With ‘largest coordinated port action ever,’ dockworkers from 22 countries strike against genocide in Gaza

Dock workers in more than 20 countries – from France to India to Greece – are suspending work Friday to demand an end to Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza and highlight the role commercial ports play in fueling deadly militarism around the world.

Organizers said the work stoppages, carried out by dockworkers’ unions at 113 ports in 22 countries, would constitute “the largest coordinated port action ever”, far surpassing the international day of action in February. No Harbor for Genocide, a collective of unions and other organizations supporting the day of action, said goods worth $2.8 billion would be stuck at Mediterranean ports, where workers plan to strike for 24 hours.

“A cargo refused at one port goes to the next,” said No Harbor for Genocide. “Refused in all ports, it stops and the workers applied the embargo announced by the governments and not applied.”

In a joint statement last month announcing the day of action, dockworkers’ unions from Turkey, Morocco, Italy, France, Greece, Italy and the Basque Country outlined their demands:

1. An immediate end to the genocide of the Palestinian people and the opening of a safe corridor for humanitarian aid. The end of colonization, occupation and apartheid imposed on the Palestinian people and the recognition of an independent Palestinian state recognized by the international community on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
2. The end of the war in the Middle East. No support, no facilitation, no participation in the US-Israeli war against Iran, Lebanon or any other imperialist intervention. Fleets and military bases outside the region. We express our full solidarity with the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela and Sudan threatened by American imperialism and we call to defend the sovereignty, resources, territorial integrity of the peoples, peace with justice and the right to resistance for self-determination.
3. Ports should not be used for the transport of weapons, ammunition, military equipment and troops. We call on unions to strengthen their vigilance, inform workers, denounce war shipments and organize mass collective resistance with all our available legitimate means and our struggle.
4. An end to the militarization of ports and critical infrastructure. Ports belong to the people and the workers. They are not bases for NATO, the United States or the EU, nor tools for shipowners and monopolistic groups.
5. No to the war economy and armaments. The money must be used for salaries, collective agreements, health, education, social needs and the protection of life and safety at work.
6. Health and safety measures at workplaces. Not a single worker died for profit. The end of intensification, subcontracting, dangerous conditions and employer arbitrariness.
7. Collective agreements with real wage increases, stable jobs with rights, a retirement policy with better pensions and a reduction in working hours. Technological developments, mechanization, automation, the use of AI and the development of ports must serve the needs of workers, and not lead to the intensification of work or the disappearance of their jobs.

“Our strength lies in organization. It lies in our unions, in general assemblies, in collective decisions, in solidarity between workers from different countries,” the unions declared. “We, port workers, know very well that without us, nothing moves. Without our hands, containers remain motionless, ships are not loaded, war machines are blocked.”

Al Jazeera noted that among the ports participating in Friday’s actions, “Genoa, Livorno and Gioia Tauro in Italy, Marseille in France, Piraeus in Greece and Tangier in Morocco all have proven links to arms shipments to Israel.”

These strikes come as the Israeli genocide in Gaza continues despite a ceasefire agreement that reportedly came into effect last October. A United Nations report released earlier this week noted that “Israeli authorities and forces continue to commit acts of genocide” in Gaza “even after the so-called ceasefire agreement, with the intention of destroying the Palestinian people, in whole or in part.”

The report finds that Israel – which is armed and diplomatically supported by Western governments, primarily the United States – has “committed war crimes and crimes against humanity of extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence” in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories.

Port Workers and Communities for Palestine said in a statement Friday that they would demonstrate at the Port of Elizabeth in New Jersey. The coalition said the Port of New Jersey is the only port on the U.S. East Coast where a protest is expected. Protests are also expected in Oakland and San Francisco, California.

“We know that whatever union leaders decide, workers around the world stand in solidarity with Palestine,” said Port Workers and Communities for Palestine. “We will be there on Friday to show them that they too are part of this movement. Workers have the power to stop the war machine.”