A protest in front of the entrance to the Port of Gioia Tauro, in San Ferdinando, was implemented in the afternoon by a series of movements that support the Palestinian cause and by the USB to say “no to the transit of military material through the port of Gioia Tauro”.
«For about two months – the demonstrators recalled – 16 containers with suspected military material have been subjected to inspection in the port and today the MSC Manasvi ship should have proceeded with the loading. Precisely for this reason we are garrisoned in front of the port. Because it is becoming increasingly urgent and necessary to monitor and denounce the chain of war starting from our territories. From the information currently in our possession, at the moment the container load will remain in the port, and will not be loaded onto MSC cargo ships”.
Adherent movements and the link with workplace safety
The demonstration was attended by Global Intifada – Disarming Genocide, Coordination Calabria with Palestine, Bds Calabria, Global Sumud Calabria, Thousand Madleens to Gaza and Usb.
«Today’s initiative, already planned to keep high attention on the 16 containers containing ballistic steel and blocked for some time at the port of Gioia Tauro – said Peppe Marra, USB Calabria trade unionist – was inevitably intertwined with the overturning of a straddle carrier which occurred two days ago and the serious injury of a port operator, Alessandro Cortese. Behind every ‘workplace accident’ there are unsustainable rhythms, poor maintenance, safety sacrificed for productivity.”
The union’s complaint: “No more deaths for profit”
«In this country – he added – there is a silent war that kills three workers a day, and hundreds and hundreds of wounded and maimed. She is the daughter of that same system that elevates profit to God and life to nothing, whether that of a worker or a child in Gaza. Insecure work and war trafficking are faces of this same system. This is why we are here outside the port, with the flags of Palestine, to say no more deaths for profit.”