{"id":36918,"date":"2025-10-03T08:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=36918"},"modified":"2025-10-03T08:12:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:12:37","slug":"million-strong-general-strike-blocks-italy-for-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=36918","title":{"rendered":"Million-strong general strike blocks Italy for Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY .<\/p>\n

An article from the Peoples Dispatch<\/p>\n

On September 22, approximately one million people across Italy staged a general strike in support of Palestine and the Global Sumud Flotilla, offering a vision of solidarity sharply at odds with the one displayed by\u00a0European leaders\u00a0at the United Nations these days. Ports, train stations, and major junctions were shut down as workers, many of whom members of the grassroots union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), brought the country to a halt.<\/p>\n

(Editor’s note:\u00a0Italian unions again called a general strike for Friday, October 3<\/a>, in solidarity with the international aid flotilla for Gaza, while protests sprang up in a number of cities late on Wednesday after reports that the ships\u00a0had been intercepted\u00a0by military personnel.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nUSB’s fire brigades members lead strike rally. Source: USB<\/center><\/p>\n

In Rome alone, 300,000 demonstrators occupied the city\u2019s main railway hub before marching through the streets. \u201cThe call came from Genoa\u2019s dockworkers, and here we are: we\u2019ve blocked everything,\u201d the protesters proclaimed. Among those leading the crowd were firefighters\u2019 union representatives, who told\u00a0il manifesto: \u201cFirst responders will never be complicit in genocide, and we are protesting a government that is entrapping us in rearmament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Port cities against arms trade and genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, as the Global Sumud Flotilla prepared to launch, members of the dockworkers\u2019 collective CALP in Genoa vowed to halt port operations if Israel attacked or blocked the fleet. Weeks later, following continuous local mobilizations and public assemblies, they made good on their promise. Thousands shut down Genoa\u2019s port from the early morning hours, joined by workers in the strategic harbors of\u00a0Trieste, Venice, and\u00a0Livorno.\u00a0Rallies\u00a0erupted in Bologna, Milan, Turin, Naples, across Sicily and Sardinia, and in dozens of other localities, where teachers, parents, and students walked out of schools together, chanting for a free Palestine.<\/p>\n

Speaking from the Genoa blockade, Marta Collot of the left party Potere al Popolo\u00a0stressed\u00a0that the strike demonstrated concrete solidarity with Palestinians, affirmed support for their legitimate resistance, and denounced European complicity in genocide. \u201cEmbargo and sanctions: these must be our priorities,\u201d Collot said.<\/p>\n

(continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nQuestion related to this article:<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
\n 
\n How can we best express solidarity with the people of Gaza?<\/a> <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(continued from left column)<\/p>\n

Authorities responded to the massive mobilization with\u00a0violence. Police forces used\u00a0water cannons\u00a0against protesters demanding an end to Italy\u2019s arms trade with Israel and calling for severing all political and economic ties. Despite growing public pressure, Giorgia Meloni\u2019s government has refused to act against Israel, instead continuing communications with Israeli officials and arms deliveries through the state-linked company\u00a0Leonardo.<\/p>\n

Only days before the strike, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Lega, appeared in an\u00a0interview\u00a0with Israeli media, in which he supported Israel\u2019s \u201cright to build itself a serene future\u201d as occupation forces inflicted even more destruction upon Gaza City. In its campaign \u201cto build a serene future,\u201d Israel has killed at least 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 1,000 health workers and hundreds of journalists. While some government figures signaled mild unease about recent attacks, Salvini set out his allegiance in very clear terms: \u201cDefending Israel\u2019s right to exist is complicated right now, but friends are revealed in the most difficult moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some strike locations, protesters singled out Salvini\u2019s statements in their speeches. In Venice, they\u00a0sent\u00a0what they termed a special message to \u201ca special enemy,\u201d insisting that their loyalty was with Palestinians under attack and their energy committed to building international solidarity.<\/p>\n

International solidarity is \u201calive and kicking\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The mass character of Monday\u2019s strike likely shook much of Italy\u2019s political class. In recent years, the government had passed\u00a0measures\u00a0to restrict demonstrations and downplayed the organizing capacity of trade unions and the left. Yet weeks of continuous protests culminating in the general strike undermined these efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorkers have returned to center stage and are calling on citizens, all citizens, to stand up. They are not doing so for a contract renewal but to demand justice for a distant and tormented people,\u201d USB declared on the day of the strike. \u201cIn this age of selfishness and individualism, this seems unthinkable. But no, solidarity between peoples and brotherhood beyond borders are not dead and buried values; on the contrary, they are alive and kicking.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Potere al Popolo\u2019s Giuliano Granato, the strike also captured broader anger. \u201cPalestine has given a name to our discontent,\u201d he told\u00a0Peoples Dispatch. \u201cThe outrage, protest, and anger over the massacre of the Palestinian people has intersected with years of oppression, repression, and deteriorating material conditions. For young people in particular, there is the absence of a future, fear, and the awareness of living in societies where only the horrendously rich and powerful have a say.\u201d<\/p>\n

The momentum built by the strike is set to continue. Italian dockworkers will host an international sectoral\u00a0meeting\u00a0on September 26\u201327, bringing together trade unions capable of disrupting Europe\u2019s arms flows to Israel.\u00a0National demonstrations\u00a0in solidarity with Palestine are also planned for October 4, as eyes remain fixed on the Global Sumud Flotilla. If Israel attempts to stop it, Italian workers have already shown they are ready to block the country \u2013 sending a signal that could inspire others to organize along the same lines.<\/p>\n

– – – – – –<\/p>\n

If you wish to make a comment on this article, you may write to coordinator@cpnn-world.org with the title “Comment on (name of article)” and we will put your comment on line. Because of the flood of spam, we have discontinued the direct application of comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. TOLERANCE & SOLIDARITY . An article from the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,74,14],"tags":[33,8],"class_list":["post-36918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-mideast","category-tolerance","tag-europe","tag-mideast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36918"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36921,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36918\/revisions\/36921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}