CIVICUS discusses Italy’s protests in solidarity with Palestine with an activist with Cambiare Rotta (‘Change Course’), a leftist youth organisation that campaigns against war, fascism and neoliberal policies on university campuses.

In September and October, hundreds of thousands of workers and students across Italy took part in general strikes in solidarity with Palestine, calling for sanctions against Israel and protection for activists trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the protests, while initially maintaining Italy’s support for Israel before eventually making some concessions under mounting public pressure.

Why did people in Italy strike for Palestine?

Millions of Italians took to the streets to strike driven by anger, indignation and shame at seeing the most documented genocide in media history happen with the complicity of the Italian and other European governments. This complicity is political, guaranteeing diplomatic impunity for Israel, and also financial and military. Italian arms manufacturer Leonardo, the world’s third largest exporter, supplies Israel with weapons it uses against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

A key mobilising factor was the Global Sumud Flotilla, which brought together over 45 boats and 400 activists from over 50 countries. This initiative was the latest manifestation of the Free Gaza Movement, a major humanitarian initiative founded in 2006. The Flotilla sought to bring humanitarian aid and establish a safe and continuous humanitarian corridor for Gaza’s people, who have suffered a humanitarian blockade by the Israeli authorities for many months and were starving.

Many Italian activists joined the flotilla sailing to Gaza. Meanwhile, dockers and other workers in Italy, inspired by the flotilla’s mission, mobilised to demand protection for it. This inspired people to take to the streets to say ‘enough’ to complicity with Israel. The first strike in September was called to demand protection for the flotilla, and when it was intercepted by Israeli authorities and the activists arrested in early October, this sparked further massive mobilisations across Italy.

How were national strikes organised?

The dockworkers of the Autonomous Collective of Port Workers of Genoa initiated the mobilisation. It all started with a cry of ‘if they touch the flotilla, we’ll block everything’, which was then taken up by the Grassroots Trade Union, which provided organisation, extending the protest to additional parts of the labour force.

For the first time, two general strikes were called in support of the Palestinian cause, the first on 22 September and the second on 3 October. Students, workers, civil society organisations and people from across the country took to the streets under a common slogan, ‘let’s block everything’, that until recently would have been considered too radical or antagonistic. We paralysed the country by blocking ports, ring roads, stations, motorways and city centres.

How did the government respond?

Over the past two years, the Meloni government’s response to the genocide in Gaza has been shameful, to say the least, and she, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister harshly criticised the 22 September strike. They made horrible statements to try to minimise the protests and criminalise protesters, but as time went on, they realised sentiment and indignation were growing, and they were forced to make concessions.

For example, the defence minister sent a military frigate to support the flotilla, and in her speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Meloni said that Israel has no right to prevent the birth of a Palestinian state, opening up the possibility of Italy’s recognition of the state of Palestine. Nevertheless, these concessions fell far short of what the movement demands.

How are you continuing to support Palestine?

For two years, we have been engaged in a battle to break the complicity of our universities and Italian academic institutions with the Israeli government. The ceasefire currently in place in Gaza does not erase the criminal nature of Israel’s actions or the need to boycott a state that has killed hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the last two years.

That is why our battle continues. We will keep blocking everything to defend Palestine and break our government’s complicity with genocide.