Organizing the Arts: Inside the Scotiabank/Elbit Divestment Campaign
On May 5, 2026, No Arms in the Arts organizers, Jody Chan, Michael DeForge, and Aliya Pabani, joined Syed Hussan of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change and Palestine Solidarity Network for a conversation on organizing in the arts, diving deep into the Scotiabank/Elbit divestment campaign.
They discussed how having a clear material goal shaped tactical choices; why Scotiabank proved an effective target and how the arts calendar provided a built-in arc of escalation; how artists exercised collective power by understanding themselves as workers with cultural capital to withhold; and what makes the western cultural sector a potent site of struggle in the material fight against Israeli occupation and towards a free Palestine.
Partners/endorsers: Labour for Palestine Canada, Palestinian Youth Movement, World Beyond War, Palestine Solidarity Network, CUPE3902.
No Arms in the Arts is a broad coalition of cultural workers including Artists Against Artwashing, Canlit Responds, Filmworkers for Palestine, Mapping Power, Musicians Against Artwashing and Writers Against the War on Gaza (Toronto), who refuse to lend our art to launder the image of war profiteers here and abroad.
Michael DeForge is an author and illustrator in Toronto. He organizes with No Arms in the Arts.
Jody Chan is a poet, cultural worker, care worker, and organizer based in Toronto.
Aliya Pabani is a Toronto-based artist and organizer. Her audio work has appeared on BBC Radio, McSweeney's, and on Radiotopia's The Heart. She is currently completing an MA in Communications and Culture at York University.
Syed Hussan is the Executive Director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, a membership based body of migrant workers. He is part of the secretariat of the Migrant Rights Network and the national coordination of Palestine Solidarity Network.