PNN – Dockworkers in 22 countries are planning a widespread strike aimed at disrupting maritime traffic in the Mediterranean and halting arms shipments destined for the occupied territories.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network citing Al Jazeera, port workers across 22 nations are preparing for a global strike and protest this Friday. The action is a response to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the use of port facilities to transit weapons to the Zionist regime; it is part of a broader “Global Day of Action against War and Genocide in the Gaza Strip.”
Organizers of this major strike state that the protest could disrupt more than 40 percent of maritime traffic in the Mediterranean Sea and prevent the movement of cargo valued at over $2 billion.
The Italian grassroots trade union federation announced that, with the participation of dockworkers, the scope of these protests now extends to over 100 ports across 20 different countries. Major shipping hubs in Europe and elsewhere—including the ports of Hamburg in Germany, Valencia and Algeciras in Spain, Le Havre in France, Piraeus in Greece, Genoa in Italy, Tanger Med in Morocco, and Nhava Sheva in India—are expected to be affected by the strike.
Major labor unions—such as Ver.di in Germany, SIPTU (the largest labor union in Ireland), 3F in Denmark, and the CGT in France—have declared their support for this call to action. Beyond Europe’s borders, 12 ports in India and the country’s water transport workers’ union have also joined this protest movement, though precise figures regarding the actual level of worker participation in the strike have not yet been released.
In this regard, the “Global Sustainability Fleet”—a coalition of pro-Palestine campaigns that had previously made repeated attempts to break the blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid—announced that it would carry out coordinated, strategic actions at sea to coincide with this strike. Furthermore, the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the Israeli regime, along with 17 Palestinian labor unions and federations, have expressed their firm support for this protest action.