Dockworkers Against War. Solidarity across Borders.

The recent arms boycott by dockworkers in Genoa has revived an old tradition of international solidarity at the Ligurian port. In the 1960s and 1970s, Genoese dockworkers spearheaded actions such as refusing to load ships bound for dictatorships like Augusto Pinochet's Chile or the Greek military junta, as well as sending humanitarian aid to Vietnam.

In 2019, a ship from the Saudi company Bahri, which specializes in transporting arms, arrived in Genoa carrying military supplies destined for Yemen, where a civil war between government forces and Houthi rebels was raging. Since then, workers from the Collective Autonomous Port Workers (CALP) have brought attention to this kind of arms trafficking, highlighting key issues, such as breaches of Italy’s Law 185/90—which bans the export of weapons to countries at war—and the dangers faced by port workers when handling explosive materials.

Founded in 2011, CALP emerged to address both union demands and political concerns. Over the years, the group has formed a broad network of allies, including Catholic-inspired movements, political groups, trade unions, civil society organizations like the Peace Disarmament Network, Amnesty International, and the Weapon Watch Observatory. It has also joined forces with dockworkers from ports like Marseille, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Livorno to organize strikes and transnational actions.

Recently, CALP workers have taken part in protests against arms shipments to Israel, working alongside dockworkers from Barcelona and Oakland, California. Based on interviews with workers, union leaders, civil society figures, and pacifist organizations in Genoa, this essay traces the origins of the protests. It focuses on the birth of the movement, the workers’ commitment to civil causes, and the link between labor struggles, working conditions, and political activism, placing the case in a broader theoretical debate.