The Civil Fleet Podcast: Recent Episodes
Ben Cowles
Saving lives at sea is not a crime
But for the past few years, European states have treated those brave enough to save refugees from drowning in the Mediterranean as if they were breaking the law.
Welcome to The Civil Fleet, a podcast by civilfleet.com that focuses on the NGO refugee rescuers in the central Mediterranean and beyond.
In this episode we speak with Toni from Corporate Watch about Titan Airways, a charter airline company making millions from Britain's deportation regime.
She tells us how the firm is generating wealth by tearing families apart, making a killing from every juncture in the cycle of war, and using sport to wash its image.
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---Show notes---
Check out Corporate Watch here: corporatewatch.org/
Follow Corporate Watch on BlueSky: @corporatewatch.bsky.social
And on Instagram: corporatewatchuk
Read Toni's co-authored article on Titan Airways here: https://corporatewatch.org/titan-airways-the-charter-airline-quietly-making-millions-from-deportations/
Read the UN document Ben and Toni mention in the episode: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=30524
For more on Corporate Watch, Air Partner and CarlsonWagonlit, check out episode 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
Here's an article about former British Prime Minister praising Italy's return hub deal with Albania: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cvgddpq44qjt. And here's another: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-asylum-seekers-albania-meloni-italy-b2612898.html
For more on Deportation Watch, see here: https://uk.deportationwatch.net/en
For more on Britain, listen to episodes: 83, 82, 73, 67, 63, 62, 61, 57, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21 and 11.
You can sign JCWI's petition calling for an end to the UK and France's 1-in-1-out deal here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-racist-and-cruel-one-in-one-out-deportations/
Toni mentions Gary Stevenson and his YouTube channel, Gary's Economics. If you've somehow not heard of him, check him out here: youtube.com/@garyseconomics
Toni references former England footballer and pundit Gary Lineker and the Patriotic Millionaires group calling on the British government to tax them more. Check them out here: https://patrioticmillionaires.org/
According to Flightradar24, July 23, 2026 had the most commercial flights in a single day than any other in history: https://www.newsweek.com/global-air-travel-had-busiest-day-on-record-12245968
Ben mentions No Name Kitchen and Sea-Watch. For more on the former, see episodes 87, 63, 59, 58, 51, 41, and 6, and listen to episodes 90, 70, 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1 for the latter.
In this episode we speak with Sea-Watch spokesperson Julia Winkler about the so-called Libyan Coastguard's shooting of the Sea-Watch 5 rescue ship in May.
She tells us how, following the horrific attack, the Italian authorities absurdly put the ship's captain under investigation.
Julia also tells us how the rescuers hope to put legal pressure on the German government to protect Sea-Watch's activists from the Libyan gunmen in the future.
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---Show notes---
For more on Sea-Watch, visit: sea-watch.org/en
Follow Sea-Watch on BlueSky: @en.sea-watch.org
Instagram: seawatchcrew
Also, check out episodes 70, 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Sea-Watch
See the Justice Fleet's list of Libyan Coastguard attacks on activists rescuers here: https://justice-fleet.org/en/incidents
For more on Captain Support Network, see here: captainsupport.net
Listen to episode 80 to hear about the Libyan Coastguard's attack on the SOS Mediterranee
Julia mentions a previous episode of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Mustafa, Bairbre and Louise from Mataris Sudan Solidarity Committee and 50 Out Of Many. Listen to episode 85 for that.
Check out episodes 53 and 35 to hear from people who faced criminal charges for allegedly captaining a refugee boat.
For a deeper dive on the Libyan Coastguards, check out episode 86 with Frey Lindsay from State Watch
For more on the Iuventa case, listen to episodes 54, 24, and 2
For more on Netflix's 23,000 Lives, see here: https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81660283
In this episode, we speak with Esmé, an activist and chef with the Global Sumud Flotilla.
She tells us about the activist group's humanitarian mission to Gaza, and what she saw during the Israeli navy's raid on the flotilla in international waters off Greece.
She also speaks on the kidnapping of her fellow activists and the beatings they were subjected on an Israeli ship.
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---Show notes---
For more on the Global Sumud Flotilla, see: globalsumudflotilla.org
You can track the progress of the GSF ships here: globalsumudflotilla.org/tracker
Follow GSF on social media:
Instagram: globalsumudflotilla
on Twitter: @gbsumudflotilla
Read about GSF on The Civil Fleet: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Global-Sumud-Flotilla/
Check out episode 81 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with journalist Lorenzo D'Agostino to hear how last year's GSF mission ended when the crew were kidnapped by the IDF, taken to an Israeli prison and tortured.
For more The Civil Fleet Podcast episodes on Greece, see episodes 68, 60, 56, 53, 52, 50, 35, 34, 28, 26, 18, 9 and 4
For more on the Open Arms rescue ship, check out episodes 30 and 13
In this episode we speak with Iftach Cohen, co-founder of Front-LEX, a nonprofit legal organisation challenging EU border violence in court.
Iftach is going to tell us about the Alaa Hamoudi case, a Syrian man who was pushed back from Greece to Turkey by the Greek Coastguards in 2020, right under the eyes of the European Border and Coastguard agency, Frontex.
He tell us how Front-LEX won this case for Hamoudi at the EU's top court in January, and explains why this landmark legal victory should "benefit all future victims of Frontex's activities, and bring to an end its de facto immunity" in court.
Iftach will also tell us about a Frontex's report on the Greek government using Afghan paramilitaries to push people back to Turkey
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---Show notes---
For more on Front-Lex, see: front-lex.eu
And follow them on BlueSky: front_lex
Read Front-Lex's article on the Alaa Hamoudi case: https://front-lex.eu/the-court-of-justice-of-the-european-union-delivers-a-first-legal-victory-in-a-pushback-case-against-frontex-a-landmark-judgment-in-hamoudi-v-frontex/
For more on former Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri, and why he's being investigated for crimes against humanity, read this report in Le Monde: http://lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/03/25/why-former-frontex-chief-fabrice-leggeri-is-under-investigation-for-complicity-in-crimes-against-humanity_6751795_7.html
For more on Frontex, see episodes 76, 68, 54, 52, 50, 34, 31, 23, 15, 7 and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
For more on the Pylos shipwreck, see episodes 60 and 52 (the latter of which has Lighthouse Reports journalist Bashar Deeb)
Watch Bashar Deeb's report on Hamoudi's case, here: youtube.com/watch?v=Td5e9Y7U6ZI
Check out episodes 3, 4, 9, 16, 25, 26, 28, 35, 53, and 56 for more on Greece
For more on Refugees in Libya, see episodes: 79 and 29.
You can read Frontex's redacted report on the pushback case in Greece involving Afghan paramilitaries on The Civil Fleet's website, in the post about this article.
The quote attributed to the late Tony Benn is: "The way the government treats refugees is very instructive because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it."
