Róża Kwiecińska in Kraków
At the end of November, protests swept across Poland in response to a report on the genocide in Gaza, which says: “Without the TNT produced in Poland, the unprecedented scale and intensity of the aerial bombardments – which have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians and destroyed living conditions in the Gaza Strip – would not have been possible.”
According to the authors of the high-profile report: ‘The Missing Ingredient: Polish TNT’, there is a high probability that a significant portion of the bombs used since October 2023 contained Polish TNT. These bombs constitute one of the main tools of the genocide carried out by Israel.
Nitro-Chem, a company owned by the Polish State Treasury, is the largest producer of TNT among Nato and EU countries. By supplying this key material to the United States, Polish TNT has contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Over the two years of genocide, the US government has provided Israel with more than $30 billion of weapons.
200,000 tons of explosives
According to the IMEU Policy Project, at least 200,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza in the past two years. In the same period, Poland sent 50,000 tons of TNT to US companies. TNT produced in Poland is systematically used in the production of large aerial munitions, artillery shells, and MK-80 series aerial bombs. It was precisely this type of bomb that Israel used, for example, during the massacre in the Jabalia refugee camp, where at least 126 Palestinians were killed, 280 were injured, and an area of 2,500 m² was completely levelled.
The report also reveals that Nitro-Chem’s operations harm the environment not only in Palestine but also in Poland – including river pollution, illegal waste dumping, and the release of toxic substances into soil and water.
In most major cities in Poland, people protested against the Polish government’s complicity.
But what would happen if the workers took control of the factory? Decisions could be made democratically, without the pursuit of profit. No amount of ‘regulation’ or rebranding will stop private companies from operating primarily for the benefit of their shareholders. Public money will continue to flow into private profit and into funding genocide instead of public infrastructure.
Protests and workers’ action should continue to demand an immediate stop to the Israeli state’s attacks, while supporting Palestinians’ efforts to fight for their freedom. Like we saw, for example, in Italy: trade unions called a strike that blocked ports and railways in a protest concerning the Global Sumud Flotilla. It showed how much power workers actually have and should serve as an example for trade unions in other countries, including Poland.
