On October 3, 2025, Italy shut down. Trains stopped running, ports closed, and highways were blocked as two million people joined what union organizers called the largest general strike in recent Italian history. The following day, more than a million people marched in Rome. The reason was not only low wages or poor working conditions, but also Palestine.
Two days earlier, on October 2, Israeli naval forces had intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla – a massive civilian convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza — in international waters. Among those detained were Italian parliamentarians and activists. The Italian government, led by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, had sent a naval frigate to escort the flotilla but only for part of the way, withdrawing before it reached Gaza’s coast. When Israeli forces seized the boats and arrested the crew, Italian workers decided they had had enough.
“We said we would block everything, and we did,’’ said Stefano De Angelis while speaking to The Polis Project. He is a national coordinator of the Unione Sindacale di Base, one of the unions that organized the strike alongside CGIL and SI COBAS. The strike revealed something profound about contemporary Italy: a government aligned with Israel and United States policy confronting a society increasingly opposed to the Palestinian genocide and the broader militarization of Europe.
Italy’s general strike offers a model in which organized labor—not just students—leads the charge. In this model, solidarity with Palestine is inseparable from the opposition to austerity, low wages, and the military-industrial complex. This has thrown up the crucial question of whether workers in the West hold the key to putting effective pressure on authorities.
The October Strike: Why It Was Possible
The October 3 general strike wasn’t the first. On September 22, grassroots unions including Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), Confederazione Unitaria di Base (CUB), and Sindacato Generale di Base (SGB) had organized a 24-hour general strike that shut down ports in Genoa, Livorno, Trieste, and Venice. The rallies delayed regional trains and closed down metro lines in major cities. The September strike was explicitly called to protest “Italy’s complicity in the Gaza war” and support the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Italian unions are able to call political strikes because of their unique structure. “The Italian confederal union experience is almost unique,” said Salvatore Marra from CGIL’s International Department. “We address general issues, not just labor. International solidarity and pacifism are CGIL’s core beliefs.”
This tradition of unions is deeply rooted in Italian ports. Jose Nivoi, spokesperson for the Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali (CALP) in Genoa and a USB organizer, traced the lineage back decades. “The port of Genoa has always been central to dockworker mobilization against government decisions,” he explained. “June 30, 1960, is like Liberation Day for Genoese dockworkers. Strong demonstrations and clashes with the police brought down the Tambroni government, which was fascist-supported. Genoa’s port has a long tradition (of militant labour activism), which later took up the conciliatory union approach of CGIL and CISL.”
CALP was founded in October 2011 specifically to revive militant labor action. “We decided to reintroduce strikes as a form of social protest, not just for workplace disputes,” Nivoi said. “We have three main principles: the first one is moral — we’re contributing to governments’ massacres. The second one is legal—Italy’s 185/1990 law prohibits arms transit to countries using war as a resolution tool, enforcing Article 11 of the Italian Constitution, which rejects war in all its forms. The third one is about workers’ safety: handling military cargo puts our health at risk from chemical weapons residue.”
In May 2021, Livorno’s dockworkers had refused to load arms and explosives bound for the Israeli port of Ashdod, declaring that their port would not be “complicit in violence against Palestinians”. Between July and August 2025, dockworkers in Genoa blocked three Israeli-bound ships carrying weapons. “We coordinated with dockworkers from Fos-sur-Mer in Marseille and Piraeus in Greece, consolidating international port coordination with Tangier, Greece, France, and Spain on February 28, 2025. We focused on the Mediterranean as a center for arms movements and migrants fleeing war zones from the Middle East,” Nivoi said.
“We stopped ZIM and Evergreen shipping companies,’’ he added. “In one case, we blocked containers with missile launchers. In another, we stopped a Leonardo OTO Melara cannon bound for Qatar, which is involved in a proxy war in Sudan.”
However, the October 3 action following the Flotilla’s interception shook the country. Over two million people participated in around one hundred cities. Ports in Naples, Livorno, Salerno, and Genoa were completely blocked. Highways were occupied. In Milan and Bologna, protesters clashed with the police, though most demonstrations remained peaceful.
“Attacking unarmed activists in international waters, arresting and mistreating them, is not worthy of a civil democratic state,” CGIL’s Marra said. “We mobilized not only for the activists, but for the population inside Gaza who are besieged, starved, bombed, and slaughtered.”
Italy’s largest trade union confederation, CGIL, with more than 5 million members, joined the strike alongside the base unions. In Italy, base unions (sindacati di base) are independent labor organizations that operate outside three major confederations (sindacati confederali): CGIL, CISL, and UIL. While confederal unions are structured hierarchically and focus on institutional and sectoral negotiations with employers and the state, base unions operate autonomously through a decentralized model. They emphasize direct workplace representation and grassroots mobilization, often among precarious or less-unionized workers. The two traditions occasionally cooperate.
The alliance between labor and Palestinian solidarity in Italy is not a sudden development. Laila Hassan, one of the main organizers of Giovani Palestinesi (Young Palestinians), revealed a two-year organizing effort invisible to most observers. “This alliance between young Palestinians and base unions has been in the works for almost two years. Since shortly after October 7 (2023), we have worked with Italian grassroots unions to launch general strikes accompanied by national demonstrations,” she said.
