From 2021 to 2022, workers from the Clover dairy company went on strike across South Africa. The trade union GIWUSA supported rank and file activists to demand fair pay, better working conditions, and worker protections. Striking workers were also joined, somewhat unusually, by Palestine solidarity activists.
The latter joined the campaign because Clover is in part controlled by Milco, an Israeli company. Their inclusion made the fight for more decent work at Clover a unique space for solidarity across many lines. Many (though not all) of the Palestine solidarity activists were middle class, Muslim, and Indian South African. Most of the workers were Black and working class, as were many (though not all) of the trade unionists who supported them.
An important contingent of the Palestine solidarity activists were young people who identified as queer. They connected their activism in the Clover strike to broader struggles for social justice, and to their belief in queer solidarity and care.
