In continuity with last Monday’s general strike, the USB in Livorno has blockaded and is still blockading Molo Italia to prevent the docking of the Slnc Severn. This time, however, the base union has been joined by Filt Cgil and Uiltrasporti, declaring a strike of “the entire Livorno port system” (excluding essential services) if the ship docks to carry out unloading operations.
It is a bulk carrier flying the US flag, which set sail 12 days ago from Port Said, Egypt, after arriving from the American port of Paulsboro, “with military Caterpillars on board – explained Giovanni Ceraolo, the leader of the USB union in Livorno, to Il Tirreno – which also transited through the Israeli port of Eilat”.
According to the Prefecture “the Slnc Severn is not transporting weapons, nor explosives, but exclusively vehicles and logistical materials (generators, construction vehicles and support equipment). The operation has no connection with Israel or the Gaza crisis, neither inbound nor outbound, but falls within long-planned logistical cooperation activities with the US base of Camp Darby, within the framework of the Office of Defence Cooperation, for exclusively defensive purposes and to support Italian territory.”
“Our goal is for the cargo not to be unloaded – added Ceraolo – and that is the reason why we have proclaimed the protest and an immediate 48-hour strike if the ship were to arrive. We want all citizens to follow us and we have asked Prefect Giancarlo Dionisi and the Port System Authority to avert this landing, also because we have information that other military vehicles will then be loaded.” The ship, which turned off its AIS signal almost 24 hours ago, is currently offshore, while the blockade is still ongoing.
For his part, Mayor Luca Salvetti intervened at the blockade: “We are not coming second to the Mayor of Genoa nor to Ravenna, which said no to the ship’s docking because the Municipality owns that terminal. I do not have the tool to say no, because the docks are not mine. Livorno is second to none in terms of mobilizations for peace and for those who suffer, and what is happening in the port is a complicated situation managed with common sense, but also by referring to the values of these people. I stand with these people, also because the Government has remained silent on this, without giving any indication.”
Moreover, while in Ravenna the municipality was able to intervene directly in the case last week concerning the TCR terminal of Sapir, in Genoa the Municipality actually only adopted generic commitments. So much so that the complaint by USB, which yesterday requested, regarding the ship Joanna Borchard, arriving at the Genoa Port Terminal of Spinelli and bound for Israel, “a check on the nature of the cargo on board and to ensure compliance with law /90 in the face of the genocide being perpetrated in Palestine”, received no response.
It is impossible, moreover, for the Municipality to endorse “the need for a total embargo on goods coming from or bound for Israel, even in cases where the transport does not concern war material.” More feasible (but it remains to be seen if it was requested by USB and if the Municipality then intends to proceed) to ask, through its representative on the Management Committee, that the Port System Authority clarify the loads to and from Israel, in order to at least facilitate compliance with law /1990 which also prohibits the transit of war materials for countries like Israel that are responsible for “serious violations of international human rights conventions, as ascertained by the competent United Nations bodies.”