“We have gone multiple times to union assemblies, meetings in factories and logistics warehouses,” Hassan continued. “There are political and material reasons that bring the workers’ cause very close to that of Palestinians—recognizing similarities in systems of oppression. Grassroots unions work in workplaces with a majority of racialized workers who see Palestine as a paradigm of liberation.”
Following drone attacks on the flotilla near Greece and domestic protests, Italy deployed the frigate to ensure the flotilla’s safe passage on international waters. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced the frigate would stop at 150 nautical miles from Gaza to avoid diplomatic incidents with Israel. The minister urged activists to accept an alternative, delivering aid via Cyprus through the Church, which the organizers refused.
Hassan commented, “After two years of genocide, this is an unacceptable position. If the Church could play this role, why didn’t it do it in these two years? Why did they propose to be an intermediary for humanitarian aid delivery now when Rafah’s crossing has been blocked for months?”
The contradiction was glaring: Italy sent military assets to support a humanitarian mission, then pulled back at a critical moment, leaving civilians to face Israeli forces alone. For workers who joined the picket line, the abandoned Flotilla crystallized their government’s complicity with Israel.
The strike’s power stemmed from its sectoral composition. “Port workers and the logistics sector are the strategic chokepoints,” USB’s De Angelis explained. “When you block the ports, you’re not just making a symbolic statement. You’re actually interrupting the flow of goods, including military equipment.” Italy, as a Mediterranean port hub, is crucial for arms shipments moving from European manufacturers to conflict zones in Southwest Asia.
The strike operated in a legal gray area. Italy’s strike law imposes strict notice requirements, especially for “political strikes” motivated by causes beyond workplace disputes. The October 3 strike was declared unlawful by the Commission due to an insufficient notice period. But the unions invoked Article 2, paragraph 7 of law 146/90, which permits strikes for “grave reasons,” arguing that the assault on civilian aid ships violated fundamental humanitarian values. “They can say it’s unlawful,” De Angelis commented, “but the Constitution allows for strikes on major issues, including attacks on constitutional principles. When Italy escorts a humanitarian mission and then abandons it to be attacked, that’s a constitutional question.”
Marra added that government officials “even called us subversive, against the national interest. The strike was legitimate because there’s a clause in Law 146/90 allowing general strikes for general and national interest even without respecting the notice period.”
The scale of mobilization marked a dramatic shift from one year earlier. “The previous year, a similar national protest for Palestine was not authorized and was demonized, and the entire country was militarized and blocked,” noted protest participant Nicola*. “All protests were blocked at Piazza di Porta San Paolo. There were clashes and a huge amount of tear gas. The same protest, one year later, had more than 1 million people.”
Why Now: Power and Leverage
Union density among active workers in Italy is around 32.5%. CGIL alone represents workers in 23 out of 26 economic sectors. Unionization remains robust in ports and logistics, giving workers the capacity to coordinate large-scale shutdowns. However, the raw numbers do not explain the success of the strike.
“We expected to draw attention and make slow progress,” De Angelis reflected. “But we found ourselves facing something unexpected: the squares of Italy filled with people protesting this government’s support for Israel and its economic policies destroying workers’ lives.”
The strike tapped into multiple sources of discontent. Italy is witnessing a surge in precarious contract work paying as little as €7 per hour, far below the €9 minimum wage requested by unions. Youth unemployment remains high, and those who do find work often cannot afford rent in the cities where jobs exist. Amid this, the Meloni government, elected in 2022 with post-fascist roots, has pursued austerity policies, increased military spending, and maintained arms exports to Israel.
Nivoi connected the dots: “This phenomenon of sending armaments abroad only to have them return home in the form of inflation creates poverty in the working world. When the Italian government in recent years, especially since 2022, started shifting public spending to the military sector, removing resources from the welfare state, health and education, increasing fuel and energy costs, this impoverished the working world. Gas prices went from €1.50 to €2 because they’re recovering money through those 50 cents for military spending. My commute is costing me more and if my salary is not adjusted for inflation, my purchasing power decreases.”
Italian independent media outlet Altraeconomia reported that Italian defense giant Leonardo SpA, Israel’s third largest arms vendor, continues supplying Israel with fighter jets, naval artillery, and helicopters despite government claims of an arms embargo. Just in the last three months of 2023, Italy exported approximately €2.1 million ($2.3 million) worth of military equipment to Israel. Even after October 2024, when PM Meloni announced restrictions on new arms sales, existing contracts continued. OTO Melara 76/62 Super Rapid naval guns, manufactured by Leonardo and mounted on Israeli warships enforcing Gaza’s blockade, remain in active use.
The government and employers strongly opposed the October strike. PM Meloni dismissed the strike as “a pretext for a long weekend” that “creates difficulties for Italians without helping Palestinians”. CGIL is unequivocal on this point. “We demand arms supplies be interrupted to all states that violate international and humanitarian law,” Marra stated firmly. “This means respecting international law. You don’t send bombs to Myanmar’s military junta, just as you shouldn’t send them to Israel’s regime that is slaughtering the population in Gaza.”
Confindustria, Italy’s main employers’ federation, called for stricter limits on political strikes and punishment for organizers of “wildcat” actions. The government deployed precettazione, a legal mechanism to compel workers back to work during strikes deemed harmful to national interest.
