Red Bird #2 | Gaza and ecological action

In the accelerated genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and the accompanying silence of Western liberal governments, we see the collaboration of global capital, imperialism and Zionism, to destroy Gaza’s lives and environment, and attempt to destroy Palestinian resistance. But the resistance is only growing. 

Since October 2023, we have seen a flurry of activity, from mass trade union action of workers refusing to ship arms, to punchy direct actions directly against supporters of the Israeli genocide. 

An open secret of the pro-Palestine movement in Britain is just how much there has been a practical crossover and knowledge sharing between environmental justice activists and those fighting for Palestinian liberation. 

During one of the many arms factory blockades organised by Workers for a Free Palestine, some of us were huddling under a gazebo as rain pounded down on those blockading arms. Looking to our left, we saw someone we knew for many years as a central figure in Extinction Rebellion mobilisations. Looking to our right, we noticed someone we knew as a trade union militant. It is not a coincidence that this anti-imperialist moment of a generation has brought together such activists. 

We should celebrate the fact that innovative activities and accumulated tactics previously reserved by environmental groups are being distributed to a wider array of activists. 

Energy Embargo for Palestine has responded to the Palestinians’ call to stop energy flow to Israeli occupiers. In London, they targeted the ways in which the fossil companies which fuel the Zionist entity have cleaned their reputation through cultural institutions. They have taken spectacular actions against BP sponsorship of the British Museum, following the tradition of climate justice group ‘BP or not BP?’.

Similarly, Workers for a Free Palestine and other factory blockades groups incorporate practices from environmental justice groups who have blockaded sites of fossil fuel extraction.  

The protest encampments at universities have also learned from the years of environmental protest camps, including with a crossover of cadre from Earth First UK! and Reclaim the Power.

Palestine Action, which began taking direct action against the British arms trade in 2020, uses lock-on devices to block sites as well as DIY paint sprayers – tactics common in the ecological movement, particularly Just Stop Oil. 

Two areas where there is opportunity for more joint engagement are around divestment and workplace activity. 

Across many countries now, initiatives attempt to organise for institutional divestment from Israel. Movement research has collated financial targets who, unsurprisingly, invest in both fossil fuels and Israeli arms.

Joint campaigns can learn not just from the previous anti-apartheid divestment campaigns around South Africa, but also from the last decades’ various fossil fuel divestment campaigns. 

The most successful of these campaigns rooted themselves in and around institutions, combining everything from legal challenges to spikier direct action, to engage in a sustained push for divestment.  

Turning to arms, there have been lively conversations about how workers involved in arms production and the shipping of arms can contribute to the strategy for an arms embargo. Activist groups cannot currently sustain the transport of Palestinian liberation activists to arms factories. To continue taking action, we need to build relationships and resistance within the industry and in the local communities around arms production and port facilities. This will enable actions to grow in strength, number and agility in the long term.

At the same time, knowing the moribund state of workplace organising and how much of an upward battle we have, mass actions cannot be suspended to wait for such embedded activity.

Blockades in Scotland have a ‘worker liaison’ team to build rapport, solidarity, and connections with the arms workers, urging them to organise in the workplace to drop contracts for Israeli weapons. In the long-term, arms workers need to be involved in a just transition from producing arms to making socially useful technology like renewables. 

This is in many ways a parallel to ecological activity and how we deal with workers in polluting industries. Despite nearly two decades of practical work on the ‘just transition’ and building links between workplaces and mass climate action, the absence of dialogue around the parallel is notable.

We should celebrate the cross-learning of the previous months, desire its continuation and consolidation, and also note this is precisely what the state fears. 

Recently, Just Stop Oil affinity Youth Demand, which explicitly and openly combines these streams, has been intensely targeted by the police. This shows the British state’s fear of us consolidating the solidarities of the previous links. We must not give an inch to repression. 

Red Bird Editorial Collective

ACTION ROUNDUP

Youth Demand, despite experiencing dawn raids and stop and search of their members, began what is a planned week of action on July 13th. They held speeches and discussions, then began blocking Marble Arch demanding a two-way arms embargo and a halt to oil and gas licenses previously granted. 

This marks a renewed commitment to applying pressure to the Starmer Government’s continued support for Israel and fossil capital. 

July 13th also saw hundreds with Climate Camp Scotland block the entrance to the waste incinerator in Torry Aberdeen. The action was in solidarity with the working-class community who are forced to live close to its noxious fumes, including a primary school 300 metres nearby. It was also in solidarity with campaigns to save the community’s park, currently planned to be demolished for a false transition project. 

More than ever, it is working-class communities who face the noxious and destructive effects of false solutions and extractive industries – let’s turn the tide. 

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