After suspected drone attacks on the flotilla last week, dockworkers have now marked the flotilla as a crucial indicator for potential threats of further action, with leaders vowing to disrupt shipments linked to Israel if the vessels face attacks. The flotilla includes notable activist Greta Thunberg.
Disrupting all shipments to and from Israel is seen as the only way to drive change, said Riccardo Rudino, a seasoned dockworker and leader in the CALP dockworkers’ collective, in a conversation with POLITICO.
“If they attack the flotilla, there will be a general strike, and if Israel doesn’t change its approach in Gaza, a complete trade blockade will occur,” Rudino stated. “There is no other option.”
Rudino drew attention a month ago as a protest leader with a widely shared speech online, warning that if Israel hinders the flotilla, they will obstruct “all of Europe,” adding that “not a single nail” will leave Genoa for Israel.
Dockworkers have a longstanding history of blocking arms shipments dating back to at least the Vietnam War. “It seemed unattainable with South Africa, but after a complete blockade they freed Mandela and held elections,” Rudino remarked.
Many people “want to act to be on the right side of history,” Rudino stated. “Blocking things is the people’s weapon. We don’t possess tanks; we don’t have missiles — blocking things, sometimes with our bodies, is the only weapon at our disposal,” he explained.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government is under rising pressure to adopt a firmer stance with Israel and acknowledge Palestinian statehood as it became a key issue in the regional elections that began Sunday and continue through November.
Italy’s largest union, CGIL, has vowed a general strike if the flotilla is attacked.
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