But the pressure only intensified. “When you’re in sync with the country on more radical positions, you force moderate forces to modify their approach,’’ De Angelis noted. CGIL, known for its historically cautious stance on militant action, adopted a language for its upcoming October 25 national mobilization that echoed USB’s demands. This is a clear shift from CGIL’s previous moderate positioning.
Meanwhile, the people who sang “Bella Ciao” against the Nazis and their Fascist collaborators do not appear to show any signs of toning down their voices for Palestine. On October 14, a day after the Gaza ceasefire agreement was signed, around 10,000 protesters marched through Udine ahead of Italy’s World Cup qualifier match against Israel. While most demonstrations were peaceful, minor clashes broke out in some places. Over 1,000 security personnel and drones were deployed against a demonstration near the Bluenergy Stadium, where the match took place. The country’s football federation has rejected calls to boycott Israel.
Italian Political Landscape
Italy is trying to play both sides amid Israel’s war in Gaza. At the United Nations, Meloni has condemned both Hamas’s October 7 attack and what she called Israel’s “disproportionate” military response. Italy has voted for UN resolutions supporting a two-state solution and Palestinian statehood. The government also announced it would back “some of the sanctions” the EU has proposed against Israel, though the specifics remain unclear.
Marra said, “Meloni is responsible, along with her government, for what is happening and has happened in Israel, because we never interrupted or pressured. Italy made us ashamed at the UN General Assembly, voting or abstaining against various resolutions.” He pointed to Italy’s abstention on suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement as particularly “shameful”.
As Italy remains the third-largest arms supplier to Israel, Palestinian organizer Laila Hassan was unimpressed with the government’s gestures, like sending the frigate. “We didn’t give much political relevance to this gesture because we always framed it as a propaganda tool. The government refused to admit that the choice to send naval ships was also made thanks to pressure from mobilization. But it was exactly that, because thousands of people hit the streets across Italy.”
Following Israel intercepting the flotilla boats and detaining those on board, Rome saw protests with placards accusing Meloni of being complicit in the genocide. Meloni refuses to use the term “genocide”—a red line that distinguishes her from Spain’s socialist government and from Italian protesters. This is despite the UN inquiry finding Israel’s war to be a genocide. Now her government and Leonardo SpA’s head Roberto Cingolani have been accused by the ICC of complicity in the genocide, according to the Italian prime minister herself.
Opposition’s political forces, such as Partito Democratico (PD), have been notably cautious, torn between pro-Palestinian activists in their base and pro-Israel figures in their leadership. The Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S) and Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (AVS) have been more supportive of the strikes, but they too are constrained by the need to maintain unity in the so-called ‘’broad camp’’ opposition to Meloni.
“The Partito Democratico has people inside who are pro-Israel,” De Angelis explained. “So even if they want to express a more radical position on Gaza, they have a problem with their coalition.”
This leaves grassroots unions and Palestinian community organizations as the most vocal opponents of government policy. This dynamic mirrors broader European patterns where civil society moves faster than political parties. The Palestinian community in Italy, though smaller than in other European countries, has been central to building the labor alliance. I have previously written on how Palestinian activists worked with unions to organize workplace assemblies, provide testimonies from Gaza, and frame the struggle in terms of working-class solidarity.
Nicola*, a student based in Bologna, sees universities as crucial in these movements. “I think universities were, in general, one of the centers of movement and reasoning for Palestine in Italy, and in some cases this helped cut ties with Israeli industries or universities. My university hasn’t taken concrete action to limit or condemn the genocide, and for this reason we’re still asking, still confronting, to cut relations with Israeli industries and universities.”
Europe’s Divided Front
Italy’s strikes have reverberated across a continent where governments are split over Gaza. Spain, under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has taken the most assertive pro-Palestinian stance in Western Europe, formally recognizing Palestinian statehood and imposing a total arms embargo on Israel in September 2025. Sánchez has explicitly called Israeli actions a “genocide”, a word most European leaders still avoid.
“Spain’s position is markedly more assertive,” De Angelis acknowledged. “In Italy, the solidarity comes from civil society and unions, not from government leadership.” Spanish unions, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), have also supported large demonstrations, including a rally on October 4 in Barcelona backed by over 500 organizations.
But a coordinated transnational strike action remains elusive. “We’re working on it,’’ De Angelis said. “We were planning a day of mobilization to block ports where arms pass through. We have published a joint declaration with several European and international union organizations condemning the genocide and calling for port blockades if military actions continue.”
Nivoi provided more details: “On February 28, 2025, we consolidated international port coordination—Tangier, Greece, France, Spain, Slovenia, all joined. We concentrated our action on the Mediterranean.” However, he acknowledged the legal barriers. “A general strike like we did on October 3 isn’t possible in most other countries. It’s specifically allowed under the Italian Constitution for major issues.”
Meanwhile, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), representing 45 million workers, has issued strong statements calling for a ceasefire, delivery of humanitarian aid, and even suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. However, the ETUC cannot organize continent-wide strikes as national strike laws vary too widely, and many countries do not recognize ‘political strikes’ like Italy does.
