'Machinery of death': Dock workers worldwide protest against arms shipments to Israel
Holding signs that read "Zim ships death", referring to the Israeli shipping company, pro-Palestine protesters gathered on Friday outside of New Jersey's Port of Elizabeth to demonstrate against the arms trade.
On the International Day of Action of Dockworkers, protesters told Middle East Eye they are drawing attention to shipping and logistics companies they believe are complicit in the genocide in Gaza.
At 5am, the protesters taped the signs to their cars and drove in a long line, forming a caravan. They drove in circles around the port, soliciting honks of solidarity from truck drivers and eventually gaining the unwanted attention of police who tailed and flanked the convoy until the late morning.
Over the last three years, several groups and activists have targeted the Port of Elizabeth over the alleged weapons shipments headed to Israel out of the port.
Pal-Awda, an organisation that advocates for Palestinian refugees' right of return to their stolen land and organised the caravan outside the port, told MEE that more than 100 ports across 22 countries are participating in Friday's action.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
"It's predicted that today could be the largest work stoppage in history, depending on how many unions end up participating," a Pal-Awda spokesperson told MEE.
The spokesperson told MEE they hope their caravan can inspire more dock workers to join the movement.
"We are trying to support their own efforts to organise so that they can use their own labour power and the power of strikes and work stoppages to jam up the machinery of death and destruction that we see everywhere in the world right now, not just in Palestine, but in Yemen and Iran and Lebanon and Venezuela and Cuba."
Dawood, who worked at Port of Elizabeth for just under three decades, driving his blue Subaru covered in Palestine stickers and signs, said he joined the caravan because he felt like he had to take action.
"We work here just to make a living; we don't know what's in the containers... it's important for anyone who's actually a human being to do what's right and stand for what's right. And even if it's against your own self-interest," he said.
Zim is Israel's largest and oldest shipping company. Port Workers and Communities for Palestine organised numerous protests over the last three years whenever the ship would dock at the Port of Elizabeth.
Activists said the ships would have "loaded shipments of bullets containing cartridges and bullet case cups destined for Israel".
The collective, Port Workers and Communities for Palestine, has organised the #DontMoveZIM campaign, calling on the port truckers and longshore workers of the International Longshoremen's Association to refuse to handle Israeli cargo.
Block the 'flow of deadly weapons'
Linden Jenkins, 77, who also participated in Friday's caravan, was previously arrested and released earlier this year during an activist blockade outside the Port of Elizabeth, where Jenkins and other protesters tied themselves to several vehicles to block the port's main entrance in protest of alleged weapons shipments, resulting in several arrests.
On Friday, Jenkins drove four hours to the port to participate in the caravan.
"It has been more important than ever to try to do everything in my power to build the solidarity movement to end the genocides perpetrated in large part by my government, the US," Jenkins told MEE.
She added that she has become increasingly frustrated with the activist movement in the US.
"I have lost patience with the so-called left in this country... We continue to turn out for symbolic actions - rallies, vigils, marches - largely without specific concrete demands and seem to be ignored by the powers that be," she said.
Jenkins sees herself as part of a larger movement determined to "protect the life and dignity of people and all living things of the planet against the militarisation". She said she hopes that this "Port of Elizabeth Movement" can disrupt the supply chain of genocide.
"We all must escalate to substantive actions to actually block the supply chain flow of deadly weapons and fascist surveillance technology everywhere it is deployed against the people - whether in occupied Palestine, civil war-torn Sudan or here at home where ICE and DHS are destroying what's left of our democratic institutions," she said, in reference to the immigration and homeland security agencies.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
