One year after dockworkers at the port of Piraeus blocked an ammunition shipment bound for Israel, their union leader, Markos Bekris, is being targeted by Greek authorities for this show of solidarity. News of Bekris facing legal prosecution came shortly after his return from the West Bank, where a delegation from the All-Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) traveled to express support for Palestinian workers and trade unions.
“It is evident that this genuine act of internationalist solidarity [the cargo blockade] has provoked the reflexes of the state and the government, which – within the framework of their strategic alliance with the murderous state of Israel – are resorting to baseless accusations to justify his prosecution,” stated the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
Read more: Athens dockworkers block ammunition shipment bound for Israel
In the days that followed the news, expressions of support poured from dozens of trade unions. “The wave of solidarity that has appeared in the face of the prosecution is very strong,” journalist Vangelis Ilias told Peoples Dispatch. “Every day since the announcement, there have been reactions,” he says, linking this to the widespread support for Palestine among the population.
When members of the dockworkers’ union ENEDEP blocked the military cargo in October 2024, Ilias explains, they acted in line with this popular sentiment. “There were a lot of people and a lot of energy during the port action,” he says, noting that students and community groups joined dockworkers on the picket line. “It was truly a working-class-led moment.”
The government’s response: from silence to aggression
The authorities’ recent response to the action again exposed the divide between public opinion and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s administration. Throughout Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the government has maintained close ties with Israeli authorities despite ongoing demands to sever these links. As solidarity actions grew stronger, authorities shifted from silence to aggression. “One of the latest examples of this escalation happened during the Palestine solidarity mobilization in October,” Ilias says. “It was like they were sending a message that they would allow things to go up to a certain point, but not cross it. Attacks on ENEDEP’s leadership can be seen as part of the same message and crackdown.”
Legal action against Bekris has been widely understood as an attempt to suppress solidarity actions which have very concrete outcomes. Additionally, PAME argued in its reaction that the government’s declared commitment to “justice” should also be interpreted as part of the militarization trends shaping both Greece and the region. “If the Greek government and its so-called ‘justice’ are so eager to drag people into court, they should start with their friend Netanyahu, who is internationally wanted for war crimes,” the organization wrote. “They should leave alone the workers and trade unionists who stand by the peoples, on the right side of history, who stop the bullets bound for the murder of children.”
Read more: Permanent mobilization in Italy: after and ahead of the general strike
Trade unions from other countries also condemned the intimidation attempts against ENEDEP. “While workers are crushed under poverty, those in power criminalize trade union action and solidarity in order to serve the dirty interests of imperialism,” the Turkish trade union Nakliyat-İş wrote. Italy’s Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), which led two general strikes for Palestine, offered equally strong support. USB noted that for governments, “blocking weapons clearly intended to fuel the genocide of a people is not an act of peace, but a crime,” as it jeopardizes existing international alliances.
Palestinian labor organizations added their support for ENEDEP, saying that the Piraeus blockade embodied true values of international solidarity. “Anyone who refuses to load bullets for murderers defends life,” they stated. “Anyone who is on trial for saying no to war is on trial in the name of false justice.”
For Ilias, the support Bekris and ENEDEP gathered since the beginning of November remains the best tool for opposing the ongoing repression. “And this solidarity should go beyond statements – which are undoubtedly important – by also building physical support, including by showing up in large numbers in front of the courts,” he says.
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