Italian universities have also mobilized, with student occupations of campuses at Bologna, Milan, Rome’s Sapienza University, and Turin, in coordination with union strikes. This student-worker alliance mirrors but differs from US campus protests. In Italy, trade and student unions lead, and students follow, creating a more unified political front and reflecting Italy’s strong organized labor tradition.
What’s Next?
The strikes have achieved visibility and created political pressure, but not policy changes. The Meloni government has not imposed an arms embargo, recognized Palestinian statehood, or withdrawn support for Israel. Leonardo SpA continues fulfilling defense contracts.
The question now is whether the movement can sustain itself without burning out. “You can’t play the strike card repeatedly,” De Angelis cautioned. “In Italy, we don’t have a resistance fund like they do in France, where workers can strike indefinitely because they are still compensated. Italian workers already have low salaries; losing pay is a real hardship.” The USB coordinator added that future actions must focus on mobilization, demonstrations, port blockades, and targeted campaigns, rather than repeated general strikes.
Outlining CGIL’s ongoing efforts, Marra said, “We will continue absolute pressure on international, European and Italian institutions to continue sanctioning the State of Israel. We are on our third distribution of humanitarian aid. On October 15, there was a serious attack by the Israeli army on the Palestinian union PGFTU’s headquarters in Nablus. We will help them rebuild their headquarters.”
He emphasized that the latest ceasefire doesn’t end the struggle. “The ceasefire doesn’t obliterate the horror that happened and is still happening in the West Bank. The colonization and the destruction of the Oslo Accords continue. They are destroying the Palestinian state—what two-state solutions can then exist? We have pushed within the International Labour Organization for recognition of the State of Palestine.’’
Hassan also commented on the ceasefire and what this “peace’’ means to Palestinians: “For many people, the ceasefire agreement is interpreted as achieving an objective in favor of Palestinians, which clearly it is not. We Palestinians have seen the rhetoric of peace and know it very well; it’s part of our history. Peace agreements, ceasefires, truces—the point isn’t this, because Israel will continue to do what it has always done, trying to achieve its objective, which is the elimination of the Palestinian people.”
She identifies a deeper problem with how solidarity has been framed. “Western empathy can only emerge when you are considered a perfect victim—the Palestinian child, the woman tearing her clothes after seeing her son’s corpse, people in line with empty plates,” Hassan observed. “In all mainstream debates about Palestine, they never discuss the right to resistance or self-determination from a political standpoint. It’s always reduced to a humanitarian issue.”
Hence, Hassan insisted on maintaining political clarity. “We think it’s still very important to bring discussion to the political theme, to what settlement colonialism really is, what are its characteristics, what are its objectives. Solidarity has been so depoliticized. People look obsessively for leadership, to follow a leader who says things that touch people’s emotions. This is problematic.”
Meanwhile, the European labor movement is grappling with internal contradictions around militarization and economic conversion. The power of organized labor to disrupt strategic infrastructure such as ports, logistics, and transport demonstrates the realm of possibility when unions see themselves as political actors, not just workplace advocates. Italian unions openly challenge foreign policy, militarization, and corporate complicity in war.
But Italy’s model also reveals constraints. Even massive strikes could not shift government policy. The political parties of the center-left remained cautious, caught between their base and their establishment ties. And without sustained organization, spontaneous mobilization risks exhaustion.
Can Such Strikes be Replicated?
What’s replicable is not the specific tactic, as only a few countries permit political general strikes, but the alliance-building strategy.
Palestinian activists in Italy succeeded by connecting their cause to workers’ material conditions: low wages, austerity, military spending that diverts from social needs, and corporate profiteering from war. They built relationships with unions through workplace assemblies and direct organizing, not just solidarity statements.
Hassan detailed the groundwork, saying, “We as a diaspora organization have gone to union assemblies and meetings multiple times in these two years. We created this common path with grassroots unions where there was possibility to create moments of confrontation with workers to open a debate on why Palestine remains an important theme of political convergence.”
Amid mobilization and political pressure created by workers, students, and civil society in Europe, governments have responded differently. While Italy maintains its traditional diplomatic stance, Spain has implemented an arms embargo, and Ireland has recognized Palestine. Massive demonstrations have erupted in Belgium, Norway, Portugal, and beyond, but policy responses vary significantly across countries.
“We think a new phase has opened in Italy,’’ De Angelis reflected, adding, “Movements and unions have intercepted a discontent that exists in society, and traditional political forces, especially PD, are struggling to reconnect.” The question haunting this mobilization is whether it’s powerful enough to change material realities or destined to remain symbolic.
“We hope this mobilization is the prelude to a reawakening of popular consciousness,” De Angelis expressed. “We need organized forces, like unions and political movements, to help people understand the real contradictions. The strike was spontaneous in its huge participation, but we also had the capacity to be present in over 100 cities, leading demonstrations with clear words.”
For now, the movement continues, through both general strikes and sustained organizing, and the slow work of building a political alternative.
In an increasingly militarized and unequal Europe, Italy’s strikes have demonstrated that workers still have power. Whether they can wield it decisively enough to change the course of war and empire remains an open question, one that resonates far beyond Italy’s borders.
