Unions in Italy held a general strike for Palestine on 22 September, as global solidarity with Gaza continues to grow. The largest ever protest for Palestine in Berlin, Germany, a week later saw 100,000 march.
Greek workers are poised to walk out on a general strike for Palestine on 10 October.
The action in Italy followed a call from dockworkers to “block everything” in solidarity with the Sumud Flotilla to Gaza and to demand sanctions and an end to arms exports to Israel. Italy is the terror state’s third largest weapons supplier.
About a million people joined protests in more than 80 towns and cities as a series of left-wing unions went on strike.
Thousands of dock workers and supporters shut port entrances in Genoa, Salerno, Venice and Livorno, aiming to stop all exports to Israel.
Transport workers also halted buses and metro lines nationwide, and protesters set out to block train stations. Some schools and universities were also shut down.
At Livorno, activists discovered a US-flagged vessel was arriving from Israel loaded with equipment and vehicles for the US’s Camp Darby in Italy.
“Ten thousand people occupied the port—particularly Molo Italia, the dock where the US ship was supposed to unload,” Leonardo, an activist there, said.
“From there, we established a permanent protest to prevent it from docking.”
It was the fifth major strike for Palestine since October 2023, organised in collaboration with Palestinian activists. Workers at the port of Genoa and trade unions USB and SI Cobas have repeatedly gone on strike to block arms headed for Israel.
In June they took action against a ZIM ship trying to transport 14 tonnes of ammunition parts to Israel, following action by workers in France. Last month dockworkers in Ravenna also stopped the shipment of two containers of explosives to Israel.
The action shows the kind of power that unionised workers can bring to the struggle for Palestine—through directly blocking the export of weapons and other trade with Israel.
Sumud Flotilla
Italian fascist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been a hardline supporter of Israel. In the face of widening public disgust at Israel she has now softened on her opposition to recognising a Palestinian state and says Israel has gone too far. She has denounced the Sumud Flotilla as “dangerous and irresponsible”.
But Italy has now sent a naval ship alongside one from Spain to assist the Flotilla, which has faced continual drone attacks from Israel as it nears Gaza. They aim to protect the Flotilla from attack in international waters, which are supposedly protected under international law.
As Solidarity went to press the Flotilla was just days away from reaching Gaza. It includes at least 44 vessels with participants from 45 countries including around ten Australians and is the largest civilian effort to break Israel’s siege on Gaza and deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid.
After two years of genocidal barbarism, Israel is still expanding its murderous offensive against the people of Gaza.
Its air strikes in Qatar attempting to wipe out Hamas’ negotiators in the ceasefire talks showed its brazen contempt for any idea of halting its onslaught.
It is now setting out to raze Gaza City, demolishing buildings as it tries to expel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to the south. Many are unable to leave and face death from starvation or intense bombing.
In recent months some unions here, as well as peak union bodies like Victorian Trades Hall, have organised contingents on Palestine protests for the first time.
This should have happened earlier. But the movement needs to welcome every move towards action for Palestine as a step forward—and organise within the unions to push union leaders to go further.
This is the way to build towards similar kinds of blockades and strikes against trade with Israel here—and to pull the weight of the unions into forcing Albanese to impose sanctions on Israel.
By James Supple
