On 28 November the public and private sector will strike again in Italy — this time to protest the government’s 2026 Budget Bill. The cry raised by co-organisers, Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), is to “block everything” and protest the “war budget.” A central strike demand is to end all military exports to Israel, coupled with economic sanctions against the apartheid state. Italy is the third largest arms exporter to Israel, with only the U.S. and Germany providing more weapons for Netanyahu’s genocide. USB is also demanding that the government invest in social housing and healthcare instead of “buying and manufacturing new weapons.”
Solidarity with the people of Gaza is energising the Italian working class. More than a million workers walked off the job for 24 hours on 22 September, when the USB and four other militant grassroots unions called workers out to defend the Global Sumud Flotilla. The strike shut down ports and paralysed broad sectors of the economy and sparked widespread public support. Journalists working at the public broadcaster released a solidarity statement. There were huge rallies in 80 cities protesting the government’s complicity in the genocide.
An even larger strike took place on 3 October. As pressure built from below, the main trade union federation (CGIL), had no option but to come on board or lose all credibility. More than two million participated around the slogan “Blocchiamo Tutto con la Palestina nel cuore” (Block everything with Palestine in our hearts). The day after the strike, more than a million people protested for Palestine in Rome.
These massive general strikes, just weeks apart, didn’t come from nowhere. They are the product of years of militant, internationalist rank-and-file union organising centred on workplace democracy and anti-imperialist politics. Every action in an individual workplace or across specific industries built momentum. Workers at the port of Ravenna blocked entry to trucks carrying weapons and refused to load two containers filled with explosives. Every time workers asserted their power, more workers understood that the machinery of war depends on the labour of workers.
The Italian example shows the power that workers hold in their hands to shut down the imperialist war machine and stop the flow of profits. It is also infectious. On 15 October, hundreds of thousands of Spanish workers took part in walk-offs for Palestine.
Workers are organising across borders. On 27 September, unionists from across Europe joined a “Dockers don’t work for war” gathering hosted by USB in Genoa to plan joint action to stop the genocide in Gaza. Their final resolution declared, “With courage, determination and confidence in our cause, we invite workers to take matters into their own hands.” These workers have the courage to do what they say. Like the Italian dockers, workers in Fos-sur-mer in France, Piraeus in Greece and Gothenburg in Sweden have all blocked weapons to Israel. Let’s back their actions and follow their example.
