Photograph by Michael Leonardi

After the general strike on the 22nd of September, the mass uprising for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for an end to the Italian government’s complicity in this genocide, and for a free Palestine has only continued to grow across Italy. As of this writing a large demonstration of thousands has taken to the streets of the northern Italian city of Torino despite an attempted ban on Palestinian solidarity protests on October 7th. A demonstration was also held on October 7th in Bologna where the US sanctioned United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, was just awarded honorary citizenship. This comes on the heels of a week that included spontaneous demonstrations across the country that continued to block ports and transportation services leading to a second general strike on the 3rd of October, this time with the support of the country’s largest 5 million strong labour Union, CGIL.

Friday’s strike saw millions take to the streets all over the country shutting down business as usual for the second time in just 10 days. Led again by the Palestinian community and the Unions from below, students and teachers walked out of schools and transport workers walked off their jobs as ports, trains stations and business activities of all kinds were shut down. The largest labour union reported that 65% of their 5 million workers adhered to the call to strike joining with the masses of students and teachers and common citizens in blocking major highways, train stations and ports for hours from north to south and brining the country to a virtual standstill. It is a mobilization the likes of which Italians say they have not seen for decades. Many are comparing this to the uprisings of 1968 and the massive demonstrations against capitalism, imperialism and the Vietnam war.

On Saturday the 4th a national demonstration was held in Roma that, once again, saw an incredible sea of humanity with more than a million participants from all over the country converging on the eternal city. It was a massive showing of people of all ages and backgrounds – students, workers, grandparents, immigrants, teachers, old school communists and partisans along with the leaders of the major opposition political parties and people from all walks of life. Many participating in these demonstrations are doing so for the first time in their lives and there is education and conversation happening on the streets about colonialism, the differences between antisemitism and antizionism, US imperialism, what defines genocide and more. It’s a populace rising and educating themselves as they rise in a way that is awe inspiring and momentous.

Many that have been on the streets since the beginning of this Genocide 2 years ago have felt waves of emotion and have found themselves crying with a mix of joy and grief, repeatedly, as this surge of humanity continues to grow in the face of the brutality of a genocide that has only been intensifying. The Palestinian communities both in Italy and in occupied Palestine have been given new hope as they witness and see the scenes of this movement from near and far. The decades of sharing of the Palestinian culture and talking about the Palestinian struggle by those in the diaspora here in Italy planted the seeds of this unprecedented resistance that is now spreading across Europe as massive demonstrations are beginning to spread all over the continent and a general strike has been called in Spain for the 15th of October.

While this mass uprising of the people continues to grow it is being met by a defensive contempt and derision from the neo fascist Meloni government that is entrenched in its partnerships with Israel and subservience to Trump’s dictates, just as it was subservient to the genocidal Biden administration before the changing of the Imperial guard. Investigations have exposed that Italy is currently the 3rd largest weapons supplier to Israel in the world behind the United States and Germany and replaced Spain as the largest supplier of the ammonium nitrate used to explode and demolish buildings in Gaza. Spain has placed a progressive arms embargo on weapons to Israel since the beginning of 2024 and refuses to allow arms to be shipped from their ports, while the Italian government continues to collaborate with the zionist regime and has stepped in to replace some of the exports that Spain has halted. Along with ammonium nitrate, detonating cords and tritium are among the materials Italy’s far-right government has been illegally supplying to the genocidal Israeli regime.

While the Italian government’s complicity in this genocide is well documented, they continue to blatantly lie and attempt to deceive the public about their continued collaboration with Israel and are able to do so through a zionist dominated media apparatus in Italy that attempts to deny that the genocide is happening and mystify and obfuscate the well documented international legal framework that has meticulously documented Israel’s genocidal intent and actions. Italy’s own Francesca Albanese is constantly derided and attacked in the media and the zionist controlled Jewish Communities of Italy are systematically spreading propaganda with an effectiveness that would make Goebbels proud. Just as the Bush administrations “you are either with us or against us” line to build support for the “war on terror”, Israel through all its embassies and community based affiliated zionist organizations states: “You are either with us or with Hamas”.

Blatant lies are spread through fake news linking Hamas to anyone opposing the genocide from Francesca Albanese to the Global Sumud Flotilla or anyone that opposes the messianic zionist insanity that defines the Israeli agenda of today. These lies are propagated and enhanced through a web of normalized relations realized through a zionist owned media and high tech cyber security apparatus dominated by Israeli or zionist owned companies that operate throughout Europe and North America, allowing Israel to act with impunity and hold the governments of the western world hostage — keeping them impotent and complicit in the face of the most brutal genocide of modern times. Some of these companies include the Elkann media Group in Italy, Paragon, Hera, Wiz, and Ramot, and Italy collaborates directly with the Israel Innovation Authority to create partnerships in the high-tech economy.

Just this week a case has been brought to the US sanctioned International Criminal Court charging Meloni, the foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, the defence minister, Guido Crosetto, and the head of the public/private defence group Leonardo, Roberto Cingolani, ,with complicity in genocide. This strikes a new path in legal resistance to the zionist project from within Europe and could be used in England and Germany as well.

As Francesca Albanese and noted Israeli historian Ilan Pappè pointed out this week at a forum in Rome, Israel has always acted with complete impunity and in total illegality and disregard for the framework of international law. The ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel is likely committing genocide and that the occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal required that Israel to withdraw from all illegally occupied territories, including Gaza, and required that member states intervene to take all possible actions to enforce the law and hold Israel to account. As we have witnessed for decades but especially since Israel’s genocidal intent was declared on October 9th 2023, the member states continue to do nothing concretely to stop them other than some nice speeches and in rare cases like Spain and Ireland.

As this international movement for Palestine continues to grow, western European countries are joining with the United States in attempting to criminalize criticism of Israel and zionism and working to codify this repression into law. This is being done in Italy, Germany, the UK and France where criticizing zionism will become a criminal offense. For many the question is what is to be done? And in the face of this complete disregard for international law and rising draconianism throughout the western world as it clings desperately to its enthocentric, white European and colonial identity the only way forward is to continue to resist as long as we exist like our lives and our common humanity depend on it. We can take the leadership of the Palestinians in Gaza that have shown us that their very existence is resistance.

The post Italy In Revolt: Mass Protests Spread Throughout Europe and the Genocide in Gaza Continues appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

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