Inside the Campaign to Block Israel’s War Ships

About this episode

This episode explores the efforts of American activists to block Israeli military supply ships amidst a divided labor movement and complex political landscape.

As violence continues in Gaza, a new strategy inside the Palestine solidarity movement is taking shape — one aimed not at city streets or college campuses, but at the arteries of the global economy. Around the world, dockworkers have refused to unload ships tied to Israel’s military supply chain. In Italy, Morocco, India, and Sweden, those refusals have sparked national strikes and port shutdowns. But in the United States — where 70% of Israel’s weapons originate — things look very different. This episode dives into the complicated reality facing American activists trying to “block the boat”: a divided labor movement, powerful unions with clashing politics, and a military-industrial complex that shields its most sensitive logistics behind military bases and Air Force cargo planes. We meet East Coast organizers struggling to reach conservative longshore workers, West Coast veterans who once helped stop South African apartheid cargo, and the researchers studying how social-movement unionism succeeds — and fails. What power do workers really have to stop the flow of war? And what happens when activists push that power to its limits? Guests: Tova Fry, organizer and activist with Port…

People in this episode

Guests: Tova Fry, Katy Fox-Hodess, Rafeef Ziadah, Lara Kiswani, Clarence Thomas, Charmaine Chua

Topics covered

• Palestine solidarity movement
• dockworkers
• labor movement
• activism
• military supply chain
• social-movement unionism

Keywords

• Israel
• Gaza
• dockworkers
• labor unions
• activism
• military-industrial complex
• port shutdowns
• national strikes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Port Workers & Communities for Palestine, University of Sheffield, Kings College, Arab Resource & Organizing Center, ILWU Local 10

Places: Italy, Morocco, India, Sweden, United States

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