Mass action: Disrupting the Logistics Empire to Stop the Genocide in Palestine
Between the 10-12th of October we are taking action against the Logistics Empire. We do so because every bomb dropped on Gaza, every bullet fired at Palestinians, every building destroyed in the West Bank is made possible by a global logistical network that provides the Israeli war machine with an endless amount of weapons, materials, and resources. More than a simple transportation or trade system, logistics is the veins through which the capitalist and imperialist violence is sustained.
Belgium plays a central role in this genocidal system, as it seeks to position itself as a key logistical hub in Europe. The Port of Antwerp facilitates the flow of military components, fuel, and materials for Israel. Liège-Bierset airport authorises the transit of weapons by the Israeli company Challenge Airlines. Beyond transportation, Belgium’s industrial base—ranging from manufacturing to the production of components and raw materials—provides critical support for the global military-industrial complex.
Although the Belgian government has announced a ban on arms sales to Israel, it remains deeply complicit in this deadly supply chain. As long as a complete boycott of trade with Israel is not implemented, Belgium will continue to be complicit in this violence. Every import of Israeli products allows the Israeli war economy to continue. By maintaining its trade relations, transit infrastructure, and the production and sale of components and raw materials, Belgium actively participates in the human rights violations occurring in Palestine.
Every container shipped to Israel, every plane that takes off from its airports with strategic cargo, and every industrial product that feeds this system directly fuels the cycle of violence and occupation.
What is the logistics empire?
The Logistics Empire is a complex web of transportation and infrastructure, such as ports, airports, warehouses, roads, railways, canals and digital trade platforms, that are needed to keep capitalism running. Its logic aims to maximize profit and control, no matter the social or ecological cost.
The logistics transport system has transformed not only the way materials move, but also how our territories are organized, air is toxified and the speed at which water flows. We see new massive warehouses built on farmland in Wallonia, the constant expansion of the mega port of Antwerp and the consequential salinization of agricultural land. From the tentacular highway network that fragments the country, the destructive enlargement of the canals, to the social and ecological damages caused by Liège Airport, Belgium perseveres in mobilising land and water for the growth of its logisical infrastructures.
Workers resistance
Workers of the Logistics Empire face heavy exploitation: dockers, truckers and warehouse workers not only have to endure high-intensity work, low wages, constant speed-up, surveillance and precarity, but also moral injury from handling cargo used for ethnic cleansing. These conditions are increasingly deteroriating as the Logistics Empire seeks to intensify its circulation of goods. Many workers from Tunisia, Morocco, Spain, Italy, France and Belgium have resisted, refusing to handle the weapons being sent to Israel. The Logistics Empire is fighting back by cracking down on unions, hiding what goods are being shipped where and turning human life and nature into mere commodities.
Join the mass action 10-12 October!
Without a complete economic embargo on Israel, Belgium continues to be complicit in the Genocide in Gaza.
In October, we unite our forces with movements in France, the Netherlands, and Germany to target this Logistics Empire, instituting a popular boycott as the government refuses to take action.
Together we will disrupt the heart of imperialist and colonial systems that perpetuate violence, inequality and ecological destruction. We recognise the struggles of logistics workers and act in solidarity with them.
Disrupt the Logistics Empire! Stop the genocidal war machine!
Why direct action?
Code Rouge/Rood is a civil disobedience movement created by activists and supported by different organisations and action groups. We consciously choose civil disobedience as our action method, because in a political system dominated by the imperative of growth and elite interests, legal action methods are no longer an option on their own, since they are co-opted and crushed by an unfair balance of power. Our adversaries are well-organised, extremely well-financed, and have access to media and political power. Therefore, breaking the law is not only a way of being heard, but a legitimate way to assert people power in a repressive capitalist system.
The great changes in history have often taken place as a result of mass acts of resistance. People chose to organize, to break unjust laws, to demand change and to create the change they wanted themselves. The history of peasant struggles is rich: from the mobilizations against CETA-TTIP since 2015, to the movement of landless workers in Brazil against colonial inequality, or that of the Larzac peasants from 1971 to 1981 against a military camp… Systems are not fixed, they are constructed. With imagination, will and a determined collective action, we can shake the powers in place and create resistance against harmful industries. Let’s rise up together!