In his opening remarks Dr Peter Dwyer introduced the speaker by noting that Ruskin College has a long history of hosting and supporting activists from liberation movements from around the world. So on the eve of the biggest one day strike in the UK since 1926 it was fitting that we hosted Mohammed Aruri who is the head of international relations at the Independent Federation Trade Unions of Palestine (PIFU).

Mohammed began by offering a message of solidarity from his union to the millions of public sector workers who were to strike the next day. He argued that workers in his region and in the UK are suffering from the consequences of the same financial system. He recounted how he was surprised to see so many homeless and hungry people in all of the 20 states he visited recently in the USA. Yet the US government still continues to give billions of dollars in aid to Israel whilst people in the USA live in poverty. Likewise, he noted the contradiction that the money that goes to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq comes from the taxes of British people whilst there is rising unemployment. In this way he believes that we have a shared interest in campaigning for justice and democracy in the Middle East and in the Global North.

He gave a very detailed, personal and moving account of the living and working conditions he, his family and other Palestinians face every day. He explained how the issues over pay and conditions they campaign over in Palestine are similar but also different to what we usually deal with in the UK. For example, workers are stuck every day at checkpoints and so it takes them hours to get to work. For many this means that they spend more time at check points than work and so through no fault of their own they lose money. He reminded everyone that it was an unemployed worker (Mohammed Bouazizi) who was forced to sell vegetables to survive in a country with high levels of unemployment and poverty that sparked the revolutions and revolts currently sweeping the Middle East and North Africa. As the leader of an independent trade union federation he took great pleasure in telling how new independent trade unions are emerging from the social movements fighting for democracy in that region and how this has led to the creation of a new regional network of independent trade unions. He ended by saying that he wanted people to stand up together against war and poverty and campaign for a better life for ourselves and our children.