Apparently, it was Scottish journalist Neal Ascherson who said it in 1996: "The way a state treats its aliens is the way it would treat its own subjects if it dared."
You can read that here: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/if-we-teach-children-morality-what-will-we-say-about-the-arms-trade-1325052.html
In this episode we speak with Ame, Alegro, Mirka and Ruben about No Name Kitchen's solidarity activism with people on the move in Bulgaria.
They tell us about the abuses people on the move face inside the country, the terrible conditions of its migrant detention centres, and how the border guards allowed three Egyptian boys to freeze to death in December 2024.
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---Show notes---
For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: nonamekitchen.org
Follow NNK on Instagram: @no_name_kitchen
And listen to episodes 63, 59, 58, 51, 41, and 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
We briefly mention the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in this episode. For more on that, check out episode 6.
Read No Name Kitchen's report on the three Egyptian boys who froze to death at the Bulgarian border here: https://bloodyborders.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/NNK_Frozen-Lives_25-01-20_2.pdf
In this episode, we speak with Frey Lindsay, a journalist with the transparency and civil liberties organisation Statewatch.
He tells us how the so-called Libyan Coastguard is far from a unified organisation but is, in fact, an amalgamation of groups with different structures and vying allegiances.
Frey also tells us about a leaked EU document, obtained by Statewatch recently, that proposes the bloc outsource its SAR operations in the Mediterranean to non-European countries and have them take the rescued to non-EU ports.
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---Show notes---
Follow Frey Lindsay on BlueSky: @freylindsay.bsky.social
You can read Frey's InfoMigrants article on the Libyan Coastguards here: https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/67224/the-libyan-coast-guard--explained
For more on Statewatch, check out: statewatch.org
Follow them on Bluesky: @statewatch.bsky.social
Check out Statewatch's Outsourcing Borders project: statewatch.org/outsourcing-borders-monitoring-eu-externalisation-policy
And sign up to their newsletter here: statewatch.org/outsourcing-borders-monitoring-eu-externalisation-policy/mailing-list/
Frey mentions the Ocean Viking and SOS Mediterranee. For more on them, check out episodes episode 75 and 80 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
For more on Libya and the so-called Libya Coastguard, listen to episodes 80, 79, 75, 65m 55, 52, 43, 29, 23, 19, 15, 10, 7 and 1
Frey mentions Lighthouse Reports. Check them out here: lighthousereports.com. And listen to episodes 52 and 34
For more on Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni meeting with Libyan warlord General Khalifa Haftar, see this report from InfoMigrants: https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/48746/italylibya-meloni-meets-haftar-migration-a-priority
For more on the TBZ brigade and General Haftar's alleged links to human trafficking, see this report in Spiegal International: https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/more-like-kidnapping-a-brutal-libyan-militia-helps-europe-keep-migrants-at-bay-a-0c68d2b5-37bd-4267-b98c-8279a059e2bc
For more on the EU's plans for an MRCC in eastern Libya, read this Statewatch report: https://www.statewatch.org/news/2026/january/eu-to-increase-lethal-migration-cooperation-with-libya/
For more on the Piantedosi Decree, listen to episodes 84, 71 and 66
Check out this 2018 report on the EU's 'disembarkation platforms' idea: https://www.politico.eu/article/regional-disembarkation-platforms-eu-leaders-consider-camps-outside-bloc-to-process-refugees/
And check out The Civil Fleet's new exclusive story (that Ben mentions at the beginning and end of the episode) here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/at-least-14-people-died-in-home-office-asylum-seeker-accommodation-in-first-six-months-of-2025/
In this episode, we speak with Mustafa, Bairbre and Louise about the treatment of Sudanese refugees in Greece.
Mustafa tells us about the revolution and ongoing proxy war in Sudan. He'll also tell us why he had to flee the country, and the Kafkaesque situation he found himself in after seeking asylum in Greece.
Louise and Bairbre tell us more about the situation for people on the move in Greece, how refugees (including children) are being criminalised and sentenced to decades (and sometimes hundreds of years!) in prison for allegedly captaining a boat across the sea or driving a car across the border.
We'll also hear about the situation inside Greece's migrant detention camps, and how the solidarity groups Mataris Sudan Solidarity Committee and 50 Out Of Many are organising with criminalised and imprisoned Sudanese refugees.
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---Show notes---
Don't know much about the conflict in Sudan? See this video from Al Jazeera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL0nz1ZeX_k
For more on the EU's past links with the RSF, see here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/19/what-is-europes-role-in-sudans-refugee-crisis
And here: https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/europe-shouldnt-rely-upon-the-rsf-militia-on-immigration/
Here is the report Ben mentions called Border Control from Hell: data.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/55954
For more on UK arms sales to Sudan and reports that the RSF is using UK-made weapons, see this October 2025 report by the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/oct/28/uk-military-equipment-rapid-support-forces-rsf-militia-accused-genocide-found-sudan-united-nations
And read this response from Amnesty International UK: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-arms-licensing-system-indefensible-british-linked-weapons-used-sudan
For more on Mataris Sudan Solidarity Committee, follow them on Intsa: mataris_ssc
Follow 50 Out of Many on Instagram, too: 50outofmany
Find Louise's court drawings on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/truuuuuuuuuuuuc/
For more The Civil Fleet Podcast episodes on Greece, see episodes 68, 60, 56, 53, 52, 50, 35, 34, 28, 26, 18, 9 and 4
In episode 35, we hear from Hanad Abdi Mohammad, a Somalian (not Ethiopian as Ben said in this episode!) refugee who was sentenced to 142 years behind bars in Greece for supposedly captaining a boat across the Aegean
For more on the El Fasher massacre, read this Al Jazeera report: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/29/massacre-in-el-fasher-whats-happening-in-sudan-right-now
For more on the Dublin Agreement, check out this explainer video by The Guardian newspaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooecJWPcAY&t=28s&ab_channel=TheGuardian
For more on Ireland's new family reunification rules, read this report in the Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2025/11/26/what-are-the-new-family-reunification-rules-for-migrant-workers/
Read Amnesty International's condemnation of the Greek government's decision to suspend asylum claims for people from North Africa in July 2025 here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/07/greece-new-asylum-and-return-proposals-flagrantly-breach-international-law-and-punishes-people-seeking-protection/
For more on conditions in Greece's prisons, see this report by the Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cpt/-/council-of-europe-anti-torture-committee-cpt-returns-to-greece-for-high-level-talks-on-prison-reform
And read about their 2019 visit here: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/greece-reforming-prison-system-and-ending-police-ill-treatment-are-urgent-priorities-says-cpt
"The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently," wrote the late, great David Graeber... Of course, Ben totally butchers this at the end of the episode.
In this episode, we speak with Juan Matias Gil, a search-and-rescue representative for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
He tells us how the Italian government made it impossible for the medical charity to use its Geo Barents rescue ship, and about the Oyvon — MSF's new, smaller, faster rescue vessel.
He also tells us about the first rescue mission aboard the Oyvon.
