Strikes across Greece block everything for Palestine

Workers across Greece took inspiration from Italy and called a general strike—more action is planned for Tuesday

By Frankie Murden

Friday 10 October 2025

Issue

Marching in Athens (Pic: www.facebook.com/ergatiki)

Tens of thousands of workers in Greece staged a general strike for Palestine on Friday.

It was a powerful show of solidarity with the Palestinian resistance on the first day of a fragile ceasefire.

Panos Garganas, a revolutionary socialist in Athens, told Socialist Worker, “Today’s strike was inspired by Italy. The strikes there over the past few weeks have had a big impact on us in Greece.

“People were asking, ‘Why don’t we do it like the Italians?’—today was a step in that direction.”

The call to strike was initiated by Palestinian and anti-war organisations. But it was quickly picked up by trade unionists, workers and students. 

“This was very much built from below”, Panos said.  

“Health workers were the first to call for it, in hospitals in Athens. They held workplace meetings and voted for the strikes. Once this was successful in a few workplaces it started to generalise with more people calling strikes.

“Teachers were next, also building from below and calling meetings. Local unions took action and this forced the national union to call for a nationwide strike.”

Panos added, “There has been a lot of support for Palestine over the last two years. It’s really become a mass movement and now it’s becoming a strike movement.

“We are demanding that the Greek government stop supporting Israel. It has given very active and persistent support to the Israeli government. This is especially in the form of naval and aerial military support.”

A Greek military base in the Souda Bay, on the island of Crete, has been directly involved in supporting Israeli attacks across the region.

The general strike came after hundreds flooded the Eleftherios Venizelos Airport in Athens. They greeted those who had been sailing on the Global Sumud Flotilla and had been captured by Israeli forces.

Panos said these demonstrations “set the mood” for today’s mass action. “People are radicalising,” he said.

“The strikes today were made possible because people were already striking against the Greek government. It tried to implement a 13-hour working day. There was a huge day of strikes on 1 October against this, and a general strike is planned on 14 October.

“An Italian striker sent us a message and said, ‘The hand that bombs the Palestinians, is the hand that exploits us in our workplaces’, and that is really felt here.”

Panos argued that coordination between strikers in Greece, Italy and the Spanish state would be a “very concrete step forward”. 

The instability of the Greek government creates an opportunity for the left and workers to shake the system even further. The general strike planned for Tuesday “will be big, and today’s strike has given it even more momentum”, Panos said.

“They’re in a mess—now is the time to take action to finish them off.”