Report: UAE company cracks down on pro-Palestine workers in Canada

The Dubai Ports World (DP World) has recently sent out notices delivering a three-day suspension to 94 port workers who respected a Block the Boat community picket against the Israeli Zim Volans ship in Prince Rupert, northern British Columbia, and refused to unload the vessel.

Mondoweiss news site said DP World, owned by state-owned Dubai World, manages 78 operating terminals in over 40 countries, several of which are in Canada. 

Last year, the Israeli company DoverTower and DP World signed several cooperation deals including a joint bid on the privatisation of the Haifa Port.

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According to Mondoweiss this is not the first time that DP World has tried to punish workers who respected a community picket and upheld principles of solidarity. In December 2018, dockworkers on Canada’s east coast refused to cross a picket protesting Canada’s arms sales to Saudi Arabia. DP World attempted to punish its employees as a result.

Mondoweiss said: “The pro-Israel lobby and the complicit Western governments that enable Israeli apartheid have good reason to be worried as the Palestine solidarity work is entering a new phase, a phase that will be based on connections with other diverse struggles and communities and will be centered around Palestinian voices that refuse to compromise or be intimidated.”