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---Show notes---
For more on MSF, visit: msf.org.uk
Follow MSF's rescue missions on Twitter here: @MSFSea
For more on their former ship, the Geo Barents, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Geo-Barents
AND, check out episode 14 of The Civil Fleet Podcast, with the ship's search-and-rescue team leader Riccardo Gatti and midwife Kira Smith
For more on the Piantedosi Decree, listen to episodes 71 and 66
Want to hear how an out-of-date carton of jam was one of the reasons why one of the Aita Mari rescue ship was blocked from leaving port? Listen to episode 12.
OR, read this interview with Iñigo Mijangos, chairman of Humanitarian Maritime Rescue (SMH), teh charity which operates the Ait Mari: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/europe-will-continue-with-its-border-control-policies-and-we-will-continue-fighting-for-human-rights/
For more on the Sea-Watch 4 being detained for having too many life-jackets, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/09/20/europes-criminalisation-of-ngo-refugee-rescuers-reaches-another-peak-after-fifth-ship-detained-in-italy/
For more on the EU's funding of the Libyan Coastguards despite knowing about its human rights abuses, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2021/03/05/eu-urged-to-continue-support-for-libyan-coastguard-in-leaked-document/
In this episode, we speak with Diane Taylor, a journalist at the Guardian newspaper, about Britain's "one-in-one-out" deal with France, and about the British government's new, even harsher asylum-seeker policies.
Diane also tells us about the refugees she spoke to in France recently after they were deported from Britain, and about a group of asylum-seekers who went on hunger strike in protest against their forced return trip across The Channel.
---Get in touch---
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--- Show notes ---
Read more from Diane here: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/dianetaylor
Here's a link to the opinion piece we spoke about in this episode: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/17/labour-asylum-plans-cruel-hype-old-policy-unachievable-promises
Read 'No safe place to go': people sent back to France under 'one in, one out' deal tell of desperation, here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-interactive/2025/nov/18/people-sent-back-france-uk-one-in-one-out-scheme
Read Diane's article about the hunger strike, here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/26/asylum-seekers-uk-hunger-strike
For more on the hunger strike, see here: https://www.biduk.org/articles/bid-joins-hunger-strikers-in-detention-in-calling-for-their-right-to-claim-asylum-in-the-uk
For more on The Channel, the Illegal Immigration Act, the Nationality and Borders Act, the Rwanda Scheme, the Bibby Stockholm and more, see episodes 73, 62, 61, 57, 49, 44, 42, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21 and 17 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
See here to read about the fall in net migration in Britain https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2025/11/27/what-is-driving-the-current-fall-in-net-migration/
Want to know more about the British government's latest plans to introduce ID cards? See here: https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/digital-id-liberty-position/
And here: https://bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/campaigns/no2digitalid/
For more on Bosnia, see episodes 58, 59, and the bonus episode (which you can access on ko-fi.com/civilfleet)
For more on No Name Kitchen, see episodes 59, 58, 51, 41, and 6
For more on the Manston migrant detention centre, check out episode 32.
For more on Lithuania and Poland, see episodes 78, 64, 52 and 33.
See here for more on Humans for Rights Network: humansforrights.org
For more on BiD (Bail for Immigration Detainees), see here: biduk.org
In this episode, we speak with Peter from The Channel Monitoring Project.
He tells how the new project plans to monitor people crossing over from France to England, how the group hopes to counter the toxicity around this in Britain, and how anyone can get involved.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
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Join me at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair, see here: https://bookfair.org.uk
--- Show notes ---
For more on The Channel Monitoring Project, see their website here: channelmonitoringproject.com
Find their social media profiles here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566003603488
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/channelmonitoring.bsky.social
And Discord: discord.com/invite/ZnpQCMCjtc
For more on Channel Rescue, see episode 11
Read about the UK Border Force training to push people back to France, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/uk-border-force-may-have-begun-attempts-to-push-refugees-back-across-the-channel-already-evidence-suggests
For more on The Channel, the Illegal Immigration Act, the Nationality and Borders Act, the Rwanda Scheme, the Bibby Stockholm and more on the UK, see episodes 73, 62, 61, 57, 49, 44, 42, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21 and 17
For more on the Pylos Shipwreck, see episodes 60 and 52
For more on the Anduril's AI system at the border, see this report from Migrant Rights Network: https://migrantsrights.org.uk/projects/hostile-office/the-digital-hostile-environment/ai-borders-anduril-autonomous-surveillance-towers/
For more on Refugees in Libya, see episodes: 79 and 29
In this episode, we speak with Lorenzo D'Agostino, a journalist who took part the Global Sumud Flotilla's civilian-led mission to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
He tells us about joining sailing from Barcelona towards Gaza, how its boats came under repeated drone attacks, and how the activists were eventually intercepted and kidnapped by the Israeli Navy.
Lorenzo tells us how, once in Israel, his captors treated them all like terrorists and subjected them to torture, before deporting them to Turkey. We also hear how most European governments totally failed to stand up for their citizens.
---Get in touch---
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Join me at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair, see here: https://bookfair.org.uk
--- Show notes ---
For more on the Global Sumud Flotilla, see the group's website here: global-sumudflotilla.com
Follow Lorenzo D'Agostino on:
Twitter: @lorenzodago
Instagram: lo_dago
And on TikTok: lorenzodago
Check out his website here: lorenzodagostino.com
Check out episode 19 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more from Lorenzo
Want to know what Lorenzo and I were doing in Trappani, Sicily, last January? Then check out episode 54.
For more on the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/07/29/american-workers-rights-activist-chris-smalls-beaten-by-israeli-soldiers/
Read this CBS report on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly approving the bombings of Family and Alma ship in Tunisia: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/netanyahu-drone-attacks-gaza-aid-boats-tunisia/
For more on Palestine Action, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/07/05/the-civil-fleet-podcast-stands-with-palestine-action/
Ben mentions the Libyan Coastguards firing on the Ocean Viking refugee rescue ship and the Italy navy failing to help. Check out episode 80 for more on that.
You can read a farcical (and now deleted) article on an Israeli government website claiming the Global Sumud Flotilla was organised by Hamas, here: https://web.archive.org/web/20251001154325/https://govextra.gov.il/mda/march-to-gaza/the-hidden-networks-behind-the-global-sumud-flotilla/
Ben mentions The World Transformed Festival. Read about that here: https://theworldtransformed.org/
You can read Lorenzo's article addressed to the Israeli people, here: https://x.com/lorenzodago/status/1973516145350287812
Read about Saleh al-Jafaraw, the latest (as of this recording) journalist killed by the Israeli military, here: https://www.middleeasteye.net/trending/tributes-pour-palestinian-journalist-killed-after-gaza-ceasefire
In this episode, we speak with Patrick, a search and rescue worker on SOS Mediteranee's ship the Ocean Viking.
Patrick is going to tell us about the Libyan Coastguard's attack on the Ocean Viking in August this year.