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The Italian Model: How Workers Shut Down Italy for Palestine
Millions of Italian workers held a massive strike against their government's support for Israel, revealing a deepening rift between state policy and civil society across Europe. Photo by Sara Tanveer
On October 3, 2025, Italy shut down. Trains stopped running, ports closed, and highways were blocked as two million people joined what union organizers called the largest general strike in recent Italian history. The following day, more than a million people marched in Rome. The reason was not only low wages or poor working conditions, but also Palestine.
Two days earlier, on October 2, Israeli naval forces had intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla – a massive civilian convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza — in international waters. Among those detained were Italian parliamentarians and activists. The Italian government, led by far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, had sent a naval frigate to escort the flotilla but only for part of the way, withdrawing before it reached Gaza’s coast. When Israeli forces seized the boats and arrested the crew, Italian workers decided they had had enough.
“We said we would block everything, and we did,’’ said Stefano De Angelis while speaking to The Polis Project. He is a national coordinator of the Unione Sindacale di Base, one of the unions that organized the strike alongside CGIL and SI COBAS. The strike revealed something profound about contemporary Italy: a government aligned with Israel and United States policy confronting a society increasingly opposed to the Palestinian genocide and the broader militarization of Europe.
Italy’s general strike offers a model in which organized labor—not just students—leads the charge. In this model, solidarity with Palestine is inseparable from the opposition to austerity, low wages, and the military-industrial complex. This has thrown up the crucial question of whether workers in the West hold the key to putting effective pressure on authorities.
The October Strike: Why It Was Possible
The October 3 general strike wasn’t the first. On September 22, grassroots unions including Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), Confederazione Unitaria di Base (CUB), and Sindacato Generale di Base (SGB) had organized a 24-hour general strike that shut down ports in Genoa, Livorno, Trieste, and Venice. The rallies delayed regional trains and closed down metro lines in major cities. The September strike was explicitly called to protest “Italy’s complicity in the Gaza war” and support the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Italian unions are able to call political strikes because of their unique structure. “The Italian confederal union experience is almost unique,” said Salvatore Marra from CGIL’s International Department. “We address general issues, not just labor. International solidarity and pacifism are CGIL’s core beliefs.”
This tradition of unions is deeply rooted in Italian ports. Jose Nivoi, spokesperson for the Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali (CALP) in Genoa and a USB organizer, traced the lineage back decades. “The port of Genoa has always been central to dockworker mobilization against government decisions,” he explained. “June 30, 1960, is like Liberation Day for Genoese dockworkers. Strong demonstrations and clashes with the police brought down the Tambroni government, which was fascist-supported. Genoa’s port has a long tradition (of militant labour activism), which later took up the conciliatory union approach of CGIL and CISL.”
CALP was founded in October 2011 specifically to revive militant labor action. “We decided to reintroduce strikes as a form of social protest, not just for workplace disputes,” Nivoi said. “We have three main principles: the first one is moral — we’re contributing to governments’ massacres. The second one is legal—Italy’s 185/1990 law prohibits arms transit to countries using war as a resolution tool, enforcing Article 11 of the Italian Constitution, which rejects war in all its forms. The third one is about workers’ safety: handling military cargo puts our health at risk from chemical weapons residue.”
In May 2021, Livorno’s dockworkers had refused to load arms and explosives bound for the Israeli port of Ashdod, declaring that their port would not be “complicit in violence against Palestinians”. Between July and August 2025, dockworkers in Genoa blocked three Israeli-bound ships carrying weapons. “We coordinated with dockworkers from Fos-sur-Mer in Marseille and Piraeus in Greece, consolidating international port coordination with Tangier, Greece, France, and Spain on February 28, 2025. We focused on the Mediterranean as a center for arms movements and migrants fleeing war zones from the Middle East,” Nivoi said.
“We stopped ZIM and Evergreen shipping companies,’’ he added. “In one case, we blocked containers with missile launchers. In another, we stopped a Leonardo OTO Melara cannon bound for Qatar, which is involved in a proxy war in Sudan.”
However, the October 3 action following the Flotilla’s interception shook the country. Over two million people participated in around one hundred cities. Ports in Naples, Livorno, Salerno, and Genoa were completely blocked. Highways were occupied. In Milan and Bologna, protesters clashed with the police, though most demonstrations remained peaceful.
“Attacking unarmed activists in international waters, arresting and mistreating them, is not worthy of a civil democratic state,” CGIL’s Marra said. “We mobilized not only for the activists, but for the population inside Gaza who are besieged, starved, bombed, and slaughtered.”
Italy’s largest trade union confederation, CGIL, with more than 5 million members, joined the strike alongside the base unions. In Italy, base unions (sindacati di base) are independent labor organizations that operate outside three major confederations (sindacati confederali): CGIL, CISL, and UIL. While confederal unions are structured hierarchically and focus on institutional and sectoral negotiations with employers and the state, base unions operate autonomously through a decentralized model. They emphasize direct workplace representation and grassroots mobilization, often among precarious or less-unionized workers. The two traditions occasionally cooperate.
The alliance between labor and Palestinian solidarity in Italy is not a sudden development. Laila Hassan, one of the main organizers of Giovani Palestinesi (Young Palestinians), revealed a two-year organizing effort invisible to most observers. “This alliance between young Palestinians and base unions has been in the works for almost two years. Since shortly after October 7 (2023), we have worked with Italian grassroots unions to launch general strikes accompanied by national demonstrations,” she said.
