Clementine Russell explains why there will be actions at workplaces and walkouts from schools and university campuses on Thursday 10 October, and how you can get involved

Israel’s genocidal siege and bombardment in Gaza through the last year has seen widespread anger, and as a result, huge protests across the country.

As Israel extends its onslaught to Lebanon and takes the region to the brink of all-out war, it is crucial that we deepen and broaden the movement in Britain against its enablers in Westminster.

That’s why the workplace day of action and school and university walkouts on 10 October are crucial.

Over the last year, workers in a number of countries have organised collectively against the genocide, stopping arms being loaded onto ships, stopping Israeli ships from docking, and recently Spanish workers striking and leading demonstrations across the country.

At the recent Trades Union Congress in Britain, pro-Palestine trade unionists were successful in passing motions calling for the cessations of all arms sales to Israel and securing TUC support for action in workplaces.

10 October is an opportunity to turn those words into active disruption of the British war machine that is fuelling the genocide and to bring wider layers of people into the movement.

The mourning for the people of Gaza, and now the people of Lebanon, has been felt by people of all ages.

Young people particularly have become politically engaged and involved in a way they never would’ve been before 7 October last year.

Last year school students walked out of classes across the country on several occasions and university students set up encampments inspired by their counterparts in the United States.

The aim of these has been to oppose the investments by academic institutions in arms and tech companies facilitating Israeli apartheid and genocide, and to protest the censorship on Palestine solidarity on campuses and in classrooms.

The general public are not afraid to voice their outrage at complicit institutions and, ultimately, at Keir Starmer and the Labour government for allowing this genocide to continue.

Though we may not have the political power of government institutions, one thing we do have over them is numbers. The more people that take part in the walkouts, the bigger impact we make.

We’ve shown that we will give up our Saturdays to march through London, and with these strikes we’ll show that we’re prepared to intensify the pressure to stop the genocide in Gaza.

Find out how you can get involved and organise something where you are on the Stop the War Coalition website.

From this month’s Counterfire freesheet