The tells us how the EU-funded Libyan Coastguards circled the ship and peppered it with bullets at head and chest height. There were 80 rescued people on the ship, including unaccompanied children. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
Despite their attack on a European-flagged ship, the EU has said it will continue to fund and work with the Libyan Coastguards.
---Get in touch---
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--- Show notes ---
For more on SOS Mediterranee, see their website here: sosmediterranee.org
Follow SOS Mediterranee on social media:
BlueSky: @sosmediterranee.org
Insta: SOS MEDITERRANEE
Twitter: @SOSMedIntl
You can watch a clip of Libyan Coastguards firing on Ocean Viking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BRP_MIIGeU
Also, listen to episode 75 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on SOS Mediterranee.
For more on Sea-Eye, check out episode 10; Sea-Watch, see episodes 70, 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1, and SOS Humanity, listen to episodes 55 and 31 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
For more on Italy's distant ports policy, see episodes 71 with ResQShip, and 69, with SeaPunks.
For more on the Libyan Coastguards, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Libyan-Coastguard/
Read about the EU dismissing the civil fleet's calls to stop funding Libyan Coastguard after the shooting, here: https://euobserver.com/migration/ar9ad7ff4f (Unfortunately, it's behind a paywall...)
For more on the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair, see here: https://bookfair.org.uk
In this episode, we speak with human rights campaigner and Refugees in Libya co-founder David Yambio.
He gives us an update on Refugees in Libya's Unfair campaign, which demands the UNHCR change the way it treats people in need of its protection.
He tells us about the Book of Shame — which he and his fellow Refugees in Libya campaigners co-wrote with members of Refugees in Tunisia and Refugees in Niger.
He tells us how the book outlines the UNHCR's failures to protect people-on-the-move, in North Africa.
David also tells us how he found out that the Italian state used an Israeli spy firm to tap his phone and spy on him.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on Refugees in Libya, see: https://www.refugeesinlibya.org
You can read the Book of Shame here: https://www.refugeesinlibya.org/book-of-shame
Check out episode 29 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more with David Yambio
Read this interview with David Yambio on The Civil Fleet blog from when he was living in Libya: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2021/12/16/the-eu-must-be-held-accountable-for-the-crimes-it-has-committed-against-people-trying-to-reach-its-borders/
For more on the EU's support for the Libyan Coastguards despite its fears of human rights abuses, read this: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/eu-to-continue-supporting-the-libyan-coastguard-despite-its-fears-of-human-rights-abuses
In this episode we speak with Aleksandra from Grupa Granica, a refugee support coalition working at the Poland-Belarus border, and Ola, a member Szpila, an anti-repression feminist collective based in Warsaw.
They are going to tell us about the trial of a man called Bartek, who, in October 2024, provided humanitarian assistance to a young Somali man who wanted to apply for asylum in Poland.
However, the border guards pushed the Somali man back to Belarus without lodging his asylum application.
When Bartek told the guards that he would file a complaint against them and inform the media of their actions, they accused him of trying to "influence the official duties of the border guard," and even of threatening them.
The court is expected to give its verdict in the case on September 26. We'll try to get an update for you as soon as we can. Keep an eye on The Civil Fleet's blog.
Ola and Aleksandra are going to tell us all about the situation at Poland's border with Belarus for people on the move, and how the government has suspended the right to claim asylum at the Belarus border.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on Szpila, see their website here: https://szpila.noblogs.org/english
For more on Grupa Granica, see their website here: https://www.sklepbezgranic.pl/en_US/index
Or follow them on Facebook: facebook.com/grupagranica
For more on Grupa Granica, check out episode 64 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Read Szpila's June 2025 report on the criminalisation of solidarity here: https://szpila.noblogs.org/criminalizing-solidarity-report-on-anti-repression-efforts/
Check out episode 33 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Belarus from the Lithuanian side of the border.
And check out The Civil Fleet's stories on Belarus here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Belarus/
For more on Poland suspending asylum claims for people crossing the border from Belarus, see here: amnesty.org/en/documents/eur37/9322/2025/en/
For more on We Are Monitoring, check them out here: https://wearemonitoring.org.pl/en/home/
For more on the US and Hungarian governments designating Antifa as a terrorist organisation, see here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/20/hungary-urges-eu-to-designate-antifa-as-a-terrorist-group
We speak with Manon and Camille, two activists with F.Lotta - a horizon network organising protests across Europe this weekend and the central Mediterranean, demanding free movement for all and an end to fortress Europe's murderous policies.
Camille and Manon tell us how and why F.Lotta was formed, about all the different campaigns taking part in the continent-wide protests, and how they hope the protests will show that a different world is possible.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on F.Lotta, see their website here: https://flotta.noblogs.org/
Follow them on Instagram: f.lotta_
For all campaigns involved with F.Lotta, see here: https://flotta.noblogs.org/campaigns
You can see F.Lotta's map of action this weekend here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/de/map/flotta-public-map_1261555#6/37.099/14.843
For more on Operation Sophia, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/eu-to-continue-supporting-the-libyan-coastguard-despite-its-fears-of-human-rights-abuses/
For more on the deaths in the Channel this week, read here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/english-channel-small-boat-sinking-children-b2823719.html
For more on the attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, read this:https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/activists-vow-to-sail-to-gaza-despite-second-drone-attack-on-its-ships/
In this episode, we speak with Jeff Crisp, formerly of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and now part of the campaign group United Against Inhumanity (UAI).
He tells us how and why UAI was set up, how it is trying to get European governments to treat people-on-the-move humanely, and about the organisation's recently published manifesto: Stop the Inhumanity at Europe's Borders.
We also discuss the far-right's anti-asylum-seeker protests in the UK, Italy's failed deportation deal with Albania, and the US's similar deals with countries in Africa and Latin America.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
Follow Jeff Crisp on Twitter, via @JFCrisp
Find United Against Inhumanity's website here: against-inhumanity.org
Read UAI's manifesto here: https://www.against-inhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/manifesto-short-version-2.pdf
Read Jeff's article on why refugees are going hungry across the world: https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2025/08/19/worlds-refugees-hungry/
Read Jeff's New York Times on Trump's offshoring policy here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/opinion/migration-deportation-sudan-trump.html
Or get around the NYT's paywall here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hz23t1zKeIbQxFZqG1dLkR-cDQ_Hiie29yKrhQcF6NA/edit?tab=t.0
Here's the article Jeff speaks about on why some refugees don't stay in France: https://www.against-inhumanity.org/2023/05/05/asylum-seekers-crossing-the-english-channel-why-dont-they-stay-in-france-by-marie-leveille/
Ben mentions a bunch of other people and organisations that have been on the podcast before. For more on:
Open Arms, see episodes 30 and 13
No Name Kitchen, see episodes 59, 58, 51, 41, and 6
MSF, see episodes 21 and 14
Alarm Phone, see episodes 5 and 3
Frontex, see episodes 68, 54, 52, 50, 34, 31, 23, 15, 7 and 1
Tunisia, see episode 48
Gaza, see episode 67
Pylos disaster, see episodes 60 and 52
I can't find the comedian I mentioned in this episode about immigrants being the true patriots. I thought it was Doug Standhope, but it's not.