“We have gone multiple times to union assemblies, meetings in factories and logistics warehouses,” Hassan continued. “There are political and material reasons that bring the workers’ cause very close to that of Palestinians—recognizing similarities in systems of oppression. Grassroots unions work in workplaces with a majority of racialized workers who see Palestine as a paradigm of liberation.”
Following drone attacks on the flotilla near Greece and domestic protests, Italy deployed the frigate to ensure the flotilla’s safe passage on international waters. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced the frigate would stop at 150 nautical miles from Gaza to avoid diplomatic incidents with Israel. The minister urged activists to accept an alternative, delivering aid via Cyprus through the Church, which the organizers refused.
Hassan commented, “After two years of genocide, this is an unacceptable position. If the Church could play this role, why didn’t it do it in these two years? Why did they propose to be an intermediary for humanitarian aid delivery now when Rafah’s crossing has been blocked for months?”
The contradiction was glaring: Italy sent military assets to support a humanitarian mission, then pulled back at a critical moment, leaving civilians to face Israeli forces alone. For workers who joined the picket line, the abandoned Flotilla crystallized their government’s complicity with Israel.
The strike’s power stemmed from its sectoral composition. “Port workers and the logistics sector are the strategic chokepoints,” USB’s De Angelis explained. “When you block the ports, you’re not just making a symbolic statement. You’re actually interrupting the flow of goods, including military equipment.” Italy, as a Mediterranean port hub, is crucial for arms shipments moving from European manufacturers to conflict zones in Southwest Asia.
The strike operated in a legal gray area. Italy’s strike law imposes strict notice requirements, especially for “political strikes” motivated by causes beyond workplace disputes. The October 3 strike was declared unlawful by the Commission due to an insufficient notice period. But the unions invoked Article 2, paragraph 7 of law 146/90, which permits strikes for “grave reasons,” arguing that the assault on civilian aid ships violated fundamental humanitarian values. “They can say it’s unlawful,” De Angelis commented, “but the Constitution allows for strikes on major issues, including attacks on constitutional principles. When Italy escorts a humanitarian mission and then abandons it to be attacked, that’s a constitutional question.”
Marra added that government officials “even called us subversive, against the national interest. The strike was legitimate because there’s a clause in Law 146/90 allowing general strikes for general and national interest even without respecting the notice period.”
The scale of mobilization marked a dramatic shift from one year earlier. “The previous year, a similar national protest for Palestine was not authorized and was demonized, and the entire country was militarized and blocked,” noted protest participant Nicola*. “All protests were blocked at Piazza di Porta San Paolo. There were clashes and a huge amount of tear gas. The same protest, one year later, had more than 1 million people.”
Why Now: Power and Leverage
Union density among active workers in Italy is around 32.5%. CGIL alone represents workers in 23 out of 26 economic sectors. Unionization remains robust in ports and logistics, giving workers the capacity to coordinate large-scale shutdowns. However, the raw numbers do not explain the success of the strike.
“We expected to draw attention and make slow progress,” De Angelis reflected. “But we found ourselves facing something unexpected: the squares of Italy filled with people protesting this government’s support for Israel and its economic policies destroying workers’ lives.”
The strike tapped into multiple sources of discontent. Italy is witnessing a surge in precarious contract work paying as little as €7 per hour, far below the €9 minimum wage requested by unions. Youth unemployment remains high, and those who do find work often cannot afford rent in the cities where jobs exist. Amid this, the Meloni government, elected in 2022 with post-fascist roots, has pursued austerity policies, increased military spending, and maintained arms exports to Israel.
Nivoi connected the dots: “This phenomenon of sending armaments abroad only to have them return home in the form of inflation creates poverty in the working world. When the Italian government in recent years, especially since 2022, started shifting public spending to the military sector, removing resources from the welfare state, health and education, increasing fuel and energy costs, this impoverished the working world. Gas prices went from €1.50 to €2 because they’re recovering money through those 50 cents for military spending. My commute is costing me more and if my salary is not adjusted for inflation, my purchasing power decreases.”
Italian independent media outlet Altraeconomia reported that Italian defense giant Leonardo SpA, Israel’s third largest arms vendor, continues supplying Israel with fighter jets, naval artillery, and helicopters despite government claims of an arms embargo. Just in the last three months of 2023, Italy exported approximately €2.1 million ($2.3 million) worth of military equipment to Israel. Even after October 2024, when PM Meloni announced restrictions on new arms sales, existing contracts continued. OTO Melara 76/62 Super Rapid naval guns, manufactured by Leonardo and mounted on Israeli warships enforcing Gaza’s blockade, remain in active use.
The government and employers strongly opposed the October strike. PM Meloni dismissed the strike as “a pretext for a long weekend” that “creates difficulties for Italians without helping Palestinians”. CGIL is unequivocal on this point. “We demand arms supplies be interrupted to all states that violate international and humanitarian law,” Marra stated firmly. “This means respecting international law. You don’t send bombs to Myanmar’s military junta, just as you shouldn’t send them to Israel’s regime that is slaughtering the population in Gaza.”
