Labor Activist Chris Smalls On Solidarity with Gaza

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FEATURING CHRISTIAN SMALLS - Israeli occupation forces intercepted the Handala, the latest Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship sailing to break the illegal siege of Gaza amid mass starvation. A United Nations-backed organization has just issued an urgent report warning of a “worst-case scenario of famine” in Gaza. The Handala carried a stash of baby formula, food, and medical aid as well as 21 activists from 12 different countries, including well known labor activist Christian Smalls, the founder of the Amazon Labor Union.

When the Israelis boarded the ship, seven uniformed forces assaulted Chris Smalls. According to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, “they choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back… This level of force was not used against other abducted activists.” Smalls was the only Black activist on board the Handala. 

On Thursday July 24th, while the ship was closing in on Gaza, Rising Up host Sonali Kolhatkar reached Chris Smalls on the Handala and spoke with him about why he joined 20 others to risk his life to bring aid to Palestinians. 

ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW:

Sonali Kolhatkar: Welcome to the program Chris Smalls. 

Christian Smalls: How you doing? Thank you for having me. 

Kolhatkar: So, you are speaking to us from on board the Handala and this ship is just, I understand as of Thursday, a couple of days out from Gaza. 

First of all, tell me, let's talk about why you are on this ship. You are a labor organizer, especially known for your activism against Amazon, and its attempt to undermine workers' rights. How is Amazon specifically complicit in the genocide in Gaza, and how are unions, who should be the natural allies of the Palestinian people, also, in many ways not doing enough? 

Smalls: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, as you mentioned yeah, [I’m] the founder of the Amazon Labor Union, the first union in American history for Amazon workers, and, Amazon is not just complicit. They are actively participating and actively a part of the military industrial complex that Israel uses to target, surveil, and even kill these innocent Palestinians every day. 

The AWS web Services, Amazon, and other corporation has pledged what they call the Nimbus Project, $7.2 billion into Israel's Iron Dome. So when you're talking about the connecting of the dots me being here on the Handala is taking a stance as a labor leader from the US saying that enough is enough. This is across, this is across the picket line for the working class, and that doesn't exclude Palestinians and the people of Gaza. 

And I hope to apply pressure to the US Labor movement, who has been shipping arms for the last 21 months, every 15 hours to Israel.