Palestine Allies Stage Global ‘Economic Blockade’ of Gaza Genocide

Organizer A15Action said the worldwide demonstrations targeted “the global economy for its complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

By Brett Wilkins

Pro-Palestine activists around the world on Monday executed a day of direct action protests aimed at “blocking the arteries of capitalism and jamming the wheels of production” amid Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on Palestinians in Gaza.

Asserting the need to “shift from symbolic actions to those that cause pain to the economy,” organizer A15Action vowed ahead of Monday’s demonstrations that “together we will coordinate to disrupt and blockade economic logistical hubs and the flow of capital.”

Protesters taking part in the worldwide “economic blockade” flooded the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City in an afternoon action, while at least hundreds of people marched through downtown Los Angeles demanding a cease-fire in Gaza and no war against Iran.

Earlier in the day in the San Francisco Bay Area, thousands of protesters blocked the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and two key East Bay highways—I-880 and I-980—from morning rush hour into the early afternoon. Protesters locked themselves and their vehicles together, complicating law enforcement efforts to disperse them and clear traffic lanes. They unfurled a banner reading “Stop the World for Gaza” across all three southbound lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge. The California Highway Patrol said 15 people had been arrested by 11:30 am local time.

“In halting traffic along this route we seek to stop the movement of millions of dollars in daily capital flow, much of which, headed to and from the Port of Oakland, the Oakland Airport, and the nearby rail yards directly and indirectly supports the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” A15Action explained on Facebook.

“Global capital is complicit in the war crimes occurring daily against Palestinians, and it also hurts us here at home,” the organizers continued. “Increased cases of respiratory ailments and cancer are but some of the signs of this uneven devastation at home in Oakland.”

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“The genocide in Gaza is the horrible cost visited upon our comrades and brothers and sisters abroad,” the group added. “We are shutting down 880 to disrupt the global flow of capital that causes so much destruction across the world. We are shutting down 880 in support of a liberated Palestine.”

In Middletown, Connecticut, at least 10 people were arrested after dozens of demonstrators blockaded a road leading to Pratt & Whitney, which manufactures engines used in Israeli warplanes. The company is also a subsidiary of military-industrial complex giant RTX—formerly known as Raytheon—several of whose facilities have been previously targeted by protesters since last October.

The Middletown protesters—who said they weren’t from any group but were acting in solidarity with A15Action—said Pratt & Whitney is “complicit in the arming of the Israeli military.”

The activists demanded that the company—whose stock price has soared by nearly 50% since October—end exports to Israel “and begin the transition to a peace-based economy where the engines will not enable war and genocide.”

A15Action and allied actions shut down highways in Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Illinois—where 40 people were reportedly arrested after blocking the I-190 entrance to Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

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“On this Tax Day, when millions are paying taxes which fund the ongoing U.S. and Israeli bombardment of Gaza, protestors seek to take dramatic action, alongside other A15Action organizers worldwide,” Chicago Dissenters wrote on Instagram.

Arms giant Lockheed Martin’s office in Arlington, Virginia was occupied by activists who locked themselves together while chanting “fund care, not killing.”

Boeing’s St. Charles, Missouri facility—which demonstrators said “produces missiles and bombs sent directly to Israel”—was also targeted in a pre-dawn protest that ended with the arrest of seven activists, who are likely to face unlawful assembly and trespassing charges.

Protesters chanting “free, free Palestine” and “from the river to the sea” blockaded the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. Similar chants were heard during a shutdown of Piraeus Port in Athens, Greece.

There were actions in cities including Barcelona, Spain; Dublin, Ireland; Utrecht, Netherlands; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Adelaide, Australia, where Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office was the stage for an occupation and “die-in.”

Demonstrations also took place targeting the Australian ports of Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.

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“As states founded on colonization and violent dispossession, so-called Australia has much in common with so-called Israel,” A15Action wrote on Facebook. “The call for ‘Land Back, Liberation, End Colonial Occupation’ has been a consistent one since October.”

“Building on a decadeslong movement for a free Palestine, and staunch Aboriginal resistance by the First Peoples of this continent, activists continue to protest at arms manufacturers that contribute essential F-35 fighter jet components to the global supply chain, complicit seats of government, universities funded by weapons dealers, and at Zionist-funded sporting and arts events,” the group added.

“Land and sea blockades of the ports of Melbourne and Botany have caused major disruption to business as usual during the genocide,” A15Action added. “Long live the Intifada!”

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