WEBVTT 00:00:00.139 --> 00:00:02.499 That must be clear to everyone, really everyone. 00:00:02.600 --> 00:00:04.640 In the middle of September these boats will 00:00:04.793 --> 00:00:07.793 reach the coast of Gaza and enter the critical zone. 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:12.419 If we lose contact with our boats for just 20 minutes, 00:00:12.453 --> 00:00:14.179 if we loose contact with our comrades, 00:00:14.219 --> 00:00:16.493 we blockade the whole of Europe! 00:00:19.613 --> 00:00:20.820 From this region 00:00:20.866 --> 00:00:24.040 13, 14,000 containers are shipped to Israel per year. 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:26.126 We won't let a single thing through. 00:00:26.166 --> 00:00:28.086 We will call an inter national strike. 00:00:28.126 --> 00:00:29.466 We will block the the roads, 00:00:29.512 --> 00:00:30.806 We will block the schools, 00:00:30.833 --> 00:00:32.006 we will block everything! 00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:33.713 When the departure 00:00:33.800 --> 00:00:36.666 of the Global Sumud Flottiglia was announced, 00:00:37.760 --> 00:00:41.760 the Italian dock workers made a very clear announcement: 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:45.200 If the Israeli army tries to stop this humanitarian mission 00:00:45.259 --> 00:00:48.739 to get food and medicine to the Gaza Strip, 00:00:48.912 --> 00:00:52.759 where the people are systematically starved to death 00:00:53.626 --> 00:00:57.360 and the hospitals are bombed 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:01.506 then we only have one task here, and that is to block everything. 00:01:01.793 --> 00:01:03.880 ‘We block everything’ 00:01:04.593 --> 00:01:07.953 had a double role 00:01:08.687 --> 00:01:11.687 the protection of the Global 00:01:12.340 --> 00:01:14.586 and the support of the Palestinian people. 00:01:14.706 --> 00:01:17.239 It was about breaking the silence 00:01:17.386 --> 00:01:22.720 and the impass, which unfortunately 00:01:23.473 --> 00:01:25.673 prevailed at that time, 00:01:25.720 --> 00:01:28.813 - we are talking last year - , 00:01:28.880 --> 00:01:30.086 in which it seemed normal, 00:01:30.800 --> 00:01:34.600 that on the other side of the Mediterranean 00:01:34.686 --> 00:01:37.600 - we are talking about our neighbours here - 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:40.280 a genocide is happening. 00:01:40.353 --> 00:01:44.320 What happened next 00:01:45.240 --> 00:01:48.740 exceeded the expectations of the dock workers themselves. 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:52.280 Since the end of September 00:01:52.633 --> 00:01:56.880 this country has been the scene of weeks 00:01:56.920 --> 00:01:59.113 of oceanic demonstrations, 00:01:59.400 --> 00:02:02.586 where people who had never been on strike before, 00:02:03.160 --> 00:02:05.993 took to the streets, left their jobs, 00:02:06.080 --> 00:02:10.600 and took part in blockades of port, logistics hubs, motorways, 00:02:10.880 --> 00:02:14.206 companies, railway stations, airports... 00:02:14.580 --> 00:02:18.440 It was a mass movement, in which the fight against genocide 00:02:18.513 --> 00:02:22.633 was closely linked to class struggle 00:02:22.746 --> 00:02:24.880 since the instrument of the strike and 00:02:26.446 --> 00:02:30.633 the blockade were at the centre of these mobilisations. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.873 In this sense we participated in this movement 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.000 in all its manifestations. 00:02:37.025 --> 00:02:38.920 We took part in the demonstrations, 00:02:38.946 --> 00:02:42.786 in the assemblies, in the blockades of the railway stations and streets. 00:02:43.600 --> 00:02:46.000 We have tried to make our contribution with the workers 00:02:46.073 --> 00:02:49.000 of the Interporto of Toscana 00:02:52.966 --> 00:02:55.760 in which many logistics companies are active, 00:02:55.920 --> 00:02:58.920 and which is directly connected to the port of Livorno. 