Photograph by Michael Leonardi

After the general strike on the 22nd of September, the mass uprising for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for an end to the Italian government’s complicity in this genocide, and for a free Palestine has only continued to grow across Italy. As of this writing a large demonstration of thousands has taken to the streets of the northern Italian city of Torino despite an attempted ban on Palestinian solidarity protests on October 7th. A demonstration was also held on October 7th in Bologna where the US sanctioned United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, was just awarded honorary citizenship. This comes on the heels of a week that included spontaneous demonstrations across the country that continued to block ports and transportation services leading to a second general strike on the 3rd of October, this time with the support of the country’s largest 5 million strong labour Union, CGIL.

Friday’s strike saw millions take to the streets all over the country shutting down business as usual for the second time in just 10 days. Led again by the Palestinian community and the Unions from below, students and teachers walked out of schools and transport workers walked off their jobs as ports, trains stations and business activities of all kinds were shut down. The largest labour union reported that 65% of their 5 million workers adhered to the call to strike joining with the masses of students and teachers and common citizens in blocking major highways, train stations and ports for hours from north to south and brining the country to a virtual standstill. It is a mobilization the likes of which Italians say they have not seen for decades. Many are comparing this to the uprisings of 1968 and the massive demonstrations against capitalism, imperialism and the Vietnam war.

On Saturday the 4th a national demonstration was held in Roma that, once again, saw an incredible sea of humanity with more than a million participants from all over the country converging on the eternal city. It was a massive showing of people of all ages and backgrounds – students, workers,........

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