For more on the UK government's banning of Palestine Action, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/07/05/the-civil-fleet-podcast-stands-with-palestine-action/
As usual, Ben butchers a famous phrase in this episode. The phrase often misattributed to Italian communist Antonio Gramsci is "Pessimism of the intellect. Optimism of the will."
In this episode, we speak with Lucille, operation communications manager for SOS Mediterranee.
She tells us how the Ocean Viking's crew found 25 people adrift in the Mediterranean Sea by chance in March 2024. The survivors told Lucille that they had left Libya five or six days ago with around 60 people. Most of them didn't survive.
A serious incident report published quietly by Frontex in May this year corroborates the survivors' accounts, that their boat was spotted by planes and commercial ships, but no rescue was launched.
The Frontex report also admits that its own failures — as well as those of the Libyan, Maltese and Italian maritime authorises — "likely" breached the fundamental right to life of those who died.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on SOS Mediterranee, see their website here: sosmediterranee.org
Follow SOS Mediterranee on social media:
BlueSky: @sosmediterranee.org
Insta: SOS MEDITERRANEE
Twitter: @SOSMedIntl
You can download Frontex's serious incident report 13681 / 2024 here: https://tinyurl.com/4bhb495d
Find the full Frontex report on The Civil Fleet's website, too: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/08/08/episode-75-frontex-likely-breached-refugees-right-to-life/
For more on SOS Mediterranee's old ship, the Aquarius, read this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/07/dark-day-migrant-rescue-ship-aquarius-ends-operations-mediterranean
For more on Doctors Without Borders (MSF), see episodes 67, 21 and 14 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
For more on Frontex, the European Border and Coastguard Agency, check out episodes 68, 54, 52, 50, 34, 31, 23, 15, 7 and 1
For more on Malta, see episodes: 74, 72, 37, 27, and 5
For more on Seabird, check out episodes: 65 and 1
Alarm Phone activists are interviewed in episodes: 48, 5 and 3
You can read Alarm Phone's account of all this, here: https://alarmphone.org/en/2024/09/27/denial-of-rescue-85-people-left-to-die-in-march-2024/
Oh, and Ben mentions the episode with Nadir, ResQship's rescue ship. That is episode 71. Also, check out episode 27 for more on the Nadir.
We speak with Silvia from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, or PICUM.
She tells us about a report she wrote for PICUM on the criminalisation and non-judicial harassment of people-on-the-move and activists working in solidarity with them in Europe last year.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on PICUM, see: picum.org
You can read the PICUM report talked about in this episode here: https://picum.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Criminalisation-of-migration-and-solidarity-in-the-EU-2024-report.pdf
Follow PICUM on social media:
Bluesky: @picumofficial.bsky.social
Twitter: @picum_ngo
Instagram: picum_ngo
Silvia mentioned former Green Party MEP Majid Majid. For more on him, see here: magicmagid.com
Ben mentions migrants rights campaigner Zoe Gardner. See episodes 73 and 38 of The Civil Fleet Podcast to hear from her.
Read this report from the Irish Times on the anti-migrant protests blighting Ireland recently; https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2025/04/26/anti-immigration-protest-marking-easter-rising-gathers-crowds-in-dublin/
Ben mentions previous episodes of The Civil Fleet Podcast with people-on-the-move who have been criminalised in Greece, Italy and Malta. Here are some of the episodes:
Episode 56 focuses on the Homayoun Sabetara case
Episode 53 features Nadia, a Lebanese refugee whose husband was accused of smuggling
Hanad Abdi Mohammad, a Somalian refugee who was sentenced to 142 years behind bars for supposedly captaining a boat across the Aegean, talks to us in episode 35
Check out episode 29 to hear from South Sudanese human rights campaigner Yambio David Oliver
Listen to episode 37 to hear about the El Hiblu 3
Silvia mentions No Name Kitchen. For more on them, see episodes: 63, 59, 58, 51, 41 and 6
For more on the Iuventa case, listen to episodes 54, 24, and 2
Silvia mention Francesca Cancellaro. Check out episode 36 to hear from here, and the Iuventa case
Read this for more on Italy's detention of the refugee rescue ship Nadir: resqship.org/en/statement-piantedosi
Ben makes reference to the British government banning a non-violent protest group banned by the British government. For more on that, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/07/05/the-civil-fleet-podcast-stands-with-palestine-action/
For more on the Kinsa case, see kinsa-case.eu/the-case-kinsa
In this episode, migrants rights campaigner Zoe Gardner tells us why the UK Home Office should be dismantled.
In a report she recently wrote for the Green Party, Zoe says the controversial department should be split up into two new ministries.
We talk about the Home Office's acts of cruelty to migrants, refugees and people on the move, and how government policy of housing asylum seekers in unfit accommodation has created a billionaire.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
You can follow Zoe on Twitter here: @ZoeJardiniere
And on Bluesky here: @zoejardiniere.bsky.social
Read the report, No Way Home? It is time to remove management of immigration from the Home Office here: https://carladenyer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/no-way-home-web.pdf
Zoe Gardner was last on The Civil Fleet Podcast in 2023. We spoke about UK's Illegal Migration Bill. Check out episode 38 for that
For more on the Windrush Scandal, see episode 39 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with filmmaker Sonita Gale
For more on the government removing the right to claim British citizenship from people who cross the Channel in small boats, see here: bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d5wj9l8e2o
For more on the previous British government's plans to deport people to Rwanda, see episodes 62, 57, 49, 40, 38, 32, and 25
For more on Clearsprings Ready Homes, check out episode 40 with Corporate Watch.
And read this story on the numbers of asylum seekers dying in Britain's Home Office Accommodation: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/at-least-40-people-died-in-home-office-asylum-seeker-accommodation-in-2023/
Here's the book Zoe recommended, called Wreckonomics: Why it's time to end the war on everything. You can find that here: http://rubenandersson.com/wreckonomics. (Please don't buy it, or anything else, from Amazon)
Check out episode 49 to hear an interview with Paul O'Connor, then senior national officer at the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union
For more on the situation in Greece, check out episodes: 68, 60, 56, 53, 52, 50, 35, 34, 28, 26, 18, 9 and 4
In this episode, we speak with academic Cetta and foreign policy analyst Daniel about the Malta Migration Archive.
We discuss the Maltese government's refusal to save refugee lives in its own search-and-rescue zone, how it ignores civilian rescue ships, pressurises commercial ships to not rescue refugees, and how it organises pushbacks with the so-called Libyan coastguards.