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:04.086 This is where a lot of goods to and from Israel go through. 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:07.926 The workers organised a blockade of the Interporto 00:03:08.740 --> 00:03:10.300 for Palestine, 00:03:10.373 --> 00:03:14.026 to stop the genocide, together with many other people. 00:03:14.100 --> 00:03:17.642 For a whole day the workers of the Interporto 00:03:17.666 --> 00:03:20.526 went on strike and all of us together 00:03:20.593 --> 00:03:24.346 blocked the transit of goods to Israel. 00:03:24.493 --> 00:03:27.086 We have paralysed Italy. 00:03:27.327 --> 00:03:31.240 We went to where the containers are handled, 00:03:31.359 --> 00:03:33.220 to the Interporto. 00:03:33.993 --> 00:03:37.813 It was good, because where oppression reigns 00:03:38.487 --> 00:03:41.100 you have to defend humanity. 00:03:41.467 --> 00:03:45.566 I was there too. And the message is: we defend humanity. 00:03:46.467 --> 00:03:50.086 There were many strikes in Italy. 00:03:50.320 --> 00:03:53.187 What happened in Gaza is the murder of humanity. 00:03:53.273 --> 00:03:55.540 This has to stop. It can't go on. 00:03:56.127 --> 00:03:57.913 They are people too. They are not animals. 00:03:58.047 --> 00:04:00.083 They are treated worse than animals. 00:04:00.107 --> 00:04:02.760 I was involved in that, with many others in Italy. 00:04:02.847 --> 00:04:04.973 All over Italy people were on strike. 00:04:05.427 --> 00:04:08.420 There were many people involved. 00:04:08.513 --> 00:04:10.113 More than a million. 00:04:11.920 --> 00:04:13.326 So I think: 00:04:13.380 --> 00:04:16.240 Wherever there is oppression, we should raise our voices. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:19.480 If we do not raise our voices, oppression will increase. 00:04:19.640 --> 00:04:22.120 How will the oppression end then? 00:04:22.520 --> 00:04:25.520 Wherever there is oppression, raise your voice. 00:04:25.560 --> 00:04:28.760 So that the oppressors knows that they should not do this. 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:32.500 It was a bit of a risk 00:04:32.700 --> 00:04:35.413 but a risk that brought great results. 00:04:35.453 --> 00:04:36.626 I remember 00:04:38.700 --> 00:04:41.700 the night of the 1st of October 00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:47.233 when the Israeli military operation against us began. 00:04:47.460 --> 00:04:52.033 I still had the opportunity to be on the social networks 00:04:52.260 --> 00:04:55.380 and the algorithm of Instagram went crazy: 00:04:55.500 --> 00:04:59.500 I saw the places in Rome, the squares in Istanbul, 00:04:59.820 --> 00:05:02.993 the hell that had broken loose in Europe 00:05:03.167 --> 00:05:04.560 and I said: OK, 00:05:04.707 --> 00:05:08.607 I can now throw my mobile phone into the water, 00:05:08.647 --> 00:05:11.366 there is now political pressure at international level. 00:05:11.567 --> 00:05:13.813 I would not have thought, 00:05:14.453 --> 00:05:18.253 that really so many millions 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:20.093 of people in Europe take to the streets. 00:05:20.140 --> 00:05:22.446 In Italy, well, it was sheer madness. 00:05:22.593 --> 00:05:25.260 We really saw thousands of people 00:05:25.400 --> 00:05:29.322 who had never taken to the streets before from all generations, 00:05:29.346 --> 00:05:34.580 mainly young people, but also many from my generation 00:05:34.580 --> 00:05:36.646 who were a bit more active, 00:05:36.727 --> 00:05:39.436 but also the ones in between, who didn't do anything anymore, 00:05:39.460 --> 00:05:42.780 who actually felt the need, 00:05:43.400 --> 00:05:45.540 to be in the streets not just for one day, 00:05:45.700 --> 00:05:47.796 because we were there for several days, 00:05:47.862 --> 00:05:49.595 but also to keep fighting: 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:52.820 in the school for better education, 00:05:53.140 --> 00:05:56.580 in the workplaces, for more recruitment, 00:05:56.693 --> 00:05:59.906 against precariousness etc. etc. 00:06:00.047 --> 00:06:07.427 We have managed to activate ourselves. 