One million people across Italy, led by grassroots unions, took part in a general strike supporting Palestine and the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Students at the general strike for Gaza in Ancona, Sept. 22, 2025. (Ukrain4Pal/ Wikimedia Commons/ CC BY 4.0)
By Ana Vracar
Peoples Dispatch
Approximately one million people across Italy staged a general strike in support of Palestine and the Global Sumud Flotilla this week, offering a vision of solidarity sharply at odds with the one displayed by European leaders at the United Nations.
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.
In Rome alone, 300,000 demonstrators occupied the city’s main railway hub before marching through the streets. “The call came from Genoa’s dockworkers, and here we are: we’ve blocked everything,” the protesters proclaimed.
Among those leading the crowd were firefighters’ union representatives, who told Il Manifesto: “First responders will never be complicit in genocide, and we are protesting a government that is entrapping us in rearmament.”
Port Cities Against Arms Trade and Genocide
Earlier this month, as the Global Sumud Flotilla prepared to launch, members of the dockworkers’ collective CALP [Autonomous Dockworkers’ Collective] 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’s port from the early morning hours, joined by workers in the strategic harbors of Trieste, Venice and Livorno. Rallies erupted 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.
Speaking from the Genoa blockade, Marta Collot of the left party Potere al Popolo stressed that the strike demonstrated concrete solidarity with Palestinians, affirmed support for their legitimate resistance, and denounced European complicity in genocide. “Embargo and sanctions: these must be our priorities,” Collot said.
Authorities responded to the massive mobilization with violence. Police forces used water cannons against protesters demanding an end to Italy’s arms trade with Israel and calling for severing all political and economic ties. Despite growing public pressure, Giorgia Meloni’s government has refused to act against Israel, instead continuing communications with Israeli officials and arms deliveries through the state-linked company Leonardo.
Only days before the strike, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Lega, appeared in an interview with Israeli media, in which he supported Israel’s “right to build itself a serene future” as occupation forces inflicted even more destruction upon Gaza City.
In its campaign “to build a serene future,” 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: “Defending Israel’s right to exist is complicated right now, but friends are revealed in the most difficult moments.”
In some strike locations, protesters singled out Salvini’s statements in their speeches. In Venice, they sent what they termed a special message to “a special enemy,” insisting that their loyalty was with Palestinians under attack and their energy committed to building international solidarity.
International Solidarity is ‘Alive and Kicking’
The mass character of Monday’s strike likely shook much of Italy’s political class. In recent years, the government had passed measures to 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.
“Workers 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,” USB declared on the day of the strike. “In 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.”
For Potere al Popolo’s Giuliano Granato, the strike also captured broader anger. “Palestine has given a name to our discontent,” he told Peoples Dispatch.
“The 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.”
The momentum built by the strike is set to continue. Italian dockworkers will host an international sectoral meeting on September 26–27, bringing together trade unions capable of disrupting Europe’s arms flows to Israel. National demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine are also planned for Oct. 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 — sending a signal that could inspire others to organize along the same lines.
Ana Vracar is a correspondent for Peoples Dispatch.
This article is from Peoples Dispatch.
Views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
There was supposed to be a Big Strike of Oakland, SFO workers to block all goods arriving from Israel/Elsewhere. That Big Strike Never took place.
A perfect example of how wimpy US dock workers are in “America.”
? Li hanno messi agli arresti domiciliari per mesi e mesi. E loro zitti.
? Li hanno obbligati a vivere e girare con una museruola perennemente sulla faccia. E loro zitti.
? Li hanno ricattati con le punture magiche per riavere uno straccio di lavoro. E loro zitti.
? Gli hanno imposto un lasciapassare “verde” per bere persino un caffè al bar o salire su un treno. E loro zitti.
? Gli hanno distrutto la salute. E loro zitti.
? Hanno visto parenti e amici intorno a loro cadere come mosche. E loro zitti.
? Gli stanno chiudendo fabbriche e ogni possibilità di lavoro decente. E loro zitti.
? Li obbligano a spendere e cambiare auto per regole assurde sul “riscaldamento climatico”. E loro zitti.
? Gli fottono montagne di soldi bruciandoli in armi per Sniffolo. E loro zitti.
? Subiscono ogni giorno una rapina fiscale da parte dello Stato come non si è mai visto nella storia. E loro zitti.
? Gli intossicano quotidianamente i polmoni con la merda che spargono dal cielo. E loro zitti.
In the darkest of times, hope springs and is the power to continue. Thank you, Italy, for leading the way. The primary leaders of the European political class are all cowards and sycophants who want the citizens of the EU to live on their knees and weakly sign off on genocide and war. Following this prescription is no life and no future at all. Recalling Nancy Reagan, of all people, to the people of Europe, “Just say ‘NO!'”
Such fabulous news!
Now we have Spain, Italy and Greece using nilitary muscle to protect the flotilla. The Italians proved in spades that mass action can produce results.
The Israelis are irrational arrogant sadists so we must watch closely as the flotilla nears Gaza’s shore.
Drew,
For the record, you are giving Greece credit it doesn’t deserve. It is Italy and Spain and many port workers throughout the Mediteranean, who have participated in strikes against Israel. Greece is shamefully complict in the genocide.
My mistake, Greece only guaranteed safe passage in Greek waters.