Europe has seen a series of strikes against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and surging military spending. Despite the so-called ceasefire, Israel continues to withhold aid and kill Palestinians. At the same time, the European powers are responding to Trump’s demands and the war in Ukraine by boosting military budgets to 5 per cent of GDP, all while life is getting more and more expensive for workers.
On 27 November, thousands of Norwegian workers went on a two-hour political strike for Palestine. Unionists mobilised in the major cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. A key demand was that Norway’s “Oil Fund”—a state investment company worth $4 trillion—divest from companies linked to occupation and apartheid.
The strike was called by the LO union federation. But it was built from below, by local unions across different workplaces. School staff, teachers, construction workers, hotel workers and retail workers were all represented.
Although Norway was one of the first Western governments to recognise a Palestinian state, and has supported the ICC arrest warrant against Netanyahu, it continues to invest heavily in Israel’s economy. The strike for Palestine over a month into Trump’s “ceasefire” shows that workers have not forgotten Israel’s atrocities.
The next day, Italian workers went on a general strike against war, their third in less than three months. The strike was called by the grassroots Unione Sindacale di Base (USB). Pickets and demonstrations sprang up in over 40 cities, with demonstrations against the Meloni government’s war budget. The USB condemned the government for spending billions on the military while starving public services, at a time of rising inflation and stagnating wages. Workers connected the cost-of-living crisis at home with the genocide in Gaza.
Then on 16 December, Greek workers staged a general strike against their Government’s new budget, which similarly pours money into the military while privatising public sector jobs and freezing wages. The rally was built from below, against the will of the union leadership, by rank-and-file action committees like the Coordination of Workers’ Resistance and the Coordination of Hospitals. Hospital workers, public servants, teachers, cleaners and students all marched together in Athens.
Opposition to Israel’s genocide has revitalised the workers’ movement in countries like Italy. The strikes in Europe show the possibilities of working-class action for Palestine.
By Jacob Starling
