Today’s general strike in Italy paralyzed transport and brought two million people into the streets. Even after years of setbacks for organized labor, it staged a historic protest in solidarity with Palestine.

“The Italian people made us smile in Gaza.” With these words, Eman Abu Zayed, a Palestinian writer in the bombarded strip, described how Italy’s growing mass mobilizations for Palestine were resonating there. She wrote these words a few days after the twenty-four-hour general strike on September 22, called by the grassroots USB (Unione Sindacale di Base) “in response to the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army’s blockade of humanitarian aid, and the threats against the international Global Sumud Flotilla mission.”

Turnout far exceeded USB’s customary mobilizing capa

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