Venice Biennale Workers Join Global Dockworkers' Strike On October 30

(MENAFN- USA Art News) On October 30, cultural workers at the Venice Biennale went on strike, aligning with a national general strike in Italy and similar protests organized by dockworkers at over 110 ports worldwide. These global actions, as reported by Ocula, demanded an end to the use of ports for transporting arms. Art workers at the Biennale also issued calls for improved living and working conditions.

More than 25 unions across six continents supported the organizing movement, according to Reuters. Demonstrations, initially planned for Italy, France, Greece, Spain's Basque Country, Turkey, and Morocco, expanded to include India, Cyprus, Brazil, Austria, Mexico, and Uruguay. The strikes were coordinated by a group named 'No Harbour For Genocide.'

A statement on the group's website indicated that organizers sought an“immediate end to the genocide of the Palestinian people and all imperialist wars.” They also called for preventing the transport of arms, troops, and munitions through participating ports, and for ensuring health, safety, and job security for workers.

In Venice, artists, gallery attendants, and other cultural workers closed pavilions and marched from the Campo Santa Margherita to Rialto. This march was part of a strike organized in conjunction with the Art Not Genocide Alliance (ANGA) and Biennalocene.

ANGA stated in an Instagram post that the strike was in“solidarity with dock workers around the world who have downed tools to block the passage of ships carrying military material to Israel and with students across Italy who fight for the right to education and against the war economy pursued by the Meloni government.”

Approximately 20 national pavilions, including those of the UK, Japan, Austria, the Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, India, Ireland, Korea, Lebanon, Malta, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, were either fully or partially closed due to the strike. This event marks the latest in a series of protests at the Biennale this year, which included a strike on May 8 protesting Israel's participation.

Source: Artforum

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