In the midst of Israel’s attack on Gaza, some groups Dockers in Genoa They announced that they will hold demonstrations in protest this week and blockade the city’s port. Weapons transfer to Israel From the important Italian port hub, which, along with the nearby ports of Livorno and La Spezia, is considered one of the country’s main logistics hubs for the global arms industry. Not just them. Recently, dock workers Belgium and Barcelona, among other places, spread messages and forwarded similar initiatives. Additionally, protesters at ports in the United States and Australia have threatened to take action to prevent weapons-laden ships destined for the Hebrew country from leaving.
In the case of Genoa, where such protests have taken place many times since 2019, the aim is this: hinder operations The Genoese port has a civilian infrastructure that is used not only for the export of weapons produced in Italy, but also for the docking of ships. ships from other countries Those who should take a break in the Mediterranean. The new protest, also supported by some smaller leftist formations, will begin at six in the morning on November 10, at which time dock workers plan to start blocking one of the access points to “prevent any ships from entering the harbour”. for about seven hours.
“We don’t want to be accomplices José Nivoi, a member of the CALP collective and head of the Seas and Ports section of the city’s USB union, which supports the initiative, says bluntly: “We have been documenting these traffics for years. Although these weapons also pose a risk to the safety of port workers,” the Prensa Ibérica group told EL PERIÓDICO. “This is an ethical-moral problem,” he adds. “Part of Israeli society says: the same thing we said. We have to prevent gun lobbies Make decisions or influence the fate of countries,” said Riccardo Rudino, a member of the Autonomous Port Operators Collective involved in the initiative.
Coordination
Carlo Tombola, co-founder of The Weapon Watch, a new observatory covering the transit of weapons in European ports, was not entirely surprised by the sit-in. In recent years, various groups shippers we started to do raise your voice even louder We are against arms shipments to countries in conflict. And from time to time, This pressure even forced the states He decided to suspend these transfers.
For example, “The dockers of Genoa, Livorno and La Spezia two years ago a ship’s cargo with guns going full to Israel, and in another earlier case, even a suspension of arms sales to Saudi Arabia was achieved. conflict in Yemen“, emphasizes Tombola.”But there is still a lack of coordinationEven at the European level, between these groups. “If this coordination had existed, the impact of the protests would have been much greater,” he thinks.
But this may happen in the future. As docker Nivoi explains, his group, one of the most active in the region, keeps in touch with other groups (more informally for now). in different European countries and recently the possibility of creating a genre loading-unloading group Companies operating in Southern Europe and sensitive to this demand. “This is a project that is now being talked about,” he says.
Responsibilities
However, Maurizio Simoncelli, vice president of Archivo Desarme, believes that dockworkers’ protests, even in their current form, often involve “real” actions. headache for governments“These are initiatives that help raise awareness among citizens,” he says. Indirectly, dock workers also receive support from non-governmental organizations. Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently called on countries to suspend arms shipments to both Israeli forces and Hamas armed militias. If they don’t, the “real risk” is to “be” complicit in serious abuses” said HRW.
Even more so, as Simoncelli recalled, “european industry very big responsibilities In arms sales to the Middle East and North Africa. “Today, four-fifths of sales to this region come from four countries: the United States, Russia, France and Italy.” The Economic Complexity Report recently noted that the country was ranked the best in the world in 2021. Third arms supplier to Israel (followed by the Czech Republic). Italy has become a major arms dealer and partner of academic research on the sector, observers say.
The volume of Italian trade is really important. According to ‘Pagella Politica’, a well-known website fact check Between 2013 and 2022, Italian companies, the majority of which are located in northern Italy, sold weapons to Israel for “approximately”. 120 million euros“. Countries such as Italy, France, Spain and the Czech Republic, among others, have ratified the International Arms Trade Treaty, which came into force in 2014 and imposes strict rules on international arms transfers, but many countries continue to fail to comply. NGOs such as Amnesty International’ to complaints from.