Another question posed by the pole was “Is the Israeli government committed to peace with the Palestinians?” In December of 2007, 66% of respondents said that the government, then led by Ehud Olmert, was committed to peace with the Palestinians. In June of 2009, a month after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House, only 46% of Americans said they believed the Netanyahu government was committed to peace.

In the months of May and June, there appeared to be a positive change in American public opinion on the matter, with 53% of respondents saying they believe Netanyahu seeks peace. However, in July, only 45% of American said they felt Netanyahu was committed to the peace process. 39%responded that Netanyahu and his administration are not committed to seeking peace with the Palestinians.

Greenberg has analyzed the poll results and says that the section of the American public where Israel is most rapidly losing support is among Liberal Americans who align themselves with the Democratic Party.

The survey also showed Germans favoured Palestinians over Israel, with 26% saying they felt “warm” or “very warm” feelings toward them and 39% feeling “cold” or “very cold” feelings toward Palestinians.

Greenberg conducted similar surveys in European countries and said the data reflects the worst time for Israel with regard to German public opinion since 2008.

In France, the data were a little better, but Israel did not achieve widespread public support there either: 24% said they felt “warm” or “very warm” feelings toward Israel, while 31% felt “cold” or “very cold” feelings toward it.

Greenberg noted, however, that these findings have remained stable over the last three years.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, the situation was similar to that in Germany, with 49% saying their feelings toward Israel were “cold” or “very cold.”

Bangladesh and Unite

Steve Davison is vice-chairman of the Unite & Workers Uniting steering committee. He has returned from meeting the Bangladesh garment workers in a delegation from Unite and the United Steel Workers (Workers Uniting)

While on a Unite delegation to Bangladesh Steve Davison met Labour Minister Khondker Mosharraf Hossain.

"What government in the world would not want its workers to be paid a living wage?" he asked.

"We would like to support the garment workers' demands for 5,000 taka a month. In a just world, the workers should earn even more.

"The problem Bangladesh faces is that giant multinational retailers will not pay for a wage increase. Every year the multinationals slash the prices they are willing to pay per unit, which drives down wages. You have to control your own multinationals if you want to help the garment workers."

Hossain's sense of powerlessness is very real. The truth is that in today's super-globalised world, the power of multinational corporations is greater than governments, especially in the Third World.

And with wages increasing in China and Vietnam, the Bangladeshi workers are at the bottom of the pile.

Despite there being nowhere cheaper to go, the employers' organisation YET and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Export Association threatened to close the garment factories after the workers launched their fightback.

The workers have not been intimidated by such actions. They are still taking part in factory sit-ins and on-the-spot wage negotiations to secure raises before returning to work. Mass demonstrations and roadblocks are taking place all the time.

The workers, virtually without leadership and national organisation, have spread the actions across the country, where copycat actions are taking place.

But the workers' struggle is made harder because of the disarray in the trade union movement. Bangladesh has over 6,000 trade unions, which are in a constant struggle for survival and in competition with each other. Dozens of the garment unions have very small membership and most are linked to political parties and individual politicians.

Few collect union dues. Rather, they fight each other over funding from Europe and the US. There is no unity but rather a constant fight over money.

The outcome of this historic struggle is yet to be written. But things will never be the same again. Once the most downtrodden workers of the world rise up and fight they become a beacon for millions.

The Bangladeshi workers will learn more in the days ahead than political commentators learn in a lifetime. The struggle in Bangladesh begs a new kind of global trade unionism - one that is fit for purpose in challenging and taming the global multinationals