The death of yet another seafarer following the attacks on Greek-owned tankers in the Strait of Hormuz is another crime with a well-known cause: imperialist war and the insatiable pursuit of shipowners’ profits.

In July alone, 23 seafarers lost their lives in the Black Sea. From the Black Sea to the Middle East, ships and their crews are being turned into targets.

For the working class, war means death, injury, displacement and poverty. For shipowners and business groups, it means soaring freight rates, new markets and untold profits.

The EU, the US and NATO are spearheading the escalation and expansion of the war in order to advance their plans in the Middle East. The Greek government is complicit. It is actively participating with military personnel and equipment in the war waged by the US and Israel against Iran. At the same time, it provides cover for the shipowners who blackmail seafarers and send crews into the flames of war so that not a single euro of their profits is lost.

Not a single seafarer in a war zone! All seafarers must be repatriated immediately and safely, under the responsibility and at the expense of the shipping companies. All necessary measures to protect their lives must be taken now.

Now is the time to strengthen organisation and struggle against the policy of profit and war, with the nationwide, all-people rally called by the trade unions on the 5th of September at the Thessaloniki International Fair as a major milestone.

From Thessaloniki to the ports of Europe and the Mediterranean, we support the international initiative of dockworkers’ unions on 30 October against involvement in the war and the transformation of European and Mediterranean ports into imperialist war bases so that workers and peoples are not sacrificed for their profits and their wars!