Workers’ Actions Against Israel Generally More Important Politically than Street Activism, but Street Activism that Disrupts Daily Life May Reinforce Workers’ Actions

Recently, Barcelona workers from Spain, in conjunction with coordination with some NGOs, refused to export military equipment destined to Israel:

Barcelona dock workers refuse to deal with weapons ships heading to Israel

“The Barcelona port’s decision to refuse handling weaponry headed to Israel follows a similar move by Belgian transport unions last week.”

The Barcelona port stevedores’ union has refused to load and unload any military material headed to Israel amid the war in Gaza, where Israel ruthlessly carried out a military campaign, killing over 10,300 Palestinians – mostly children and women – since 7 October.

The union also urged the protection of civilian populations in areas of conflict, following a similar move by Belgian transport unions last week.

In a statement, the workers stressed the “absolute rejection of any form of violence” and see it as an “obligation and commitment to vehemently defend” the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which they say are being violated in Gaza, and other war-hit areas.

The decision on Monday is mostly symbolic and seeks to encourage other Spanish ports to follow suit, the secretary of the OEPB union, Josep Maria Deop, told Reuters on Tuesday.

The OEPB is the only union representing the 1,200 stevedores at Barcelona’s port.

The union said it would work with local NGOs to detect which ships were carrying weapons headed to Israel, the Spanish website El Diario said. Deop stated he was convinced there were military shipments from Barcelona because “it’s a port that moves all types of goods”.

The union also carried out a similar move in 2011, in an effort to hinder weapons shipment to Libya during the NATO military intervention.

Barcelona’s port authority declined to comment and said it did not have data on military shipments, Reuters said.

Israel launched a brutal onslaught on the Gaza Strip on 7 October, killing at least 10,328 Palestinians, including 4,327 children.

Tel Aviv has used advanced weaponry to carry out its atrocities and received military supplies and aid from its ally, the US.

Hospitals, places of worship and residential buildings have been struck, leaving Gazans with few options as they seek refuge from Israeli shelling.

Spain exported military equipment worth 1.3 billion euros ($1.39 billion) in the first half of 2022, with shipments to Israel amounting to 9 million euros, according to the latest available official data.

Spanish officials have stated that Madrid does not plan to export any lethal military equipment to be used in Israel’s war in Gaza, state news agency EFE cited government sources as saying last week.

The OEPB said it opposed all types of violence wherever it happens, including the occupied and war-hit Palestinian territories, and that its boycott seeks to protect civilians anywhere.

“No cause justifies sacrificing civilians,” it said.

Barcelona’s move came as similar actions were taken by ports elsewhere. Last week, five Belgian transport unions – ACV Puls, BTB, BGTK, and ACV – Transcom – refused to handle weapons headed to Israel.

The unions said in a joint statement that they were demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is rapidly worsening.

On Monday, pro-Palestine demonstrators blocked traffic near the port of Tacoma, Washington state, where a military supply ship bound for Israel had arrived.

Although the above characterizes the Barcelona workers’ acts as mainly symbolic, such acts, if coordinated with other workers in other countries, would likely have a greater impact on the genocide against the Palestinians than all the street protests that have occurred. Many street protests occurred after George Floyd’s murder–but there has been little significant change in police budgets or in the abolition of police. Street protests, unless they disrupt the production of our lives in some fashion, will likely have little impact.

Some forms of street protests–those that disturb property relations in some fashion and hence are more of a threat to the existing power relations, of course have the potential in reinforcing measures taken by workers:

Jewish led Palestine solidarity actions being counted as hate incidents.

ON OCTOBER 27, several thousand Jews and their allies shut down the main terminal of Grand Central Station during rush hour in New York City, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, the activists at the peaceful sit-in wore black T-shirts that read “Not In Our Name.” “It’s the largest sit-in protest the city has seen in over two decades,” Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman said. About 400 people were arrested, including rabbis.

The Anti-Defamation League has classified the event — and dozens of other protests led by Jewish groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow — as “anti-Israel,” according to an analysis by The Intercept, and added them to their database documenting rising antisemitism across the U.S.

“We’re seeing a genuine rise in antisemitic attacks and white nationalist, white supremacist, antisemitic hate and violence,” Eva Borgwardt, the national spokesperson for IfNotNow, told me. “When white nationalism is on the rise, to cheapen the accusation of antisemitism by applying it to Palestinian rights advocates, including Jews, is incredibly irresponsible and dangerous.”

Since Hamas’s brutal October 7 attack on southern Israel where Palestinian militants killed over 1,200 Israelis — most of them civilians — and took over 200 hostages, the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group that tracks antisemitism and extremism, has been keeping track of the alarming rise of antisemitic incidents.

Here in Canada, there have also been actions that are aimed to disrupt the material or actual process which contributes to the genocide of Palestinians:

John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, however, seems to exaggerate the impact of current street protests–regardless of the kind of protest:

The impact of mass protests on governments have to be assessed in the given context. Certainly questions of the scale and form of the actions are very important, as is the matter of which segments of society are being drawn into them and the degree to which they are influencing general opinion.

There are, however, factors that are external to protest movements that are of enormous importance. In the case of the present upsurge of Palestine solidarity and the immediate key demand of a ceasefire, the power structure is in a weak position in certain ways. Only a US led clique of Western powers are blocking demands to stop the genocidal assault and, even within this unholy alliance, there are very major tensions. The Biden administration itself is a house divided.

The problem is that the present Israeli regime, in line with its political role as a reckless attack dog, is forging ahead with uncontrolled brutality with only very imprecise notions of the endgame. The West’s garrison of enforced stability in the Middle East is becoming an explosive source of instability and possible catastrophe.

Biden and his nervous allies continue to double down on their support for mass murder for the present but the horror and chaos continues to worsen, making this course of action more and more untenable. In this context, mass action on the streets and a powerful display of strident opposition at home becomes hugely unsettling for those in power.

As Macron comes out for a ceasefire and more and more expressions of concern about the indiscriminate killing underway come from high places, the pressure of mass action is enormously important and highly influential.

Street protests, without any disruptive power, are more likely wishful thinking and feel-good efforts than anything else. They make those who participate in them feel good that “they are doing something good” but do not achieve any other real objective.

Of course, street protests that do have disruptive power are much more likely to result in coercion by the government–because of their potential for disruptive power of existing conditions. This means that such actions can have negative consequences for those who participate in them–another reason why street protests without disruptive power are the preferred form by many who engage in them. Such protests are likely to be superficial and result in no cumulative impact either on organizing or on the consciousness of the participants.

This does not mean that spontaneous disruptive actions should be advocated at every turn. Strategy requies that the tactics selected should have some probability of having a cumulative impact and contribute to a socialist society.