Dockworkers around the world have called a strike in protest against arms shipments. The strike will be held at 113 ports in 22 countries. The workers strongly oppose the use of ports for war and arms exports. The action could disrupt 40 percent of Mediterranean cargo traffic and hold up $2 billion (about Tk 24,796 crore) worth of goods, the news agency Reuters reported.
Dockworkers’ unions in Italy, France, Greece, Spain’s Basque region, Turkey and Morocco first called the strike. More than 25 unions now support it. The protest is expected to affect major shipping hubs in Europe and beyond, among them Hamburg, Valencia, Le Havre, Piraeus, Genoa and India’s Nhava Sheva.
The Genoa port authority said it expected a limited impact. The Piraeus port authority warned that ferry services to the Greek islands could be disrupted. Germany’s Verdi, France’s CGT and India’s WTWFI have backed the strike. The Global Sumud Flotilla, which has tried to break the blockade of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, has also declared its support. Italy’s USB union has called a 24-hour nationwide general strike on the same day. Workers in Greece will stop work from 8am to 11am.
Last May, European workers demanded an end to the transport of weapons to war zones in the “Istanbul Declaration”. Italian ports have protested before by blocking arms shipments bound for Israel and US bases.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report