21 June was a historic day of protest against war and rearmament, and in support of the Palestinian people and against imperialist aggression by the USA, Israel to Iran. Over 30,000 people took to the streets with USB to demand a class-based alternative based on peace and justice.The extraordinary national demonstration organised with the Disarmiamoli coalition group concluded in Rome, with over 30,000 people participating, including workers, young people, students, activists, and trade unionists. The crowd shouted clear messages to the country: ‘No more war! No more rearmament! No more complicity with NATO, the arms industry or the genocide of the Palestinian people!’Today’s demonstration was an integral part of the national general strike called by USB on 20 June. This strike united the struggle against rearmament with demands for higher wages, more rights and welfare to defend public health and education and save an industrial apparatus sinking deeper every month.While the Meloni government continues European policies by pouring billions into rearmament and militarisation, ordinary people suffer: hospitals are collapsing, schools are being closed down, and deindustrialisation is desertifying territories while rents are skyrocketing.In this context, continuing to invest in weapons, military missions and aggressive alliances such as NATO — which is complicit in the genocide currently being carried out in Gaza by the terrorist state of Israel — is a political, social and moral crime that must be strongly denounced.Yesterday’s demonstrations and protest initiatives throughout Italy, along with today’s large rally, confirm USB’s position as a trade union and class alternative, connecting the defence of social rights with the struggle against permanent global war.
