Wall and Gottlieb would be horrified by the ways genuine fears of antisemitism are being abused to shut down critical debates about Israel.

I also want to acknowledge something complicated. As a Jewish person who grew up on stories of Kristallnacht and Jewish businesses that were vandalized out of hate, I recognize that graffiti on a bookstore window has painful historical echoes. I feel those echoes inside of me. But feelings are not facts and feelings can be manipulated. I categorically reject the baseless claim that hate was any motivation in this action, or that the date was somehow deliberate.

Whatever anyone may think of the optics, this protest deserves to be seen for what it was: one part of a wave of principled direct action being taken by people of conscience around the world. People who are searching for pressure points—parliaments, bridges, ports, weapons manufacturers—to make the killing stop.

You do not have to agree with the poster or the paint to recognize that they were political activism. Activism that broke nothing, which hurt no one, and which incited no one. In fact, you can completely disagree with them and still recognize that the violent and aggressive actions of the Toronto police represent an extraordinarily dangerous threat to all of our freedoms.

As an author, I am speaking at this press conference to express my solidarity with the accused, who are principled activists and scholars who have devoted their lives to protecting people from violence and from supremacist ideologies. They stand for the opposite of hate. The charges should be immediately dropped, property returned, and the smearing stopped. I hope many more writers who sell books at Indigo will speak out as well.

And let me say something else: the one person who can well and truly put an end to this criminalization and stand up for freedom of speech and non-violent protest is Heather Reisman.

So Heather, if you are listening, I think you should do it. You are by far the most powerful bookseller in Canada, in some markets you have a near monopoly. Your entire empire is built on words. On the ability of writers to think, speak and write freely, often about controversial topics. Like war. And colonialism. And genocide. Without fear of a knock on the door in the night.

Sometimes defending those speech rights—on which your work depends—means defending speech with which you deeply disagree. Even speech that wounds you personally.

Heather, if I may: you are not just a CEO. You are a powerful political actor—in this country, in the United States and in Israel. You fund politicians, you found major lobby organizations, you help lead Heseg. For decades, you have never hesitated to intervene to shape the world according to your beliefs.

That may be your right—but here’s the thing: that activism makes you a fair target for other people’s political activism. And so long as those counteractions are non-violent, I think the principled thing for you to do, as the far more powerful party, is accept that this pushback is part of living in democracy. It’s not a hate crime. It’s dissent.

My message is a simple one: you are strong enough to withstand a few posters.

Call for the charges to be dropped.

Naomi Klein is the author of nine books, including Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, which was a #1 Canadian bestseller for several weeks this fall—and probably never will be again.

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