Across Europe, strikes, walkouts and blockades for Gaza are showing us the way to stop genocide

ASSEMBLY: HOW DO WE ORGANISE A GENERAL STRIKE FOR PALESTINE?

Cleopatra’s Needle, Embankment, 12pm, 11 October

As we gather at the start of the Trade Union bloc on the national demonstration for Palestine, join us to discuss:

• How can we follow Italy’s example and organise a general strike?
• How do we resist repression by the police and the courts?
• How do we link the struggle against the fascists and racists with organising in solidarity with Palestine?

The strikes in Italy show us what is possible when workers use their collective strength to take action

Palestinian trade unions have long called on the international workers’ movement to stand in solidarity with Palestine, to support boycott and divestment campaigns, to end all forms of complicity with Israeli apartheid and genocide, and, most importantly, to use strike action to stop the supply chain of genocide.

Inspired by Palestinian resistance and galvanised by attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla, over the last ten days workers in Italy have given us an extraordinary show of strength. From marches and blockades to two general strikes for Palestine, millions have taken action. Dockers and logistics workers have shut down ports and transport hubs, stopping vital supplies from reaching Israel’s war machine. Unions have defied repressive anti-protest laws, and together they have shown us what is possible when workers rise against genocide.

In Britain, hundreds of thousands have filled the streets, thousands have risked arrest, and millions are enraged by the genocide they see before their eyes. But to stop it, we need to bring our struggle to the next level and root it in our workplaces. Companies that supply and profit from Israeli apartheid and genocide are at work here too. Keir Starmer’s government won’t stop the flow of weapons to Israel, and has banned direct action group Palestine Action, arresting thousands of people for peaceful protests challenging the clampdown. The rising far-right and fascist movements targeting refugees and migrants also threaten the Palestine solidarity movement.

This year’s TUC Congress passed a raft of motions condemning genocide, opposing repression and calling for investment in “wages not weapons” in a challenge to the government’s claims that rearmament is in the interests of workers here. Major unions like Unite have voted to support workers who refuse to handle Israeli weapons.

This is progress but is not enough. The lessons from Italy are clear: we need our unions to step up and organise strike action to stop Israel’s war machine and Britain’s complicity. As workers, we have the power to stop this genocide, a genocide that starts here. We must use our power.

We call on our comrades across the trade-union movement to join us on 11 October to discuss how we can push our union leadership to follow the example of Italian unions and call a general strike.

We also call on our trade union leaders to join us on 11 October to explain what practical steps they are taking to:  

• End all arms deliveries from Britain to Israel.
• Shut down Palantir’s software across NHS and government
• Stop the flow of public funds to companies complicit in genocide
• Implement the call from Palestine for boycott, divestment and sanctions
• Ensure that aid shipments reach Gaza safely
• Overturn the authoritarian ban on Palestine Action and the wider repression of protest including the prosecution of the organisers of the national marches for Palestine

Assembly called by:

• University and College Workers For Palestine
• Health Workers 4 Palestine
• Protest is not Terrorism open letter collective

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