Why Palestine is our fight-solidarity, class struggle and the future we build together

Some people have asked me, why should a union like ours, representing Bakers, food and allied workers in Britain, care about what’s happening in Palestine?

Why should it matter to us when bombs fall thousands of miles away, when families are forced to flee their homes, when children are buried under rubble in a place we’ll probably never visit?

Well I’ll tell you why. Because what’s happening in Palestine is a class issue. It’s a workers’ issue. It’s a human issue. And if we fail to stand in solidarity with the oppressed there, we pave the way for even more injustice and inequality right here at home.

It’s about the same system that exploits us all

The truth is, the global system that’s dropping bombs on Gaza is the same system that’s driving down our wages, pricing us out of our homes, and cutting our NHS to the bone.

It’s about power. About profit. About treating people as disposable so a handful of billionaires can hoard more wealth than entire nations.

When they sell weapons to bulldoze Palestinian homes, when they secure contracts to build illegal settlements, it’s the same corporations that lobby to deregulate our food industry, slash safety standards, and drive our pay packets down.

We’re fighting the same enemy — it just wears different uniforms in different places.

It’s about what gets normalised

If we accept that it’s okay for a government to carpet bomb neighbourhoods, starve people into submission, and then call it “security” — what else will we accept?

When they finish crushing people over there, they turn their eyes here. They’ve already given police new powers to smash protests. They’ve already talked about using the army to break strikes. They’ve already pushed laws through Parliament that criminalise dissent.

The more they normalise state violence against people somewhere else, the easier it becomes to use it against workers here.

It’s about how they want to divide us

Make no mistake, the far right and their mates in the press love what’s happening. Because it lets them stoke division. They tell you:

“Why are unions sticking up for Palestinians? That just means they hate Britain. They care more about some Muslims in the Middle East than they do about you.”

They want us to turn inward. To become suspicious of our neighbours. To abandon international solidarity, so we’re weaker, more isolated, and easier to exploit.

They want us blaming migrants, not bosses. Arguing amongst ourselves over scraps, instead of demanding our fair share.

It’s about what kind of world we want to live in

We’ve always said, an injury to one is an injury to all. That’s not just a slogan to wheel out on May Day. It’s a living principle.

Because if we don’t stand up for the right of people in Palestine to live free from occupation and slaughter, why would anyone stand up for our right to decent pay, safe workplaces or an NHS that’s there when we need it?

Do we want a world where the rich get richer off war, where rights are trampled under tanks, where ordinary people live in fear — or do we want a world built on justice, solidarity and dignity for all?

This is our fight too

So yes, we stand with Palestine. Not because it’s trendy. Not because it’s charity. But because it’s class solidarity plain and simple.

When we stand up for workers and their families in Palestine, we’re also standing up for ourselves. We’re rejecting a system that says some lives are worth more than others, that might makes right, that profit justifies anything.

We’re saying: we want a future where we lift each other up — not one where we’re divided, conquered and left to scrap over crumbs.

So don’t ever let anyone tell you this isn’t our business. It’s the business of every working-class person who wants a world worth handing to their children. And as trade unionists, it’s our duty to fight for nothing less.

What can we do?

Show solidarity. Build pressure. Take action.

Here’s how you can stand with Palestinian workers and families — and show that our union won’t stay silent while injustice reigns:

Join marches and protests

• Get out on the streets when there are national or local demonstrations for Palestine. Bring your union banners, wear your work gear, make it visible that the food industry stands for justice.
  
• Ask your branch to help organise travel to bigger marches. Fill a coach, fill a train. Show them our class is united.

Support BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions)

• Don’t buy products that fund occupation. From settlement goods to firms making bulldozers that flatten Palestinian homes — research, educate, avoid.
  
• Push your local union branches, councils and pension funds to divest from companies complicit in the occupation.
  
• Pass motions in your workplaces and regions backing BDS — put it on record that we stand for human rights.

Raise it in your workplace

• Use your noticeboards and union meetings. Put up posters. Share leaflets. Make sure workers on every shift know why Palestine is a union issue.
  
• If your workplace buys from companies tied up with the occupation, question it. Start the conversation.

Pass solidarity motions

• Get your union branch or region to formally endorse Palestinian rights, support BDS, and commit to speaking out against the genocide.
  
• Send those motions to the TUC and your local MPs — let them feel the pressure from organised workers.

Challenge the far right’s lies

• Call out attempts to divide us. When they say unions shouldn’t care about Palestine, remind them we’ve always stood with the oppressed — from the miners to the anti-apartheid struggle.
  
• Stand up for your Muslim and migrant co-workers facing hate. An injury to one is an injury to all.

Keep speaking up

• Use your social media. Share stories. Post union statements. Lift Palestinian voices.
  
• Refuse to be silent. Silence is complicity.

Solidarity isn’t just words, it’s action.

So let’s show what kind of labour movement we are. A movement that fights for justice everywhere, that stands with the oppressed, and that knows the same bosses and politicians who profit from war abroad are the ones cutting our wages and rights at home.

Palestine is a union issue.

Let’s act like it.

Solidarity

Ian