Cetta and Daniel tell us how the Malta Migration Archive maps all of this, and why it is so important to expose and combat the Maltese government's silence.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
Check out the Malta Migration Archive here: maltamigrationarchive.org
Follow them on Blue Sky on @maltamigrationarchive.org
And on Twitter on @MigrationMalta
Cetta mentions the El Hiblu 3 – three young men who Malta arrested on terrorism charges after they helped prevent a push back to Libya. For more on that, check out episode 37 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Daniel mentions the rescue organisation Mission Lifeline. For more on them, see here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Mission-Lifeline
Check out episodes 48, 5 and 3 for more on Alarm Phone.
Episodes 70, 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1 feature interviews with Sea-Watch activists
Cetta mentions the Tuna-pen Incident. For more on that, see here: https://timesofmalta.com/article/international-shock-over-tuna-pen-incident.16311
She also mentions the Civil Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (CMRCC). Check them out here: https://civilmrcc.eu/
Episodes 65 and 1 are focused on Sea-Watch's reconnaissance planes Seabird. Have a listen when you can.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) get mention in the episode, and they're the focus of episodes 67, 21 and 14.
Listen to episodes 47 and 18 to hear more about how commercial shipping has been affected by Malta's refusal to take in people on the move.
Ben mentions the Dublin Agreement. Check out this explainer video by The Guardian newspaper for more on that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooecJWPcAY&t=28s&ab_channel=TheGuardian
Ben also mentions Doro, and the book about him. You can buy the book here: unbound.com/books/doro/
Listen to episode 43 for an interview with co-author and Sea-Watch activist Brendan Woodhouse.
Ben suggests that governments have never really respected international law. Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BXtgq0Nhsc&ab_channel=Chomsky%27sPhilosophy
David Yambio, South Sudanese human rights activist and founder of Refugees in Libya, is interviewed in episode 29.
In this episode, we speak with medical doctors Hannah and James about their latest missions on the Nadir, a sailing boat operated by ResQship.
Hannah tells us about a rescue in May, when the crew found a boat carrying over 60 people, including two dead children. The people they rescued had been at sea for four days with no water.
James tells us about the Nadir's last rescue in June. After bringing 112 people to safety in Lampedusa, the Italian authorities decided to block the ship from leaving port.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on ResQship, see: resqship.org/en
Follow them on: Instagram and Bluesky
And, listen to episode 27 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Nadir
Read The Civil Fleet's coverage of the Nadir, here: bit.ly/39SnJjy
Ben mentions a report by Sea-Watch on how the EU could restart state-led refugee rescues. Read that here: https://sea-watch.org/en/mare-solidale/
For more on the Piantedosi Decree, read this: https://www.sosmediterranee.org/consequence-of-the-piantedosi-decree/
Also, listen to episodes 70, 69, 68 and 65
For more on the detention of the Sea-Eye 5, see here: https://sea-eye.org/en/after-rescuing-65-people-sea-eye-5-unlawfully-detained-in-sicily/
Listen to episode 10 for more on Sea-Eye.
James mentions the Flussi Decree. Read about that here: https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/60346/italys-new-flows-decree-stricter-controls-and-expanded-work-visas-for-migrants
In this episode, Sea-Watch's search-and-rescue coordinator Hendrik tells us about the rescue of 32 people stranded on a gas rig in central Mediterranean in March.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on Sea-Watch, visit: sea-watch.org/en
Follow Sea-Watch on BlueSky: @en.sea-watch.org Instagram: seawatchcrew
Also, check out episodes 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Sea-Watch.
For more on the Miskar Platform rescue, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2025/03/04/sea-watch-rescues-32-people-left-stranded-on-a-mediterranean-gas-rig/
You can watch the 2020 YouTube interview I did with Hendrik and Dariush here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kS3OX922Vs&t=1874s&ab_channel=BenCowles (Check out my Covid beard!)
For more about the Iuventa, check out episodes: 54, 36, 24, and 2.
You can read more about the Iuventa, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Iuventa/
Hendrik mentions the RNLI – the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a lifeboat charity based in the UK.
He also mentions the Humanitarian Pilot Project. You can find out more about them here: https://www.hpi.swiss
The Greek coastguards are fascists? • Read this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0vv717yvpeo, this: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/06/04/masked-men-attack-refugee-dinghy-off-the-coast-of-greece-as-coastguard-fails-to-launch-rescue/ this https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2021/02/11/close-to-10000-people-pushed-back-to-turkey-by-greek-coastguard-and-frontex-activists-allege/ and Google Greek Coastguards.
• See here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Greece/
• Check out episodes 68, 60, 56, 53, 52, 50, 41, 35, 28, 26, 24, 23, 22, 18, 12, 9, and 4
In this episode, we speak with Arturo, captain of the refugee rescue ship Seapunk I.
He's going to tell us all about the Seapunks activist group and its connection with punk rock music. He also tells us about a dramatic rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea in January, in which several people died.
We also discuss how the Italian authorities force NGO ships to take the refugees to distant ports, and how this deliberately results in more refugee deaths.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on Seapunks, visit seapunks.de/en
Follow them on Instagram on: Sea Punks e.V
And on Bluesky here: @seapunks.bsky.social
For more on Sea-Watch, check out episodes: 43, 22, 7 and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Listen to episodes 48 and 20 for more on Louise Michel
For more on Iuventa, download episodes 54, 36, 24 and 2
For more on Refugee Rescue, see here: linktr.ee/RefugeeRescue
Interviews with Alarm Phone activists are in episodes 48, 5 and 3
Check out our two interviews with Brendan Woodhouse in episodes 43 and 22
In this episode, we speak with Yasha Maccanico a researcher and journalist at StateWatch, a UK-based charity focused on civil liberties, human rights and democracy in Europe.
We talk about a proposed EU law that could make it easier for states to criminalise acts of solidarity with people on the move.
Yasha also talks to us about abuses of state power in Europe under the guise of lowering immigration, the externalisation of the EU's borders in Africa, and much more.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on StateWatch, check out their work here: statewatch.org
Follow them on BlueSky: @statewatch.bsky.social
Ben misquotes the late left-wing politician Tony Benn, who once said: “The way a government treats refugees is very instructive, because it shows you how they would treat the rest of us if they thought they could get away with it.”
In fact, the phrase may have been misattributed to Tony Benn.
You can watch one of Tony Benn's most famous speeches against the US-UK' illegal invasion of Iraq, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7ciGW7h7PI&ab_channel=PoliticsJOE
Yasha mentions the an independent media company Bristol Cable. You can read their work here: thebristolcable.org
Ben and Yasha talk briefly about the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol in 2020. You can read more about that here; https://exhibitions.bristolmuseums.org.uk/the-colston-statue
Here's where you can find out more about Migreurop: https://migreurop.org/?lang=en
Ben mentions an episode of The Civil Fleet with Jihed, a Tunisian activist with Alarm Phone and Louise Michelle. Check out episode 48 for that.
