Get organised for Palestine, Nakba workplace Day of Action and National Demo

What we’ve witnessed over the past 19 months in Gaza has been horrific. But we rarely hear the voices of Palestinian workers in our mainstream media. And too many trade unions at home fail to recognise the importance of solidarity with Palestinian workers, which is more urgent now than ever.

That is why the Palestine coalition here used 1 May, international workers’ day, to bring together an important panel of speakers to mobilise for the Nakba Day day of workplace action on 15 May, and the 17 May national demonstration for Palestine, and to learn more about the drastic situation for workers in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Suzan Abdel Salam of the New Union of Jerusalem, a leading figure in the Palestinian trade union movement, said there was a vital need for a strong and independent workers’ voice across the Middle East that does not bow to money or power but stands for freedom.

“Labour day is not just a celebration but a constant reminder that the struggle for social justice and human dignity is not over. At a time when the gap between rich and poor is widening and when workers are besieged by the burdens of life in employment and marginalisation, they urgently need that voice.

“We must not allow any person to be reduced to a number or for their contribution to be measured by market value. Justice is not a gift, but has to be won through struggle. As Palestinian workers we must use this day to expose the persecution and harassment that workers are subjected to by the Apartheid regime. This day comes in the shadow of a brutal war and genocide that our Palestinian comrades are subjected to in all parts of the occupied Palestinian territories.

She told how, in the Gaza strip the working class had suffered from deprivation, unemployment, cheap wages and a painful economic situation long before 7 October. Since then, the genocide, ethnic cleansing and displacement of workers has been beyond horrific.

In the West Bank, working people were hunted down in the days following 7 October by extremist racist settlers, killed and dragged through the streets. Many more were arrested and remain unaccounted for. This came after decades of occupation and economic strangulation, “a war on workers that has attacked all the necessities of life”.

Suzan extended her thanks on behalf of Palestinian workers to all trade unionists and activists in the UK who are part of the fight for a free Palestine. She called on them to continue to keep talking about Palestine and the genocide in Gaza in their workplaces and to call on their trade unions to work with international trade union bodies in demanding an immediate ceasefire and an end to military supplies to Israel.

In a powerful contribution, Mustafa Barghouti, general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative said that in Palestine there could be no May Day celebration.

“Israel has dropped more than 100,000 tons of explosives on Gaza – 50kg for each man, woman and child – and it is now subjecting them to the worst kind of collective punishment – starvation.

“61 days without a single piece of bread. 61 days without a glass of water. 61 days without a pill of medicine. At least 11,000 people in Gaza will die due to lack of medication. It’s biological warfare. There are thousands of cases of infectious hepatitis, we’re going to see epidemics of polio, tetanus and measles because Israel will not allow vaccines into Gaza.

“It’s the most horrifying thing and this is happening in the 21st century in front of the whole world. It’s happening while the International Court of Justice is debating the fact that Israel is committing the worst of war crimes and after the International Criminal Court has already said Netanyahu should be brought before the court and tried for those war crimes, yet still the world is watching and no real and serious actions are taken to impose sanctions on this terrible regime.

“While on 17 May you will be commemorating the Nakba which happened 77 years ago, displacing 70 per cent of the Palestinian population from the land, what we now have is a second, much bigger Nakba, much bigger catastrophe.

“The lack of reaction to all this is shocking, not just in the world but in the region around us. This must be a turning point for more effective actions. In the UK you have organised so many actions, so many marches, but we need more. This massacre has to stop. This starvation has to stop.

He called on workers in Britain to take action including not dealing with Israeli shipments.

“And if it takes going to courts and bringing to justice any Israeli person visiting Britain or planning to please do it. We need real pressure. Continuous demonstrations at parliament, much stronger actions.”

Louise Regan, chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, agreed that now is not the time to scale down our actions, but to do even more.

“Whether it be national demonstrations, local actions, trade union days of action, the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, we have to put more pressure on now.”

Stop the War convenor Lindsey German talked of the important work that has been done to build the Palestine coalition.

“We’ve been demonstrating and campaigning for 19 months and it’s the most important thing we can do. But all the time the government not only supports Israel but does its best to try to discredit anyone who raises their voice for Palestine.

“We’ve the Irish band Kneecap being denounced by politicians who have never denounced what Israel is doing. Leaders in our movement have been arrested or questioned by the police. And the government is introducing a new law to stop demonstrations anywhere near a synagogue.

“The most important thing we can do now is to not allow our voices to be silenced. Which is why this meeting has to be a stepping stone in mobilising for Palestine solidarity.”

Lindsey pointed out that May Day is traditionally a day when trade unionists think about what they can do to strengthen the movement and what they can do to show international solidarity and called on union members to ensure that, big or small, there must be workplace protests and actions on 15 May and to make it clear that they are standing with the Palestinian people.

“Two days later we have the Nakba demonstration and we are saying to people, make it one of the biggest we have seen. We want everyone on the streets who can possibly be there. We want people from across the country. We want to see Palestine flags everywhere on the streets of London. We must make it clear to the politicians that we’re not giving up, we’re not going to forget, any more than the Palestinians forgot after the first Nakba.

“We’re not going to forget anything this criminal government has done. We’re going to keep on organising and fighting until Palestine is free.”

Source: Labour Outlook