A campaign calling for the boycott of publisher Watkins Media has launched on Friday 1st August. It comes after campaigners discovered a partnership between Watkins CEO Etan Ilfeld and an Israeli venture capital firm Remagine Ventures. Boycott Watkins has said in their statement:

“It has recently come to light that Ilfeld is an investor with Remagine Ventures, an Israeli AI technology company that has collaborated with Unit 8200, a division of the Israeli Intelligence Corps, alongside evidence that staff members are currently serving in the IDF. .”

Remagine Ventures invests heavily in AI startups, particularly in Augmented Reality and video generation. Although most of their portfolio is what has been dubbed “AI slop” and is seperate from Israeli military operations, the same underlying tech is being used by the IDF to carry out their ongoing genocide against Palestinians.

Many of Watkins Media’s imprints publish radical and explicitly leftist literature (for example, Repeater Books was co-founded by Mark Fisher). Ilfeld himself reportedly contacted employees of Repeater and Zer0 Books demanding that the names of the imprints be withdrawn from a solidarity statement with Publishers for Palestine.

The social media manager made a series of Tweets in March of this year stating: “We’re being closed down by an AI venture capitalist with investments in Israel. But fuck it, they’re going to sack me anyway. We are alive and we don’t agree.” Before presumably being sacked.

The campaign has made three demands of Watkins Media:

1. Divest from Israeli AI technology company Remagine Ventures.
2. Disclose all financial interests, investments, or business relationships tied to the Israeli economy or Israeli institutions.
3. Guarantee full and cost-free reversion of rights to any Watkins author who chooses to terminate their contract in solidarity with Palestine.

One of those leading the charge against Watkins is Cornwall-based illustrator Holly Astle, who put out a firm statement in April of this year after publishing a children’s book. She reached out to the publishers and made 2 demands: that Ilfeld steps down from Remagine and that Repeater and Zer0 be allowed to resign the solidarity statement. However, these demands were not met, so she decided to go public and asked for her name to be “removed from all future editions.”

I spoke to Holly about why it’s important for everyone from readers, to bookshop owners, to literary agents to join this boycott. “We’ve seen the affectivity of boycotts throughout history, whether that be rent strikes or anti-apartheid boycotts against South Africa. These played a key role in getting change made by not allowing companies to quietly continue with business as usual without being penalised. Make them feel the pinch and force action!”

If you would like to find out more about the Boycott Wakins campaign, go to their website or find them on Instagram.