For more on Frontex, the European Border and Coastguard Agency, check out episodes 54, 52, 50, 34, 31, 23, 15, 7 and 1
Ben mentions previous The Civil Fleet Podcast episodes with people who have been arrested and given ludicrous sentences for driving boats or cars across borders. Check out episodes:
56, which focuses on Homayoun Sabetara, a father who fled Iran to be reunited with his daughters in Germany and was sentenced to 18 years behind bars in Greece after he was forced to drive across the border.
53 with Nadia, a young refugee woman from Lebanon who husband was arrested by the Greek authorities and accused of human smuggling after spending 10 days adrift in the Mediterranean.
35 with Hanad, a Somalian refugee who was senteced to 142 years behind bars for trying to stop his boat from sinking in the Aegean Sea and saving the lives of 33 others
Here are the links Yasha sent:
EU: New migrant smuggling law to ensure criminalisation of solidarity (December 2024) https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2024/eu-new-migrant-smuggling-law-to-ensure-criminalisation-of-solidarity/
A new EU law on the criminalisation of migrant smuggling will be examined by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council. The Council is due to approve its position for negotiations with the European Parliament. The existing law has been criticised for failing to prevent the criminalisation of migration and acts of solidarity with migrants and refugees. The new text, obtained by Statewatch and published here, appears likely to worsen the situation.
EU: Council lowers threshold for migrant smuggling prosecutions (July 2024, with PICUM) https://www.statewatch.org/news/2024/july/eu-council-lowers-threshold-for-migrant-smuggling-prosecutions/
EU institutions are discussing proposed changes to the law criminalising the facilitation of irregular migration, which has also been used to criminalise migrants and individuals acting in solidarity with them. The Belgian Council presidency presented a revised draft to other EU member states at the end of May, which would simplify the criminalisation of irregular entry, amongst other things. The draft will serve as the basis for further discussions within the Council, with Hungary now in the presidency role until the end of this year.
Viewpoint, Hindering humanitarianism: European Commission will not ensure protection for those aiding sans-papiers, Chris Jones (April 2017) https://www.statewatch.org/media/documents/analyses/no-311-facilitation-directive.pdf
The shrinking space for solidarity with migrants and refugees: how the European Union and Member States target and criminalize defenders of the rights of people on the move (TNI, Yasha Maccanico, Ben Hayes, Samuel Kenny, Frank Barat, September 2018) https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/web_theshrinkingspace.pdf
Libya/elmasri: including full text of Shatz/Branco submission to the ICC against Italian ministers: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/february/italian-ministers-should-face-justice-for-freeing-fugitive-war-criminal-says-legal-complaint/
Secrecy: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2024/november/italy-has-nullified-the-right-to-transparency-regarding-borders/
Tunisia: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2024/november/tunisia-no-to-the-criminalisation-of-solidarity-with-migrants/
Deportations (aka returns): http://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/january/deportations-new-role-for-frontex-as-eu-pushes-for-more-voluntary-returns/
Egypt: http://www.statewatch.org/news/2025/january/eu-police-cooperation-with-egypt-sacrifices-people-s-rights-and-freedoms-for-security/
“Outsourcing borders” externalisation bulletin project, bulletins and documents archive: https://www.statewatch.org/outsourcing-borders-monitoring-eu-externalisation-policy/
To challenge border militarisation (with partners, 2023/24), Telling the story of EU border militarisation, https://www.statewatch.org/media/4000/eu-border-militarisation-narrative-guide.pdf
Europe’s techno-borders (2023 with EuroMed Rights) https://www.statewatch.org/publications/reports-and-books/europe-s-techno-borders/
Frontex and interoperable databases: knowledge as power? (2023) https://www.statewatch.org/frontex-and-interoperable-databases-knowledge-as-power/
Empowering the police, removing protections: the new Europol Regulation (2022) https://www.statewatch.org/publications/reports-and-books/empowering-the-police-removing-protections-the-new-europol-regulation/
Interoperability, eu-LISA and the biometric state (2022) Building the biometric state: Police powers and discrimination https://www.statewatch.org/publications/reports-and-books/building-the-biometric-state-police-powers-and-discrimination/
Background docs selection on interoperability and the EU JHA policy field http://www.statewatch.org/observatories/interoperability-eu-big-brother-database/
Secrecy and externalisation of EU border control (2022) https://www.statewatch.org/media/3781/secrecy-and-externalisation-of-migration-control.pdf
Renditions observatory http://www.statewatch.org/observatories/rendition-the-use-of-european-countries-by-the-cia-for-the-transport-and-illegal-detention-of-prisoners/
In this episode, we speak with Michaël Neuman from Doctors' Without Borders (MSF).
He tells us about the charity's work in Syria, and how the fall of Bashar Assad's regime could affect this.
We also discuss MSF's work in Gaza, Israel's ongoing genocide against the Palestinians and the fact that, unlike most conflicts, the people there have no escape.
Michaël also tells us why MSF decided it needed to help asylum seekers in the UK, and why European governments have been far too quick to pause asylum claims for Syrians.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
--- Show notes ---
For more on MSF, visit: msf.org.uk
Follow MSF UK on Twitter here: @MSF
Check out MSF Crash's website here: msf-crash.org/en
Michael refers to the cyclone which battered Mayotte in December. Read about MSF's work on teh Indian Ocean island here: https://msf.org.uk/article/cyclone-chido-how-msf-responding-mayotte-and-mozambique
For more on MSF's rescue ship, the Geo Barents, see here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Geo-Barents
AND, check out episode 14 of The Civil Fleet Podcast, with the ship's search-and-rescue team leader Riccardo Gatti and midwife Kira Smith.
Listen to episode 21 also, with MSF UK advocacy officer Sophie McCann.
