?? This morning at 6:20 am the #MareJonio it rescued 43 people, including women and children, about 40 miles north of Zuara. They were aboard a boat full of water and overloaded, at risk of sinking. Now they are safe on our ship. Welcome! pic.twitter.com/QzXHMasDjG
— Mediterranea Saving Humans (@RescueMed) June 29, 2020
Just last year, in this time, the captain of the Sea Watch Carola Rackete he led the German NGO ship into the port of Lampedusa forcing the blockade of the Italian authorities. “The former director of the PM office in Malta has threatened an Italian journalist. Malta is in fact involved in many dirty business, such as the use of Maltese fishing boats to bring refugees back to Libya from the Maltese research area, as explained by In the Excavation in his articles on Avvenire“, Rackete writes on Twitter in support of Scavo, who has repeatedly asked the government of the island about the management of the shipwrecked from Libya by receiving a reply tweet from Neville Gafa ‘, former director of the Maltese premier’s office:” Stop the your dirty business or we’ll stop you. “
Malta’s former director of PM office threatening Italian journalist.
Malta is in fact involved in a lot of dirty business, like the use of Maltese fishing vessels to return refugees to Libya from Maltese search zone, as exposed by @nelloscavo in L’Avvenire. pic.twitter.com/R5mIxKftCs
– Carola Rackete (@CaroRackete) June 28, 2020
” A year ago, I entered the port of Lampedusa without authorization, after that my crew and I rescued 53 people from the shipwreck and after all of Europe abandoned us for more than two weeks. Our crew had to do it as part of the civilian rescue fleet because the European Union had withdrawn all its shipsdespite knowing that refugees fleeing the ongoing war in Libya are attempting to cross, ” he told Rackete.
The then Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had refused entry of the ship into the port and during more than two weeks of stalemate the situation on board had reached the extreme. So the June 29, 2019 Rackete had the ship docked in port without authorization and was arrested. In January, the Italian Supreme Court ruled that his arrest was not justified. ” Our crew had to be at sea because we know that human rights are universal and maritime law does not care about passports: I thought that we had to be at sea not only to carry out the rescue, but also as a sign of resistance against racism structural of the European authorities, ” he added.
Some media frame questions about international maritime law as a matter of personal opinion and perspective.
Equally, human rights abuses of @Frontex, like their involvements in pushbacks at sea and land are facts – not opinions – and well documented.
1/x
– Carola Rackete (@CaroRackete) June 29, 2020
A year later Rackete breaks the silence to launch an appeal to ” all EU citizens ” who ” should know: those people who are drowning in the Mediterranean – at least 96 dead within this month – are not victims of an unexpected accident or a natural disaster. They drown because the EU wants them to drown, frightening those who might attempt to cross. They drown because Europe denies them access to safe routes and leaves nothing but risk their life at sea. And no one would have entered such a boat, unless it was safer than the coast! ” He said. ” As European citizens, we must stop this policy! We must tear down the fortress Europa, created to make the poor die from the Mediterranean coast where nobody sees them. There must be equality and freedom for everyone, to live and move without fear for one’s life, ” he continued.
The shame on the pier of Lampedusa
–
Until this becomes a reality, civilian rescue will continue to be like voluntary firefighters attempting to extinguish fires intentionally on fire by incendiaries of the EU and the wider North of the world. And despite the Italian Supreme Court having validated my decision to enter the port and bring people safely in accordance with maritime law, the criminalization of sea rescue continues; in my case and in investigating others who act in solidarity with people on the move, ” continued the activist.
in reproduction ….
–
–
–
In addition, European countries are exploiting the crisis caused by the coronavirus to “set aside human rights and to stop respecting the law of the sea”. ” I must stress once again that, although the new coalition of the Italian government is in power, nothing fundamental has changed within the EU and at the EU’s external borders. If there has been a change, things have gotten worse over the past year, ” continued the activist. Malta in the first place, but also other European states, including Germany, are using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to abandon human rights and to stop respecting the law of the sea. On Easter weekend, despite their position being known to the EU authorities, the castaways were left adrift for days in the Maltese rescue area, before being intercepted by a private “ghost fleet ship” that the Maltese government he had hired to illegally bring back the 51 survivors and 5 bodies to Libya. Seven others had already drowned. Since then, little is known of further similar cases, because civilian eyes at sea are unwanted. Several European states, including Spain, Malta, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, continue to hinder rescue and monitoring of missions at sea and in flight, ” he said.
rep
Carola Rackete, story of the captain who challenged (and beaten) Matteo Salvini
–
Explaining his decision not to give interviews a year after his arrival in Lampedusa, Rackete says that ” this story, however, should not concern me at all. This is why I don’t want to be the one to speak. The persistent framing of me and other rescue volunteers in the Mediterranean as heroes is a deeply problematic narrative. It removes the spotlight from the people we have saved and mistakenly creates the illusion that some people are unique or different. But like most Europeans, we – as Sea Watch 3 crew members – are above all one thing: the privileged. This does not mean that we do not face any problems in life. It means that in my case, as a white woman, I wasn’t afraid for a second that the police could kill me during the arrest or afterwards in the cell as happened to many black people, even in Germany. And that’s why we have to act, ” he explained.
rep
Those disobedient women
–
” If there are heroes in that story, they are the people we met at sea and who survived much more than crossing the sea in an unworthy boat. It is not necessary for a white person to go on stage as an alleged “voice of the voiceless”, ” he explained. ” The people we save may have lost many things in their lives, but they have not lost their voices and are the experts of their own experiences. If we want to overcome structural racism, we should start by listening to them. This is why I will not do interviews on the anniversary of Sea Watch 3 of last year’s mission. Instead, I ask everyone to listen to those whom Europe would prefer to drown rather than allow it to reach its shores, ” he concluded.
Meanwhile the new plane of Sea Watch takes off today on his first mission. While “Moonbird” stops for maintenance, “Seabird”, explains the German NGO, “allows you to continue identifying boats in danger, provide assistance in rescue operations and document human rights violations in the Mediterranean”.
Meanwhile landings continue also in Sardinia. Swipe a hundred last night the number of Algerian immigrants, including a woman, arrived on the south-western coasts of the island. At night landings they did not stop: a new group of 13 people has been spotted in the morning. The favorable weather conditions and a weak wind from the south favor Algeria departures and short crossing to Sardinia. Yesterday in Porto Pino, on the beach of Sant’Anna Arresi (South Sardinia), two groups were intercepted, one of 19, the other of 8 people, including a woman. Then another six Algerians were found in Teulada, 12 in Cala Cipolla, 10 in the village of Sa Cologne, 14 in Sant’Antioco and this morning another 14 on the beach of Chia (Domusdemaria), where they were welcomed in a bathhouse. All are intended for the reception center of Monastir (Cagliari) for identification procedures, and medical.
–