Confindustria, Italy’s main employers’ federation, called for stricter limits on political strikes and punishment for organizers of “wildcat” actions. The government deployed precettazione, a legal mechanism to compel workers back to work during strikes deemed harmful to national interest.
But the pressure only intensified. “When you’re in sync with the country on more radical positions, you force moderate forces to modify their approach,’’ De Angelis noted. CGIL, known for its historically cautious stance on militant action, adopted a language for its upcoming October 25 national mobilization that echoed USB’s demands. This is a clear shift from CGIL’s previous moderate positioning.
Meanwhile, the people who sang “Bella Ciao” against the Nazis and their Fascist collaborators do not appear to show any signs of toning down their voices for Palestine. On October 14, a day after the Gaza ceasefire agreement was signed, around 10,000 protesters marched through Udine ahead of Italy’s World Cup qualifier match against Israel. While most demonstrations were peaceful, minor clashes broke out in some places. Over 1,000 security personnel and drones were deployed against a demonstration near the Bluenergy Stadium, where the match took place. The country’s football federation has rejected calls to boycott Israel.
Italian Political Landscape
Italy is trying to play both sides amid Israel’s war in Gaza. At the United Nations, Meloni has condemned both Hamas’s October 7 attack and what she called Israel’s “disproportionate” military response. Italy has voted for UN resolutions supporting a two-state solution and Palestinian statehood. The government also announced it would back “some of the sanctions” the EU has proposed against Israel, though the specifics remain unclear.
Marra said, “Meloni is responsible, along with her government, for what is happening and has happened in Israel, because we never interrupted or pressured. Italy made us ashamed at the UN General Assembly, voting or abstaining against various resolutions.” He pointed to Italy’s abstention on suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement as particularly “shameful”.
As Italy remains the third-largest arms supplier to Israel, Palestinian organizer Laila Hassan was unimpressed with the government’s gestures, like sending the frigate. “We didn’t give much political relevance to this gesture because we always framed it as a propaganda tool. The government refused to admit that the choice to send naval ships was also made thanks to pressure from mobilization. But it was exactly that, because thousands of people hit the streets across Italy.”
Following Israel intercepting the flotilla boats and detaining those on board, Rome saw protests with placards accusing Meloni of being complicit in the genocide. Meloni refuses to use the term “genocide”—a red line that distinguishes her from Spain’s socialist government and from Italian protesters. This is despite the UN inquiry finding Israel’s war to be a genocide. Now her government and Leonardo SpA’s head Roberto Cingolani have been accused by the ICC of complicity in the genocide, according to the Italian prime minister herself.
Opposition’s political forces, such as Partito Democratico (PD), have been notably cautious, torn between pro-Palestinian activists in their base and pro-Israel figures in their leadership. The Movimento Cinque Stelle (M5S) and Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra (AVS) have been more supportive of the strikes, but they too are constrained by the need to maintain unity in the so-called ‘’broad camp’’ opposition to Meloni.
“The Partito Democratico has people inside who are pro-Israel,” De Angelis explained. “So even if they want to express a more radical position on Gaza, they have a problem with their coalition.”
This leaves grassroots unions and Palestinian community organizations as the most vocal opponents of government policy. This dynamic mirrors broader European patterns where civil society moves faster than political parties. The Palestinian community in Italy, though smaller than in other European countries, has been central to building the labor alliance. I have previously written on how Palestinian activists worked with unions to organize workplace assemblies, provide testimonies from Gaza, and frame the struggle in terms of working-class solidarity.
Nicola*, a student based in Bologna, sees universities as crucial in these movements. “I think universities were, in general, one of the centers of movement and reasoning for Palestine in Italy, and in some cases this helped cut ties with Israeli industries or universities. My university hasn’t taken concrete action to limit or condemn the genocide, and for this reason we’re still asking, still confronting, to cut relations with Israeli industries and universities.”
Europe’s Divided Front
Italy’s strikes have reverberated across a continent where governments are split over Gaza. Spain, under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has taken the most assertive pro-Palestinian stance in Western Europe, formally recognizing Palestinian statehood and imposing a total arms embargo on Israel in September 2025. Sánchez has explicitly called Israeli actions a “genocide”, a word most European leaders still avoid.
“Spain’s position is markedly more assertive,” De Angelis acknowledged. “In Italy, the solidarity comes from civil society and unions, not from government leadership.” Spanish unions, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), have also supported large demonstrations, including a rally on October 4 in Barcelona backed by over 500 organizations.
But a coordinated transnational strike action remains elusive. “We’re working on it,’’ De Angelis said. “We were planning a day of mobilization to block ports where arms pass through. We have published a joint declaration with several European and international union organizations condemning the genocide and calling for port blockades if military actions continue.”
Nivoi provided more details: “On February 28, 2025, we consolidated international port coordination—Tangier, Greece, France, Spain, Slovenia, all joined. We concentrated our action on the Mediterranean.” However, he acknowledged the legal barriers. “A general strike like we did on October 3 isn’t possible in most other countries. It’s specifically allowed under the Italian Constitution for major issues.”
Meanwhile, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), representing 45 million workers, has issued strong statements calling for a ceasefire, delivery of humanitarian aid, and even suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. However, the ETUC cannot organize continent-wide strikes as national strike laws vary too widely, and many countries do not recognize ‘political strikes’ like Italy does.