00:06:09.326 --> 00:06:18.106 Prerequisite for the success of ‘Blocchiamo tutto’ was the coordination of the port workers. How did you build that up? 00:06:19.340 --> 00:06:22.340 We have started at the national level 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:25.573 to create a coordination, 00:06:25.633 --> 00:06:27.853 which today includes several ports. 00:06:27.913 --> 00:06:29.593 At least in Italy: 00:06:30.940 --> 00:06:33.660 there is Genoa, Trieste, Livorno, 00:06:33.660 --> 00:06:36.980 Ravenna, Ancona was added yesterday, 00:06:38.820 --> 00:06:41.820 Civitavecchia, Bari, 00:06:43.020 --> 00:06:45.453 Salerno, Naples 00:06:46.540 --> 00:06:49.420 some port workers in Palermo, 00:06:49.420 --> 00:06:52.006 Gioia Tauro has developed very well. 00:06:52.500 --> 00:06:54.980 This is something that needs to be perfected, 00:06:54.980 --> 00:06:59.500 it still needs to be better coordinated but it works. 00:06:59.940 --> 00:07:04.980 This means that if a ship sails from Genoa to Livorno, 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:09.580 a short message is enough today and it will also be blocked in Livorno. 00:07:09.700 --> 00:07:13.740 There is a great desire to do this. 00:07:13.820 --> 00:07:18.108 It is about the military system that we experience every day. 00:07:18.733 --> 00:07:22.100 We have implemented this at the European level 00:07:22.660 --> 00:07:27.180 and focussed more on the Mediterranean region, 00:07:27.793 --> 00:07:30.553 which in my opinion is, in the truest sense of the word, 00:07:31.140 --> 00:07:34.700 the epicentre of wars and death. 00:07:34.740 --> 00:07:38.886 Just think of the thousands of dead, 00:07:39.140 --> 00:07:42.020 the drowned bodies that lie under the Mediterranean, 00:07:42.146 --> 00:07:45.440 because of the wars that we cause and from which they flee, 00:07:45.853 --> 00:07:50.693 in addition to the hundreds of thousands of deaths in the conflicts we cause. 00:07:51.993 --> 00:07:55.153 From the very beginning 00:07:55.620 --> 00:07:57.900 the most receptive people, 00:07:57.993 --> 00:08:01.413 who thought like us, were the port workers of Piraeus. 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:04.380 Then we slowly started discussing with the French, 00:08:04.486 --> 00:08:08.140 because when you go to Marseille, you meet the port worker in the bar, 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:11.440 you have a chat, and then you come back officially. 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:15.620 That means: It was one step at a time. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:20.660 We have built up an unofficial network, 00:08:20.940 --> 00:08:24.060 and then, under the umbrella of the FSM, 00:08:24.113 --> 00:08:27.889 the international trade union, to which we belong as USB, 00:08:29.627 --> 00:08:33.187 we organised a whole series of official meetings. 00:08:33.593 --> 00:08:37.006 What actually 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:40.400 united us, 00:08:40.780 --> 00:08:44.773 was that the approach of the governments is almost identical everywhere: 00:08:45.013 --> 00:08:49.193 to destroy the negotiating power of the dock workers 00:08:49.406 --> 00:08:52.326 to make the ports more pliable 00:08:52.972 --> 00:08:58.039 with poor national collective agreements, 00:08:58.146 --> 00:09:00.560 which is an attack on the world of labour, 00:09:00.606 --> 00:09:04.320 and to turn these ports into military hubs. 00:09:04.800 --> 00:09:09.020 The other element that has connected us is privatisation, 00:09:09.020 --> 00:09:12.180 and what happened in Greece is the best example of that: 00:09:12.220 --> 00:09:15.206 The Tsipras government, selling the ports 00:09:15.260 --> 00:09:17.773 in the conflict between China and Germany, 00:09:17.880 --> 00:09:20.833 where the Chinese company Cosco 00:09:21.060 --> 00:09:24.060 takes complete control over the port of Piraeus, 00:09:24.260 --> 00:09:29.320 cancels all old collective agreements, introduces new collective agreements. 