The End of Nice
Essay 5: From Rallies to Protests (and TIFF)
For those of you still with me after this week of essays (I haven’t written this much since law school) thank you for your ongoing support and yes even your criticism; it’s all important. Thank you for your calls, messages, and emails. Let’s keep the momentum going, and if you haven’t subscribed yet, I would appreciate if you did.
Pleasant rallies are a mood. Protests are a strategy. One gives us photographs and a playlist. The other puts a decision maker on a clock. If our goal is safety, dignity, and influence in Canada, then nice is retired with thanks. We must be done headlining our own gatherings while the people with power carry on untouched.
In the past, we’ve all taken part in these sorts of rallies. Leadership that centres the performers, not the target. We’ve built stages, invited friends, stacked ten speeches, and left with warm hearts and cold outcomes. And yes, there’s a time and a place. But the legislature sits the following day with our concerns missing from their agenda. The school board meets without sufficient pressure. The editor who printed a blood libel enjoys a quiet weekend. The dean issues a paragraph of meh that says everything and nothing.
The way to test the outcome of our gathering is simple: Did someone with authority feel lawful pressure to act within days? If not, we staged catharsis and called it progress. The crowd may feel larger, yet the target felt nothing. That’s not enough. It can’t be enough, even if the kids we bussed in had a good time.
Fearsome protest begins with a target that can sign a fix. Choose the person who holds the pen. The chair who can enforce the code. The president who can issue discipline. The managing editor who can publish a correction by Friday. Then write a single demand in plain English with a deadline and a name. Deliver it on camera, by hand, to a human being with a title. Follow up by email the same day. Book the escalation step for the deadline plus forty eight hours. End on time, then bring on the paperwork. Adults run things.
TIFF
Take as an example what has happened over the last few days with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In the coming weeks, TIFF was set to show “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” a movie about Maj. Gen. Noam Tibon, who set out to save his son Amir Tibon and his family, as they were attacked in their homes at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on 10/7 (Amir’s book, The Gates of Gaza, is exceptional and a must-read).
On Aug 12, TIFF announced they had pulled the screening of the movie. Why? Who knows? (Well, we know) First they said it was about fear of protest outside the movie. Then they had the gall to claim that the filmmaker had not received explicit permission to use video footage captured by HAMAS TERRORISTS on 10/7. They’d have you believe they apparently didn’t want to be sued by Hamas for copyright infringement by illegally using their murderous rampage footage. To be clear, and as legal expert Alan Kessel has clarified,
Under Canadian and most international copyright law, a proscribed terrorist entity like Hamas cannot enforce ownership rights over works created in the commission of terrorism, murder, and war crimes. Any footage Hamas voluntarily uploaded to public platforms is either in the public domain or covered by fair dealing/fair use for reporting, documentary, and educational purposes.
Obviously, TIFF knows that. Filmmaker Wendy Sachs (who made the “October 8” movie) noted that the true reason for pulling the movie was because TIFF staffers - apparently content at being jihad-adjacent in their worldview - refused to work if the film about 10/7 was shown at the festival. They would walk out of work if a film about a grandfather saving his family from a once-in-a-generation-slaughter was screened.
In response, Canada’s Jewish community erupted in protest against TIFF, pulling on many levers at our disposal. This included an important action alert from CIJA. And? We were successful. This was not without a pathetic statement from TIFF half-apologizing and pledging to do better (with the requisite “but antisemitism, but Islamophobia!” statement), that fell far below the obviously needed statement of “We screwed up, we apologize, we will now be screening it 10 times during the course of the festival.” Cameron Bailey, the hopefully future-former CEO of TIFF, said that he is ”committed…to allow the film to be screened,” but this shouldn’t have been that hard. This is a victory by our community, but it cannot be the end. We should be making TIFF hurt for doing this to the Jewish community. They cannot get away with trying to kick us while we’re down. At the very least, any Jewish person who has given money to TIFF should be withdrawing their donations and sponsorship immediately and publicly demanding Bailey’s resignation.
A protest how-to
In an ideal Jewish protest, whether online or in-person, discipline is the difference between noise and force. The route is known. Marshals are trained to guide, not shove. Spokespeople are briefed to speak for two minutes, not twelve. The sound system works. The first two rows are for parents, students, elders, and allies who carry our message with credibility. The press packet is short and loaded with receipts: screenshots, minutes, policy quotes, and the letter itself. Optics themselves are tactics. Signs are high contrast and legible, so don’t allow doctors to write them. Chants - ya we can have chants too - are crisp and repeatable. Humour is welcome because it travels. Cruelty is not because it repels the middle. Ordinary Canadians decide outcomes and like when their values align with ours: they must see dignity and competence.
