Frank Bowen, Liverpool Socialist Party
The International Dockworkers Council (IDC) represents over 130,000 workers from 42 countries. Unite the Union general secretary Sharon Graham spoke to 300 delegates from 25 countries at its conference in Liverpool.
I attended a fringe meeting of 60 about the plight of the Palestinian people. The main theme was what concrete steps the IDC has taken and will take to block the shipment of arms to Israel.
Liverpool dockworker leaders Tony Nelson and John Lynch outlined some of the difficulties in identifying these weapons. There are many ways of concealing what’s actually in shipments. But they did indicate that they would stop the export of any munitions, or their components, when identified.
The Chilean delegates bought copies of the Socialist, before they had to leave. The Australian delegates outlined some of the ways that they had been able to stop the export of shipments to Israel.
They were also very concerned about a new treaty with the United States, which involves the USA putting nuclear weapons in their country. They spoke about the need to fight for socialism on an international scale to end the cycle of wars and the climate crisis that is a global threat to humanity.