Italian universities have also mobilized, with student occupations of campuses at Bologna, Milan, Rome’s Sapienza University, and Turin, in coordination with union strikes. This student-worker alliance mirrors but differs from US campus protests. In Italy, trade and student unions lead, and students follow, creating a more unified political front and reflecting Italy’s strong organized labor tradition.
What’s Next?
The strikes have achieved visibility and created political pressure, but not policy changes. The Meloni government has not imposed an arms embargo, recognized Palestinian statehood, or withdrawn support for Israel. Leonardo SpA continues fulfilling defense contracts.
The question now is whether the movement can sustain itself without burning out. “You can’t play the strike card repeatedly,” De Angelis cautioned. “In Italy, we don’t have a resistance fund like they do in France, where workers can strike indefinitely because they are still compensated. Italian workers already have low salaries; losing pay is a real hardship.” The USB coordinator added that future actions must focus on mobilization, demonstrations, port blockades, and targeted campaigns, rather than repeated general strikes.
Outlining CGIL’s ongoing efforts, Marra said, “We will continue absolute pressure on international, European and Italian institutions to continue sanctioning the State of Israel. We are on our third distribution of humanitarian aid. On October 15, there was a serious attack by the Israeli army on the Palestinian union PGFTU’s headquarters in Nablus. We will help them rebuild their headquarters.”
He emphasized that the latest ceasefire doesn’t end the struggle. “The ceasefire doesn’t obliterate the horror that happened and is still happening in the West Bank. The colonization and the destruction of the Oslo Accords continue. They are destroying the Palestinian state—what two-state solutions can then exist? We have pushed within the International Labour Organization for recognition of the State of Palestine.’’
Hassan also commented on the ceasefire and what this “peace’’ means to Palestinians: “For many people, the ceasefire agreement is interpreted as achieving an objective in favor of Palestinians, which clearly it is not. We Palestinians have seen the rhetoric of peace and know it very well; it’s part of our history. Peace agreements, ceasefires, truces—the point isn’t this, because Israel will continue to do what it has always done, trying to achieve its objective, which is the elimination of the Palestinian people.”
She identifies a deeper problem with how solidarity has been framed. “Western empathy can only emerge when you are considered a perfect victim—the Palestinian child, the woman tearing her clothes after seeing her son’s corpse, people in line with empty plates,” Hassan observed. “In all mainstream debates about Palestine, they never discuss the right to resistance or self-determination from a political standpoint. It’s always reduced to a humanitarian issue.”
Hence, Hassan insisted on maintaining political clarity. “We think it’s still very important to bring discussion to the political theme, to what settlement colonialism really is, what are its characteristics, what are its objectives. Solidarity has been so depoliticized. People look obsessively for leadership, to follow a leader who says things that touch people’s emotions. This is problematic.”
Meanwhile, the European labor movement is grappling with internal contradictions around militarization and economic conversion. The power of organized labor to disrupt strategic infrastructure such as ports, logistics, and transport demonstrates the realm of possibility when unions see themselves as political actors, not just workplace advocates. Italian unions openly challenge foreign policy, militarization, and corporate complicity in war.
But Italy’s model also reveals constraints. Even massive strikes could not shift government policy. The political parties of the center-left remained cautious, caught between their base and their establishment ties. And without sustained organization, spontaneous mobilization risks exhaustion.
Can Such Strikes be Replicated?
What’s replicable is not the specific tactic, as only a few countries permit political general strikes, but the alliance-building strategy.
Palestinian activists in Italy succeeded by connecting their cause to workers’ material conditions: low wages, austerity, military spending that diverts from social needs, and corporate profiteering from war. They built relationships with unions through workplace assemblies and direct organizing, not just solidarity statements.
Hassan detailed the groundwork, saying, “We as a diaspora organization have gone to union assemblies and meetings multiple times in these two years. We created this common path with grassroots unions where there was possibility to create moments of confrontation with workers to open a debate on why Palestine remains an important theme of political convergence.”
Amid mobilization and political pressure created by workers, students, and civil society in Europe, governments have responded differently. While Italy maintains its traditional diplomatic stance, Spain has implemented an arms embargo, and Ireland has recognized Palestine. Massive demonstrations have erupted in Belgium, Norway, Portugal, and beyond, but policy responses vary significantly across countries.
“We think a new phase has opened in Italy,’’ De Angelis reflected, adding, “Movements and unions have intercepted a discontent that exists in society, and traditional political forces, especially PD, are struggling to reconnect.” The question haunting this mobilization is whether it’s powerful enough to change material realities or destined to remain symbolic.
“We hope this mobilization is the prelude to a reawakening of popular consciousness,” De Angelis expressed. “We need organized forces, like unions and political movements, to help people understand the real contradictions. The strike was spontaneous in its huge participation, but we also had the capacity to be present in over 100 cities, leading demonstrations with clear words.”
For now, the movement continues, through both general strikes and sustained organizing, and the slow work of building a political alternative.
In an increasingly militarized and unequal Europe, Italy’s strikes have demonstrated that workers still have power. Whether they can wield it decisively enough to change the course of war and empire remains an open question, one that resonates far beyond Italy’s borders.
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