'Machinery of death': Dock workers worldwide protest against arms shipments to Israel

Dockworkers, also called longshore workers, handle cargo when it reaches a port. They help load and unload ships, move containers around terminals, and transfer goods to trucks, trains, or warehouses. Their work connects ocean shipping with land transport.

The article highlights this power through the #DontMoveZIM campaign. It calls on port truckers and International Longshoremen’s Association longshore workers to refuse Israeli cargo. Dawood, who worked at Port of Elizabeth for nearly three decades, said workers often do not know what is inside containers.

If enough workers stop handling cargo, shipments can wait at docks or fail to reach their next destination. The article says protesters hope dockworkers will use strikes and work stoppages to disrupt what they call the “machinery of death.” Participation depends on workers and unions deciding whether to act.

The International Day of Action of Dockworkers was presented as a coordinated global protest against arms shipments to Israel. Pal-Awda told Middle East Eye that more than 100 ports across 22 countries were participating. That scale gave the action significance beyond one port or one national labor dispute.

In New Jersey, protesters formed a caravan outside the Port of Elizabeth before dawn. They drove in circles around the port, displayed signs such as “Zim ships death,” and sought support from truck drivers. Police followed and flanked the convoy until late morning.

Pal-Awda said the day could become the largest work stoppage in history, but qualified that prediction. The final scale depended on how many unions actually participated. Organisers hoped the international action would encourage more dockworkers to use their labor power against shipments they believe support violence in Gaza.

ZIM is an Israeli shipping company that the article describes as Israel’s largest and oldest. The International Longshoremen’s Association, or ILA, is identified in the campaign as the union connected to port truckers and longshore workers handling cargo. Together, they sit at the center of the protest’s shipping and labor strategy.

Port Workers and Communities for Palestine organised the #DontMoveZIM campaign. It calls on truckers and ILA longshore workers at the port to refuse Israeli cargo. Protesters also held signs reading “Zim ships death” outside New Jersey’s Port of Elizabeth.

The campaign’s mechanism is straightforward: target the company believed to carry disputed cargo, then ask workers not to move it. The article does not establish that every ZIM shipment contains weapons. It reports activists’ allegations and their effort to use labor action to delay or block cargo associated with Israel.

New Jersey’s Port of Elizabeth has become a repeated protest site because activists believe weapons bound for Israel move through it. Over the past three years, several groups have targeted the port. Port Workers and Communities for Palestine organised protests whenever ZIM ships docked there.

Activists alleged that those ships carried “loaded shipments of bullets containing cartridges and bullet case cups destined for Israel.” The article presents this as an allegation, not as independently verified cargo evidence. Protesters used caravans, blockades, signs, and calls for workers to refuse handling Israeli cargo.

The port matters to the campaign because it is a point where ships, terminal workers, truckers, and cargo meet. Disrupting activity there could draw attention to the alleged shipments and potentially delay them. On Friday, more than 100 ports in 22 countries were reportedly involved in a wider dockworkers’ action.

When port workers refuse to load, unload, or transport cargo, ships may wait longer, containers may remain at terminals, and deliveries can miss planned connections. The same disruption can affect military cargo and ordinary commercial goods, depending on what workers refuse and how widely the action spreads.

The article describes this strategy as using strikes and work stoppages to “jam up the machinery of death and destruction.” The #DontMoveZIM campaign specifically asks port truckers and longshore workers to refuse Israeli cargo. A blockade outside the Port of Elizabeth previously closed or obstructed its main entrance and led to arrests.

The actual effect depends on participation, duration, and whether employers reroute cargo or replace labor. The article does not report a confirmed shipment being halted by Friday’s caravan. It says organisers hoped their action would inspire dockworkers to take stronger steps against alleged arms shipments.

The article does not describe earlier historical strikes or give specific examples. More generally, strikes and work stoppages let workers influence politics because they control essential services or production. A coordinated stoppage can create economic pressure that reaches employers, public agencies, and elected governments.

Historically, workers have used collective action over wages and conditions, but also over wider issues such as war, civil rights, and government policy. Transport workers can be especially influential because interruptions may affect factories, stores, military logistics, and international trade. Their leverage comes from acting together rather than individually.

The article applies that logic to Gaza. Pal-Awda said workers could use their “labour power” to jam supply chains. The reported action across more than 100 ports in 22 countries illustrates the intended scale. Whether such pressure changes policy depends on participation, duration, public support, and the responses of employers and governments.

Global container shipping works as a chain of handoffs. A cargo owner sends goods from a warehouse by truck or rail to an export terminal. The port loads the container onto a ship. At the destination, another terminal unloads it, and trucks or trains carry it to a warehouse or final customer.

The article focuses on the workers at these transfer points. Dawood said port workers often do not know what is inside containers. In normal shipping, the cargo owner or freight forwarder provides a booking and shipping documents, while the container receives a unique identification number and a seal. Ports and carriers record each handoff.

Tracking usually combines bills of lading, terminal scans, truck appointments, vessel schedules, and electronic status updates. Some containers also use GPS or other sensors, but not every container is continuously monitored. The article does not describe a particular tracking system, so these supply-chain details come from standard industry practice.