If the workers take a notion,
They can stop all speeding trains
Every ship upon the ocean
They can tie with mighty chain,
Every wheel in the creation,
Every mine and every mill,
Fleets and armies of the nation,
Will at their command stand still.
Joe Hill, Workers of the World, Awaken!
French dockworkers at the Port of Fos-sur-Mer, Marseille, refused on June 5th to load a shipment of three containers of machine gun ammunition destined for the Israeli military. They stated: “We will not participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government.” Similar actions took place when the ship docked at Genoa, where dockers took a similar stand. The ship had to divert to Sicily.
These are just the latest incidents of the solidarity between workers on a local and international level. International solidarity emerged in the 19th century as workers faced harsh conditions and began to see that borders were irrelevant and that they faced a common enemy.
Examples from around the world
· In 1889, Australian workers raised money to support the Great Dock Strike in Britain.
· In 1919, dockers in Seattle in the United States refused to load arms that were destined for use by the forces of the reactionary Whites against the Russian Revolution. Dockers in San Francisco did the same.
· In Britain, in 1919, train drivers in Scotland refused to move a freight train carrying ammunition bound for British forces in the Gulf.
· In May 1920, dockers in London refused to load the ship The Jolly George bound for Russia, with arms for the Whites. Dockers in Dublin did the same.
· In 1974 Rolls Royce workers in Scotland refused to repair fighter jets for the airforce of the murderous Chilean dictator Pinochet.
· During the Spanish dock strike of 1981, dockers in Rochester refused to unload 45,000 boxes of tomatoes and 3,000 bales of peppers from Tenerife. In that year dockers in Barcelona refused to load 20 Fiat tanks bound for Peru.
· With the Danish dockers’ strike in 1983, workers at Britain’s registered ports refused to handle cargoes from Denmark. At Oslo in Norway, cargoes bound for Denmark were also boycotted.
· During the Liverpool dockers’ dispute (1995-1998) workers in other countries boycotted ships bound for Liverpool.
· In 2010, Swedish dockers blocked more than 500 tons of goods to and from Israel.
· In 2015, French and Italian dockers refused to load arms intended to be used by Saudi Arabia for its war against Yemen. In 2018 Tunisian dockers stopped a ship chartered by the Israeli shipping company Zim from landing at the port of Radès.
· In May 2021, workers at Italian ports refused to let a ship be loaded with arms for Israel. In the same month, South African dockers refused to unload a cargo from an Israeli ship. That year also saw Israeli ships being blocked in Oakland, Seattle, and Prince Rupert Island, Canada. There was much support on Prince Rupert Island for the blockade, where the population is mainly Native American, who felt great sympathy and solidarity for the plight of Palestinians. A similar blocking of Israeli ships had taken place in these ports in 2014. This blocking was successful up until June, 1921, when again Israeli ships attempted to dock at the ports.
· In late 2023 Belgian transport workers refused to handle military equipment for Israel.
International solidarity needed more than ever
International solidarity of workers has a long and noble tradition. It shows that despite all the jingoistic and nationalistic propaganda pumped out by the media and in education, there is still a feeling that workers have no country, and that fellowship with workers of other lands is still there.
In this period when capitalism has globalised, international solidarity is needed more than ever. Workers have more in common with each other than with the rich, with the likes of Musk, Farage, and Trump, with the filthy rich King Charles, with Scottish lairds, with company directors.
Solidarity also shows that, again as Joe Hill wrote, that “There is pow’r, there is pow’r in a band of working folk, when they stand hand in hand.” It also shows that workers acting together locally, regionally and internationally, can thwart the war plans of our rulers.