00:09:29.406 --> 00:09:34.133 The territory that was controlled by the state, 00:09:34.313 --> 00:09:37.560 is now controlled by Cosco, a private company, 00:09:37.640 --> 00:09:40.893 and you have to start from scratch with the fights, 00:09:40.946 --> 00:09:44.306 to get decent wages again and paid holidays again... 00:09:44.393 --> 00:09:48.913 I have read that they have changed the working day now 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:50.880 to 13 hours... 00:09:50.926 --> 00:09:53.813 There is a combination of a whole series of dynamics. 00:09:54.100 --> 00:09:57.100 In a more subtle way the same thing is happening in Italy. 00:09:57.580 --> 00:10:01.353 The port reform, which leads towards privatisation 00:10:01.660 --> 00:10:06.180 and the national collective labour agreement which keeps wages low. 00:10:06.340 --> 00:10:10.720 And in France, even more subtly, the same thing is happening. 00:10:10.793 --> 00:10:13.186 In other words, there is a dynamic that is the same. 00:10:13.213 --> 00:10:15.380 The other element is inflation. 00:10:15.833 --> 00:10:19.320 Inflation, which all governments are now creating, 00:10:19.366 --> 00:10:21.846 for the sake of European rearmament. 00:10:21.886 --> 00:10:24.812 Von der Leyen explains that 00:10:25.100 --> 00:10:28.840 the European rearmament costs 830 billion Euro, 00:10:29.013 --> 00:10:32.993 and that every state is obliged to increase military spending 00:10:33.373 --> 00:10:37.386 for example in the case of Italy from 2 per cent, which was already crazy, 00:10:37.673 --> 00:10:39.446 to 5% of GDP, 00:10:39.660 --> 00:10:44.540 which leads to resources being diverted from the public sector 00:10:44.666 --> 00:10:49.540 i.e. education, health and pensions, whoe budgets are not increasing. 00:10:49.673 --> 00:10:54.113 That means a reduction of the, 00:10:54.540 --> 00:10:57.686 indirect income of workers 00:10:58.353 --> 00:11:01.346 So the war returns to you. - 00:11:01.633 --> 00:11:04.620 With all these port connections we then succeeded 00:11:05.140 --> 00:11:07.953 on the 28th of February of this year, 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.467 after a whole series of mobilisations, 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:13.160 that took place in Greece, in Tangier, 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.573 in Fos-sur-Mer in an autonomous way, 00:11:15.912 --> 00:11:18.139 in Barcelona, in Slovenia, in Italy 00:11:18.426 --> 00:11:22.753 in Italy the antimilitarist movement in the movement in the harbours is very strong, 00:11:22.866 --> 00:11:26.207 we succeeded to say: OK, let's start with coordinated struggles 00:11:26.316 --> 00:11:29.024 on a European level. 00:11:29.113 --> 00:11:31.871 The first approach of this coordination 00:11:31.963 --> 00:11:36.633 we had with the port workers of Fos-sur-Mer 00:11:36.696 --> 00:11:41.121 where this journalist of the magazine ‘Disclose’, 00:11:41.271 --> 00:11:45.606 which is a French investigative magazine, 00:11:45.653 --> 00:11:47.860 told them and us, 00:11:48.500 --> 00:11:53.706 that there are three containers with parts of machine guns 00:11:54.086 --> 00:11:57.480 for the the IDF, the Israeli army, on board of this ship. 00:11:58.180 --> 00:12:01.466 And from then on we start to coordinate, 00:12:01.533 --> 00:12:03.566 because the ship, with these containers 00:12:07.066 --> 00:12:09.886 should have been loaded in Fos-sur-Mer, then 00:12:10.100 --> 00:12:13.166 come to Genoa and then travel to Salerno. 00:12:13.540 --> 00:12:18.780 The dock workers of Fos-sur-Mer manage to block these containers, 00:12:19.520 --> 00:12:24.386 but after a series of text messages the fear remains 00:12:24.470 --> 00:12:27.337 that the authorities will put these three containers on lorries 00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:31.373 to transport them to Genoa by land. 