It's very sad that the day after Christmas we have to deal with a new uprising of Neo-Nazis, and among the ranks of books, no less, but I suppose that is the world we live in today. It seems that a Jewish-owned bookstore has become a boycott target this week.
Indigo Books and Music was started in Canada in 1996 by Heather Reisman and her husband Gerry Schwartz. They were so successful that they soon developed the store into a chain, and
that became so successful that they bought out the Chapters Bookstore chain, becoming Indigo-Chapters. They are now a major presence on the bookselling scene, and on the web.
Among the store's charitable works are the Love of Reading Fund, which distributes 1.5 million dollars annually to Candian schools. Indigo-Chapters was among Canada's Top 100 Employers in 2006. The owners also have private charities they donate to, and among them is a fund that provides comfort and support for soldiers in Israel who have no families. It is because they make a donation to this USO-like fund for Jewish soldiers that the owners are now the target of a boycott, although from some of the rather vile and hate-filled postings on several book-related email lists I have read, it is obvious that something far, far uglier is going on in some people's minds.
One had hoped that we had reached a point in history and toleration, at least in the West, where one would not be boycotted for being Jewish or supporting Jewish charitable causes, but judging from the hate-filled comments I am reading, this is obviously not the case.
And so it goes. If you want to buy a book this week, I'd urge you to show your support and buy it from Indigo-Chapters.
4 comments:
I wonder if, after all is said and done, this boycott will hurt their business at all. Fortunately, for the book store owners, neo-nazi's can't and don't read, so why would they buy books anyway?
mike- true, many of them don't, but a few of these people do a remarkable impression of being reasonable, educated people until you get on the subjects of "Jews", at which point poison starts to seep from under their fingernails. Telltale phrases are "Worldwide Zionist Conspiracy" and "Jewish-Dominated Media" and the like.
A creepy bunch.
Regrettably, some things never seem to change.
FYI - Indigo is Indigo-Chapters, not Borders.
Borders is a US bookseller, Indigo is Canadian. No relation.
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