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Reaffirming our solidarity with Palestinian firefighters
Building on decades of solidarity work with Palestinian firefighters, FBU Scotland condemns cruel oppression faced by comrades in Gaza as bullets and bombs rain down on them, writes GUS SPROUL
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THE relentless catastrophe unfolding in Gaza has provoked a huge response from trade unions across the world. The Israeli government’s onslaught in response to the October 7 attack has seen the whole Palestinian population held responsible and subjected to collective punishment, illegal according to international law.
As bombs and bullets rain down on innocent men, women and children, cutting off vital transport routes for essential supplies, malnutrition, disease, hunger and starvation haunt a terrified population — a situation cruelly exacerbated by the deliberate and systematic denial of desperately needed medical supplies, power, water and almost every other essential item.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has a proud history of practical international solidarity work supporting oppressed people across the world, particularly in South Africa, Venezuela, Cuba and Palestine where we have longstanding links with our comrades in the Palestinian fire service.
The disaster that has unfolded in Gaza has been long in the making and tragically comes as no surprise to our members. Decades of exchange visits between firefighters in Britain and our Palestinian counterparts have helped our members understand the plight of their peers living under such harsh oppression.
The FBU’s relationship with Palestine started in the 1980s and was championed by the union’s then-general secretary, Ken Cameron, a giant of the trade union movement.
In Scotland, former Dundee firefighter and FBU official, Jim Malone, has led the union’s solidarity work for many years.
This has seen many projects delivered including practical support to Palestinian firefighters through the facilitation of training, the provision of breathing apparatus, firefighting kit and equipment, the training of over 100 firefighters from the municipality of Nablus and Hebron at the Scottish Fire and Rescue College, exchange visits and the delivery of two fire appliances full of vital PPE and equipment.
These projects made a genuine difference to a fire and rescue service starved of the most basic equipment such as helmets, gloves and boots and to the firefighters regularly prevented by the Israeli forces from attending emergency callouts.
Across the Palestinian Authority, survival is the day-to-day priority as Netanyahu’s far-right government inflicts unimaginable suffering on the Palestinian population and all the while, world leaders allow the genocide to continue unabated.
The FBU is unequivocal in its condemnation of terrorism and has joined international calls for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the blockade and the Israeli attacks on the population of Gaza and the West Bank. The only way that we will see peace is through negotiations, held in a period of relative calm.
Firefighters in Scotland and across Britain will continue to support our Palestinian comrades, as Jim Malone says, “Firefighters are the same all over the world. That bond will always be there; we are brothers and sisters and that binds us together irrespective of race, religion or physical distance.”
Gus Sproul is the Scottish chair of the FBU.
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