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:36.253 So we start the mobilisation in Genoa, 00:12:36.286 --> 00:12:40.000 while the empty ship arrives, 00:12:40.026 --> 00:12:43.406 we block the entrance of the lorries to check them 00:12:43.460 --> 00:12:47.273 so that when the ship docks, the weapons don't get in. 00:12:47.660 --> 00:12:49.706 That was the first activity 00:12:49.818 --> 00:12:52.481 of this coordination. 00:12:52.626 --> 00:12:55.540 Of course we call the guys from Salerno 00:12:55.633 --> 00:12:58.499 and tell them: "After Genoa, where it leaves empty, 00:12:58.658 --> 00:13:00.326 the ship will dock in Salerno 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:03.569 be careful that the authorities in Salerno do not load weapons. 00:13:03.593 --> 00:13:06.034 In fact, there were two moments: the blockade 00:13:06.176 --> 00:13:09.694 and a delegation of workers 00:13:09.718 --> 00:13:12.976 who came on board of the ship to inspect, 00:13:13.085 --> 00:13:14.798 that no weapons were on board 00:13:14.890 --> 00:13:16.833 and that none were loaded. 00:13:18.192 --> 00:13:21.192 This information was not disseminated, but it has 00:13:21.379 --> 00:13:25.800 a great significance: that a group of workers 00:13:25.901 --> 00:13:29.573 in a private company takes charge of this, 00:13:29.640 --> 00:13:32.876 to say: Don't worry, there are no weapons here. 00:13:32.900 --> 00:13:36.633 On the 26th of September 00:13:36.733 --> 00:13:38.386 we had a meeting of the coordination. 00:13:38.410 --> 00:13:41.650 The port workers of Tangier took part, i.e. Morocco, 00:13:42.170 --> 00:13:46.623 the Greek port workers, the Slovenian, the French. 00:13:46.690 --> 00:13:49.226 The French, the CGT at national level, 00:13:49.280 --> 00:13:52.450 so not only the representatives of Fos-sur-Mer, 00:13:52.570 --> 00:13:55.340 but of all ports in France. 00:13:56.436 --> 00:14:00.916 The national secretary of the Spanish dockers, who is a woman. 00:14:01.326 --> 00:14:04.970 The Turkish dockers from Istanbul and those from Cyprus, 00:14:05.103 --> 00:14:10.410 who made an unbelievable uprising when the flotilla was blocked. 00:14:10.483 --> 00:14:13.410 They really caused a riot in this port. 00:14:13.825 --> 00:14:19.200 Then we were criticised by the German port workers 00:14:19.313 --> 00:14:23.153 but they have a different logic, you know it better than me, 00:14:23.646 --> 00:14:26.179 the ‘anti-German’ idea (to defend Israel). 00:14:26.303 --> 00:14:28.426 And now we are in a phase 00:14:28.553 --> 00:14:31.668 in which we are approached literally from everywhere, 00:14:31.735 --> 00:14:33.153 also from India. 00:14:33.207 --> 00:14:36.140 Then on the boat I had the opportunity to talk to some Malians, 00:14:36.760 --> 00:14:39.406 and I said to them: "We're doing this thing... 00:14:39.518 --> 00:14:42.168 maybe you want to discuss it, when you get back." 00:14:42.243 --> 00:14:45.666 So we are in contact with the Malian workers. 00:14:47.627 --> 00:14:49.766 Then the Australians, 00:14:50.073 --> 00:14:53.020 some port workers from the USA... 00:14:53.173 --> 00:14:55.466 That means some kind of movement 00:14:55.553 --> 00:14:58.696 that we perceive as positive. 00:14:58.910 --> 00:15:03.000 And indeed, since this meeting, 00:15:03.530 --> 00:15:06.676 we wrote a political document, 00:15:06.805 --> 00:15:09.525 which we intend to publish shortly, 00:15:09.650 --> 00:15:14.966 and we will set a date for a international mobilisation. 00:15:16.353 --> 00:15:23.140 Port workers call for a general strike on November 28, 2025. 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:26.560 The first thing is that they are supported, 00:15:26.636 --> 00:15:28.895 because the atrocities must stop. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.578 Because that is our humanity. 00:15:31.680 --> 00:15:34.600 If someone kills a person, then that concerns everyone.