Law is our shield and our sword. We register where needed, liaise with police, and publish a code of conduct for our own people. Legal observers stand where they can see. De-escalation is taught, not hoped for. Counter-protesters are acknowledged and, most importantly, ignored. If a line is crossed, we document and file. We also plan for safety. We have medics with kits, stewards at crossings, and a quiet space for children and elders. Courage and maturity are not opposites.
Courage into pressure
Documentation converts courage into pressure. The demand letter and deadline go live within hours. Clips are posted in native formats for each platform. A one page fact sheet is pinned that any journalist can lift without mangling the details. We track responses in public. Silence is recorded while compliance is praised. Stalling is answered with the next step in an escalation ladder that is lawful and proportionate. This is where strategy shines. The measurables tells the story: policies adopted or reversed, corrections published, disciplinary measures taken, meetings won that end with signatures, not selfies. Vanity metrics are for influencers. Victory metrics are for grown-ups.
Real allies make us larger than our numbers. Not everybody who smiles is an ally. We must choose partners who share standards and not only slogans. We share the brief with them in advance, co-sign the demand, share the mic proportionately, and co-publish the follow up. We also respect boundaries. Each group speaks in its own voice about a shared standard. If a partner breaks the standard, we thank them and move on. We need friends, but we aren’t desperate. Discipline beats drama.
Leadership must be all-in on this. We need a class of organizers who treat courage as a habit and logistics as a craft. People who can say no to bad ideas even when those ideas are fashionable or pushed by machers in our community. People who are happy to be nameless if the policy moves. Selfless, strategic, unapologetically strong. When our children see that, they learn that Jewish dignity is public service with a spine.
The next time we gather, we will do it with a clock, a letter, and a plan that ends with a signature. The next time a board shrugs at harassment, we must arrive with parents, students, allies, a policy citation, and a four sentence demand that fits on a postcard. The next time a newsroom prints a lie (just a matter of time), we will return with a correction text already drafted and a list of advertisers copied for good measure. We will still sing, because joy is persuasive. We will also win, because discipline is persuasive.
I am not against pleasant rallies, but I am against pretending they are sufficient. The country changes when people with pens feel accountable to standards that do not move. That is the work that we must do, now.
CLOSING THE WEEK: five gears, one machine
This week, I began with education and self-defence because we protect the future by protecting our children. Essay 1 built the base: elite Jewish schools that are rigorous, values-driven, and proud of who we are. After school programmes that teach debate, public speaking, digital hygiene, and physical confidence. Curricula that treat Jewish literacy as a birthright. This is the spine of the next fifty years. When our children can think clearly, speak calmly, and defend themselves with confidence, they do not shrink in public. They stand up in public and others take notice.
We moved to culture because politics breathes what culture exhales. Essay 2 made the case for a Jewish studio that entertains, teaches, and reaches normal Canadians who do not follow our feeds. A weekly flagship that is smart and funny. Daily shorts that puncture lies and celebrate Jewish life. An investigations desk with receipts. Paid distribution that puts truth in front of people where they live. Culture is the air supply for policy. When the country hears our voice every week, policy doors stop slamming.
We then took money out of the banquet hall and put it into the toolbox. Essay 3 argued for a new ethic of giving among emerging adults. We give from tighter budgets and bigger responsibilities, but with standards and outcomes. Red lines for hedging institutions. Green lights for those who deliver. Tranches tied to dates, dashboards every quarter, pooled funds that move together so money speaks with a chorus rather than a whisper. Philanthropy is activist capital. It is an investment like any other. It buys security that works, law that bites, classrooms that elevate, and distribution that reaches the undecided.
After that we stopped lobbying from the corridor and walked into the room. Essay 4 was about civic responsibility and the Jewish habit of duty. We recruit candidates, win nominations, and sit where decisions are made. Trustees, councillors, provincial members, and MPs who see the whole public and still insist on one standard for all. We endorse with clarity, monitor with data, and govern like adults. Power in our tradition is service, and we carry it that way.
Today, I closed in the streets with a plan that treats protest as a critical and lawful lever. Essay 5 (above) replaces pleasant gatherings with targeted pressure, clear demands, deadlines, and coalitions that hold. It brings optics, law, logistics, and follow-through into one motion.
When these five gears turn together, the machine works. Schools grow strong, culture tells the truth, money buys leverage, elected Jews serve the whole public, and protest moves the needle on a deadline. Choose your gear. Teach a debate class. Underwrite a case. Record a reel that travels. Chair a nomination team. Lead a protest that ends with a signed commitment.
Keep score.
Adjust.
Advance.
We are not here to be liked.
We are here to endure and to build.
We intend to win.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Click here to download the entirety of the Manifesto for Jewish Empowerment in Canada with all 6 essays included.
Thank you Adam, for your five essays. Lots and lots of food for thought and for action, and not only for Canadians,
Shabbat Shalom
Shabbat Shalom to you and yours, brilliant Adam!