Roastning av Svensk politik
Efficiency and reform: the public service challenge following the Spending Review This guy has excellent advisors.
Swedish dockworkers have launched a week-long boycott of cargo to and from Israel to protest against the raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that killed nine people last month.
About 1,500 members of the Swedish Dockworkers Union began the boycott on Wednesday across the country’s ports, which handle more than 95 per cent of Sweden’s foreign trade.
So essentially what they are saying is that there’s an entity in Sweden separate from the government which can set a nation wide sanctions that shape foreign policy.
Bjoern Borg, the union’s chairman, said they were calling for an international investigation into the May 31 raid and added Israel’s recent easing of its Gaza blockade was insufficient.
“We don’t think it is far-reaching enough,” he said. “We want them to lift the blockade”.
So not only is the union issuing sanctions but they are also making statements on Sweden’s behalf.
The Swedish Dockworkers Union has a history of taking action through blockades and boycotts.
Goods were stopped during both the regime of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile and apartheid in South Africa.
I wonder if our government is aware these things happen. I also wonder if they realize it’s not going to matter to the average Israeli if it’s an local apolitical entity acting out of tact or the actual government imposing sanctions.
