London, United Kingdom – In November 2023, protesters spray painted the Rome headquarters of Leonardo, an Italian weapons manufacturer with ongoing contracts with Israel. The group was inspired by a Palestine Action protest against Leonardo’s Edinburgh factory that same month, which resulted in the factory being shut down. It is one of several global offshoots of the proscribed UK group, Palestine Action.
Other groups sharing the Palestine Action name exist elsewhere, including in the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, France and Canada. Last week, a subsidiary of Elbit, Israel’s largest weapons maker and the target of Palestine Action’s campaign, in Canada was raided and spray-painted by a group of activists operating under Palestine Action Canada. Beyond those protesting under the same name, other organisations have also adopted Palestine Action’s direct action tactics of physically targeting arms manufacturers supplying Israel and other companies alleged to be complicit in the genocide of Palestinians, rather than pursuing indirect forms of pressure such as voting, lobbying or legal negotiation.
As Al Jazeera has reported, similar protest groups have organised in the Czech Republic and Germany. Stop Arming Israel France is dedicated to action against French arms producers, while Global Sumud Flotilla Italy works to intercept cargo ships carrying arms-related materials into Italian ports. Those sites are pressure points which ordinary people can disrupt to bring down the Israeli war machine.” Palestine Action Italy began as a small movement mirroring the British group, but has amassed tens of thousands of social media followers and staged several occupations of Leonardo’s facilities.
They work with other Palestine Action groups in Europe to host training sessions on direct action, teaching others how to occupy and disrupt the work of weapons producers across the continent. They are creating weapons, we are destroying them,” said Luca, a representative of the Italian group. In Italy’s waters, activists also take cues.
Last month, local activists and others associated with the Global Sumud Flotilla Italia (GSF Italy) group used three small ships to intercept the Sundaid X, a container ship with military cargo. The group said the cargo directly supplied nearby Sigonella naval air base and drone hub, “serving as a primary logistics pipeline for US military operations and ongoing conflicts across West Asia”. Police detained the activists, accusing them of disrupting public order.
M, a spokesperson for Global Sumud Flotilla Italia, cited the direct action tactics of climate justice movements like Extinction Rebellion and the work of Palestine Action as important influences in Italy’s pro-Palestine direct action organising. When asked about Palestine Action, M said, “[Italian activists] know them very well.” According to her, arrests are a sign the group’s efforts are working. In France last week, more than 20 activists blocked access to the headquarters of Safran Data Systems in Les Ulis, forcing the company to evacuate several employees and disrupting almost three hours of work.
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