Wollongong Palestine solidarity activists picket company supplying Israel

Wollongong Friends of Palestine community activists successfully organised a picket on 15 November against Australian company Bisalloy Steels. Bisalloy has a factory in Unanderra, a suburb of Wollongong, and manufactures steel plating used in tank armour.

The company’s business manager, Justin Suwart, previously boasted that Israel is the largest export market for Bisalloy’s armour-grade steel and cited the “strong opportunities to further increase sales in the region” in a report on the company’s website. In other words, some of Bisalloy’s profits come from supplying a state that is perpetually waging war on the Palestinians.

Roughly 200 people gathered early in the morning to protest outside the company gates. This is the fourth time since Israel’s current genocide in Gaza began that Wollongong activists have organised a picket. The previous time, the company shut down for the day. This time was no different, although the company dubiously invoked a “picnic day” as its reasoning. At any rate, we celebrated the win.

A week earlier, the company’s shareholders moved their annual general meeting to Zoom after discovering that we planned to protest the event.

Our protest occurred on the 86th anniversary of the Dalfram dispute—when dock workers refused to load pig iron onto ships headed for imperial Japan to be used against the Chinese. Wollongong Friends of Palestine activists are standing in a tradition of anti-war activism and finding ways to do what we can to disrupt the business of genocide.

Bisalloy Steels will continue to be a target as long as they are involved in manufacturing materials for war.