In response to Israel’s ongoing siege of Gaza, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has called for international action by the labour movement worldwide, on November 29. The date coincides with the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
“The ongoing bloodshed has been going on and escalating since October 7, and has already resulted in thousands of people losing their lives and many more injured,” said the WFTU Secretariat. “It makes the need to intensify our actions of solidarity with the struggling Palestinian people more urgent than ever before.”
The federation notes that the massacre in Palestine includes the bombing of the hospitals and the killing of a child every 10 minutes, which it calls “crimes which are committed with the provocative tolerance and support that Israel receives from the USA, the European Union and the rest of their allies.”
The WFTU has long stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people and understands that the root cause of the current crisis is Israel’s occupation and illegal settlement of the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as the continuous criminal aggressions and blockades which Israel has committed against the Palestinian people for decades.
“The consistent and principled support and solidarity to the heroic Palestinian people had always been a priority for the international class-oriented trade union movement. It is clear that the only way to secure and consolidate peace and security for the people in Palestine and Israel, but also in the wider Middle East, is to immediately end the Israeli occupation and settlement in the occupied Arab territories, as provided for in the UN resolutions, and to establish an independent Palestinian state … and guarantee the right of return of Palestinian refugees.”
In calling for the day of labour action, the WFTU says that as imperialist aggression intensifies, working-class solidarity must intensify as well.
“While Palestinians in Gaza live without food, water and electricity for almost two months, while an unprecedented murderous attack is being carried out to flatten the Gaza Strip, workers from every corner of the globe refuse to stay silent. Militant trade unions join their voices with the Palestinian people, condemn the imperialist hypocrisy, and demand an immediate ceasefire.”
The federation, which represents more than 105 million workers in 133 countries, is calling on its affiliates and all trade unions around the world to organize mobilizations and demonstrations in both the streets and the workplaces, under the slogan: “Workers of the world stand with Palestine!”
[Photo: Workers in South Africa during WFTU solidarity campaign with Palestine, October 2023]
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