A small town in northern British Columbia was recently the backdrop for a chilling display of how Emirati influence and power can be used to attempt to suppress popular support for Palestine. On June 14, Prince Rupert was the scene of a Block The Boat community picket against the Israeli Zim Volans ship that had been chased away from Oakland. For a day and a half, members of ILWU 505 had respected the picket line and the Volans had sat idle. Eventually, an emergency injunction was granted, and the Volans was finally unloaded and left for Shanghai, China.
A week later, DP World, the company that handles the specific terminal in Prince Rupert Port where the Volans docked, sent out notices delivering a 3-day suspension to 94 port workers who had respected the picket. DP World stands for Dubai Ports World, and its parent company is state-owned Dubai World. DP World is a huge global enterprise that manages 78 operating terminals in over 40 countries, several of which are in Canada. There was pushback from the union and the suspensions were eventually reduced to one day recorded on their files, but the message was clear, be it in Seattle where 10 protesters were arrested or in Prince Rupert where workers were punished: Block The Boat is becoming a growing movement that has to be stopped.
So a company from the United Arab Emirates aided the Israeli Zim shipping company in trying to squash grassroots support for Palestine in a remote northern BC town, whose port is under the jurisdiction of Canada’s Minister of Transport, Arab-Canadian Omar Alghabra. A scenario that even the most creative writer could not possibly make up.
Let’s look closer at Dubai Ports World. In September 2020, it reportedly signed a deal with the Israeli company DoverTower to participate in a joint bid on the privatization of the Haifa Port. This was another one of the new “normalization” deals between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, and may potentially even involve a direct shipping line between Eilat and Dubai’s port Jebel Ali.
This is not the first time that Dubai Ports World has tried to punish workers who respected a community picket and upheld principles of solidarity. In December 2018, on Canada’s east coast, dockworkers refused to cross a picket protesting Canada’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia. According to Labour Against the Arms Trade, in that case there was also an attempt to seek “reprisals… Employer? You guessed it, DP World”.
Block The Boat BTB actions have signalled a new trend in Palestine solidarity organizing, a trend of direct action and militancy that represents the increasing frustration amongst Palestinians and their supporters dissatisfied with the failed approaches of the past. It is a trend that has been seen across the globe as new youth forces come forward to join with the voices still calling for return and liberation in Palestine.
Lara Kiswani, the Executive Director of Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), explained it this way:
“The #BlockTheBoat campaign has now successfully prevented ZIM, Israel’s largest shipping company, from unloading cargo in Oakland for seven years and counting. And across the world, from South Africa to Italy to Vancouver and Prince Rupert, we have made it clear that the ZIM shipping line, and all those who do business with, profit from, or are connected to Israeli apartheid will be boycotted. Blocking ZIM, as part of the global BDS movement, is in fact isolating Israel economically, and politically.”
It is not surprising then, that repression against BTB pickets and solidarity rallies have taken on an increasingly nasty tone. Along with the police brutality in Seattle and the reprimand of workers, there was an opinion article in Newsweek entitled: “‘Block the Boat’ is a Wake-Up Call to Prioritize U.S. Port Security.” This inflammatory article even went so far as to suggest that “any protesters and longshoremen who deliberately interfere with port operations run afoul of the Hobbs Act’s definition of extortion.” And then concludes with “…federal action would send a clear message that extortionate disruption of interstate commerce by any entity will not be tolerated.”
The pro-Israel lobby and the complicit Western governments that enable Israeli apartheid have good reason to be worried. Palestine solidarity work is entering a new phase, a phase that will be based on connections with other diverse struggles and communities and will be centered around Palestinian voices that refuse to compromise or be intimidated.
Well, no surprise. Arab countries, and Arab politicians, used to talk nice about helping the Palestinians. Now they don’t even do that.
Why do they go along with Israel? Because, to quote Willie Sutton, that’s where the money is.
I am still trying to verify this story with Jane Jewell, one of the movers of Block the Boat. I can’t find any coverage of this news, but that’s not surprising. If true, it’s a major story that is not being reported. Here is her report.
“This story is WAY out of date. Trent Willis, president of local ten, of ILWU, brought it to the ILWU caucus that just happened to be meeting in San Francisco last week, with a motion to support the 94 workers suspended and fined in Prince Rupert. Despite opposition from the ILWU president, who is a devout Zionist, the motion passed.
This passed motion implied a refusal to work at ALL USA ports on the west coast, which would be catastrophic to the industry. DP World, run by UAE with a CEO only too delighted to throw Palestinians under the bus, backed down. The workers have been reinstated.
Victory to us at Block the Boat and the ILWU who strongly support Palestine (except for the president who had a paid trip to Israel to fill him with hasbara.)
Face the fact that 70 years after the creation of the “Palestinian problem,” the Arab world has realized that no solution will satisfy those who have turned “refugee-ism” into a profession. The “Palestinian problem” has become an emotional and financial scam that only serves to enrich the corrupt leaders of Ramallah and Gaza.