Rally at ILWU International - On Black Friday for Blockade of Military Aid to Israel

The Italian union Si Cobas will be joining the general strike in Italy on November 28 to protest the genocide in Gaza.

Italy USB Union Appeal To US Workers For Action On Palestine Nov 28 & 29
https://youtu.be/M9YYFQBzWxE

The Italian union USB is going on a general strike on November 28th and will be rallying
on November 29 against the genocide in Gaza. They are also appealing for US workers
and unions including the ILWU & ILA to stop the movement of all cargo to Israel to stop
the genocide.

For additional info:
USB[https://www.usb.it

Disarm Genocide Now: Global Workers Join November 28-29 Days Of Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 27, 2025

Press Contact:
Julieta Morales
Email: Chrissmallsassistant [at] gmail.com
Tel: (201) 920-9833


DISARM GENOCIDE NOW: GLOBAL WORKERS JOIN NOVEMBER 28–29 DAYS OF ACTION

UNITED STATES — Workers, students, unions, and community organizations across the United States will join a coordinated international mobilization on November 28–29 to demand an immediate end to U.S. complicity in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Under the banner DISARM GENOCIDE NOW, actions will include a major Black Friday mobilization at the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) headquarters in North Bergen, NJ—where participants will rally from 12–3 PM to demand the union halt all arms shipments to Israel—as well as in San Francisco at the ILWU International Headquarters 1188 Franklin St from 4-5:30 PM, nationwide Black Friday boycotts, and solidarity events linked to global strikes.

These U.S. actions join an international wave of labor and community mobilization: the Italian union USB is leading a nationwide general strike on November 28 and a mass demonstration in Rome on November 29, while activists in Australia will blockade the world’s largest coal port, and movements worldwide—from Colombia to Morocco—will mobilize under the shared demand to stop the flow of weapons and end complicity in genocide. Momentum has been building rapidly, with over 20 U.S. organizations endorsing the call, including the Amazon Labor Union, Arab American Civic Council, Lifeline for Palestine, Labor for Palestine National Network, Teamsters Mobilize, Yalla Indivisible, and Folk for Falastin, alongside a wide coalition of community and labor organizations nationwide.

USB has issued a direct appeal to U.S. labor, urging longshore and transport workers—including the ILWU and ILA—to halt all cargo destined for Israel and thereby disrupt the supply chains that sustain the military assault.

Francesco Staccioli, national board member of Italy’s USB Trade Confederation, emphasized the urgency of coordinated international resistance:

“Our comrades in the U.S. are organizing actions on November 28–29, and at the same time we will shut down Italy again with a general strike against the war economy that cuts our wages, our rights, and our public services — an economy directly linked to genocide. We protest our governments’ complicity and uplift the call by Palestinian trade unions for an arms embargo. International solidarity is no longer optional. We must connect our struggles to build a world that serves human needs, not war. Free Palestine, and free the world from the lords of war.”

Across the United States, workers are challenging the corporations and institutions that profit from and enable the destruction of Gaza. Organizers emphasize that these actions are rooted in a simple fact: genocide cannot be carried out without labor, and therefore labor can refuse to be complicit. As Chris Smalls, an organizer with Disarm Genocide, explained, “Workers sit at chokepoints of the economy. When we refuse to build the weapons, move the cargo, or staff the supply chains, the machinery of genocide grinds to a halt.”

Here in the United States, workers and community organizations will join this global wave of resistance through Black Friday boycotts, port actions, protests, and educational outreach — refusing to fuel the corporations and systems that enable and profit from the assault on Gaza and repression at home.

The coordinated call comes at a moment when Palestinians, including the major trade unions in Gaza, have issued urgent pleas for global labor action. In its 2025 International Workers’ Day statement, the PGFTU–Gaza urged international unions to move beyond words: “We call on you to translate solidarity into effective actions that create real pressure to stop this dirty war.” Organizers emphasize that the upcoming two-day mobilization is a direct response to that call.

The Days of Action also highlights growing recognition across the U.S. labor movement of its own government’s central role in the assault. Tens of billions in U.S. military aid, weapons contracts, and diplomatic protection enable Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. “U.S. complicity is not rhetorical—it is material, political, and logistical,” said …who organizes with Labor for Palestine. “We cannot claim to stand for working people if our labor, our tax dollars, and our workplaces are fueling mass killing abroad.”

The mobilizations take place against a backdrop of intensifying domestic repression. Students, trade unionists, immigrant communities, educators, and journalists across the U.S. are facing arrests, firings, suspensions, gag orders and investigations for expressing solidarity with Palestine. Organizers argue that this repression is inseparable from the violence in Gaza. As one rank-and-file … worker participating in the November 28 actions put it, “The same political forces that bomb Gaza surveil us at work, retaliate against whistleblowers, call ICE on immigrants, and union-bust at Starbucks and Amazon. The war abroad and the war at home are two fronts of the same project.”

The international actions culminate on November 29, the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, when Palestinian-led organizations around the world will hold demonstrations, cultural actions, and mass mobilizations affirming Palestinian liberation.

“An injury to one is an injury to all,” said a … member helping coordinate the port action on the West Coast. “Dockworkers have stopped apartheid before—in South Africa—and we can do it again. Workers have the power to choke off the flow of weapons, and we intend to use it.”

Organizers stress that this week’s actions are not symbolic but strategic: a coordinated attempt by workers to leverage their collective economic position against the war machine. “This is only the beginning,” said one Disarm Genocide organizer. “We are building toward a general strike in the United States. If the government refuses to stop arming genocide, the working class will make it impossible to continue.”

For additional information:
Disarm Genocide Petition: https://disarmgenocide.org
USB: https://www.usb.it