At their third protest on Saturday morning at the Port of Tampa, members of Block the Boat Tampa stood in solidarity with the Palestinians of Gaza who have been displaced, wounded and martyred in the most recent military action that took place between the Israelis and Palestinians this summer. Before the sun had even risen, the group was joined by approximately 75 activists. This international movement is an attempt to hold global leadership accountable for ignoring what's happening to the Palestinian people after the most recent conflict. Members believe the situation is comparable to the apartheid system in South Africa, something that the Israel government and their supporters vehemently object to. In memory of the Bay Area Free South African Movement in 1984, where the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union Local 10 refused to unload a South African titled ship 1984, Block the Boat asked the local Longshoremen Union, (ILA1402) to delay the entrance and unloading of the Israeli ship, the Zim Alabama, which belongs to Israel’s largest shipping company.
The Block the Boat Tampa campaign began just a few months ago, but the number of protesters in support are growing. Organizers said they had twice as many people in attendance this time. They also have the support of eighteen other groups and organizations including USF’s Students for Justice in Palestine, St. Pete for Peace, Fight for 15 Florida and the Tampa Light Brigade. According to Dezeray Lyn, Block the Boat Organizer, people have been traveling from four to five hours away to attend their protests.
Bailey Riley says Block the Boat began in Oakland this summer, where they successfully blocked the Zim Alabama ship for four days. Bailey says Block the Boat comes out of the Boycott Divestment Sanction (BDS) movement designed to economically hurt the Israeli government. Jimmy Dunson, a member of Block the Boat Tampa says, “It was modeled after the successful international South African movement against apartheid in South Africa.” Many universities and religious institutions have already divested.
After having spent time in Palestine working for the International Solidarity Movement, documenting human rights abuses, Dunson describes the occupation in Palestine.
“There are checkpoints and curfews; people are cut off from everything. It’s like us not being able to visit family in St. Pete. The checkpoints in the West Bank have completely cut them off from everything. At the checkpoints people are searched and humiliated. The Israeli military (IDS) doesn't allow people to go out at night. The wall being built in the West Bank cuts people off from harvesting trees, their livelihoods.” He says that that is the norm; the extreme is bombardment and death. He said the first thing people suffering from human rights abuse asked, was for him to tell people what is happening when he gets back to the States. Lyn says, “Even if our country is fully and completely funding the occupation and massacres that Israeli forces are committing with impunity; the people of those countries are not going to let it go unabated.”
Lyn says, “We know there was no delay today, because four members of the ILA called us to tell us there was no delay, but they said they are supportive of us. That’s what success looks like in Tampa; we are reaching them and they are reaching out to us, on their own volition.” She says perhaps they will organize on the inside for Block the Boat Tampa. Mince, another member of Block the Boat, points out that the Port of Tampa is a relatively small port, and the Zim Alabama is a very big ship. “It’s their payday. They are reluctant to delay the ship, because they have to get paid to feed their families.”
"Just because there are not bombs falling or bullets being shot right now, they are fighting a war of the humanitarian crisis that they have been left with; hospitals, schools, a brand new University, and the only existing power plant they had in their entire community are all gone,” says Lyn.
Lyn says they are going to reach out to people in Gaza and the West Bank, to let them know they are being supported by people all over the world. “From artists whose homes were destroyed, to dock and port workers who can’t go to work because their port is blocked,” says Lyn. She says the small sacrifice of standing in a moment of solidarity with them, may inspire more mobilization on the east coast.
Their next event is at the Port of Tampa on November 1st, at 5:00 am. “We are keeping it up; we are not giving up,” says Lyn. Every time the Zim Alabama comes in, they will protest at the Port.