This 2017 video by Vox is a fairly good summation of the differing sides in the Syrian Civil War: youtube.com/watch?v=JFpanWNgfQY&t=3s&ab_channel=Vox
Here is an excellent speech by the late journalist Robert Fisk in 2016 on the Arab Spring, Egypt, Isis, Iraq and the West's role in the Middle East: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzq_uPzGfw&ab_channel=UCD-UniversityCollegeDublin
Ben mentions a previous episode with Syrian refugee Hasan. Check out episode 25 of The Civil Fleet Podcast to hear that
For more on MSF's work in Gaza, see here: https://www.msf.org/gaza-israel-war
Michael mentions an article in the Haaretz newspaper about Israeli soldiers killing any Palestinian person who crosses the Neztarim corridor. You can read that here: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-12-18/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-soldiers-expose-arbitrary-killings-and-rampant-lawlessness-in-gazas-netzarim-corridor/00000193-da7f-de86-a9f3-fefff2e50000
That article is behind a paywall, unfortunately, BUT you can read about it here (for free!) on Middle East Eye: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/hundreds-indiscriminately-shot-dead-israeli-soldiers-gaza-kill-zone
Michael mentions the siege of Mosul. For more on that, see here: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/video-life-aftermath-war-mosul
For more on MSF's work in the UK, particularly at the Wethersfield migrant containment centre, see here: https://msf.org.uk/article/explainer-why-msf-treating-people-seeking-asylum-uk
For more on the conditions inside Britain's migrant containment centres, check out episode 32 with journalist Bethany Rielly (then home affairs reporter at the Morning Star newspaper, now a co-editor at the New Internationalist)
For more on Doctors of the World, see here: https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk
Ben mentions his exclusive articles revealing the number of deaths in UK Home Office Accommodation in 2022 and 2023. Read that here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/revealed
In this episode, we speak with Katja and Matthias, co-founders of the refugee rescue group CompassCollective. They tell us how they operate their rescue ship, the Trotamar III, to document human rights violations and save lives in the central Mediterranean. They also tell us about the recent rescue of an 11-year-old-girl they found by chance floating alone at sea for 2 or 3 days. ---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on CompassCollective, see their website here: compass-collective.org/en/start Follow them on Twitter: @boat_spotting Mastodon: @boatspotting@digitalcourage.social Facebook: facebook.com/compasscollectiv Insta: compasscollective_boatspotting And YouTube: youtube.com/@Compass_Collective/videos For more on the Piantedosi Decree, see here: sosmediterranee.org/consequence-of-the-piantedosi-decree/ And/or check out episode 65 or The Civil Fleet Podcast For more on Sea-Watch and their reconnaissance planes, listen to episodes: 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1 For more on Alarm Phone, check out episodes 48, 5 and 3 For more on Maldusa, listen to episode 46
In this episode, we speak with Paul Wagner, the media officer for Sea-Watch's airborne operations.
He tells us about the rescue organisation's reconnaissance missions over the central Mediterranean, the push and pullbacks they have witnessed at sea, and how the EU has refugee blood on its hands.
He also tell us about the various ways the Italian government has tried to stop them from carrying out their human rights monitoring missions.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on Sea-Watch, visit: sea-watch.org/en
For more on the Seabirds 1 & 2, see here: sea-watch.org/mission/airborne/
Follow Sea-Watch on Twitter on @seawatch_intl Bluesky: @en.sea-watch.org Instagram: seawatchcrew
Also, check out episodes 43, 22, 7 and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Sea-Watch.
Read more about Carola Rackete here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/italys-highest-court-confirms-ngo-captain-should-not-have-been-arrested-for-saving-refugee-lives/
For more on SOS Humanity, see episodes 55 and 31
Read The Civil Fleet's coverage of Sea-Watch here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Sea-Watch
For more on the Matteo Salvini kidnapping trial. see: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/09/15/italian-deputy-pm-matteo-salvini-faces-possible-six-years-in-prison-over-migrants-case
It was SOS Humanity who rescued one person at sea in late October. They were then forced to sail to the distant port of Salerno, 870km, away from where the rescue took place. Read more about that here: twitter.com/soshumanity_en/status/1850235169568891033
You can read Ben's interbiew with Sea-Watch's Tamino Bohm, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/07/18/the-libyan-coastguards-interceptions-of-refugees-couldnt-happen-without-europes-planes
For more on the sip captain Paul metions who was arrested for handing people over to the Libya, see here: euronews.com/2021/10/14/italy-ship-captain-convicted-after-sending-101-migrants-to-libya-in-2018
The merchant shop Ben talks about was the Maersk Etienne. You can read about that saga here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/09/13/forty-day-nightmare-finally-over-as-the-mare-jonio-brings-the-etienne-27-to-land
For more on the Maersk Etienne case, check out episodes 18 and 47
Read about Malta's treatment of the civilian rescuers here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Malta
For more on the Pylos shipwreck, see Episodes 60 and 52
Paul mention's a testimony by Ibrahim Hsian, the son of Mohammed Hsian who drowned in the shipwreck of 2nd September 2024. You can read that here: sea-watch.org/en/my-father-was-a-unique-irreplaceable-person
In this episode we speak with Ola, an activist from the Grupa Granica coalition in Poland about the situation for refugees, migrants and people-on-the-move at the country's border with Belarus.
She tells us how border guards on both sides are mistreating people-on-the-move there, about the ping-pong pushbacks across the border, and how the country's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, plans to "temporarily" ban the human right to claim asylum.
Ola also tells us about Grupa Granica's work supporting people-on-the-move with food, clothes and first aid, and how the authorities have treated the activists.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
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---Show Notes---
For more on Grupa Granica, see their Facebook page here: facebook.com/grupagranica
See their Instagram account here: instagram.com/grupagranica
For more on the Belarus border, see episode 33 with Dalia, an activist from the Lithuanian human rights and medical aid organisation, Sienos Grupe.
Ola mention Alarm Phone. For more them, visit: alarmphone.org, and find them on Twitter on @alarm_phone.
And check out The Civil Fleet's episodes 48, 5 and 3.
Read this France 24 news article on African people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine being mistreated by the Polish border guards: france24.com/en/europe/20220228-pushed-back-because-we-re-black-africans-stranded-at-ukraine-poland-border
Read this FT article about the Afghans stuck at the Poland-Belarus border in 2021, here: https://archive.ph/RL4iK
And this Amnesty International article here: amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2021/09/poland-belarus-border-crisis/
For more on the Ethiopian people who died at the Poland-Belarus border last year, see here: https://ecre.org/eu-eastern-borders-more-deaths-at-poland-belarus-border-as-reports-of-pushbacks-detention-and-crack-down-on-solidarity-continue-council-of-europe-concerned-over-pushbacks-and-criminalisation-in-lat/
Read this Al Jazeera news report on the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk plans to temporarily suspend the human right to claim asylum here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/12/poland-to-temporarily-suspend-asylum-rights-amid-belarus-border-tensions
Read about Finland's government also blocking the human right to claim asylum here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/12/finland-passes-law-to-block-asylum-seekers-crossing-from-russia
And this Amnesty International response to it: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/finland-emergency-law-block-people-seeking-asylum-should-never-have-passed
Ben mentions people in Europe being dubbed smugglers for giving food, water, first aid, etc to people-on-the-move. More examples of that can be found in episodes: 59, 58, 51, 50, 47, 46, 41, 37, 35, 28, 24, 20, 16, 13, 7, 4 and 2
Ola uses the phrase "Dublinned" in the episode. This is a reference to the EU's Dublin Agreement — which is essentially supposed to keep asylum seekers away from northern Europe. Check out this explainer video by The Guardian newspaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooecJWPcAY&t=28s&ab_channel=TheGuardian
In this episode, we speak with Denny, a young refugee from Kashmir who was forced to flee his homeland almost 9 years ago.
He is going to tell us about life in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, his journey through Europe, how he was mistreated by the authorities and supported by activists.
We also talk about his time living in a squat in Bosnia, and how looking after a dog helped his mental state.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on the oppression in India-occupied Kashmir, see this 2019 Al Jazeera article: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/8/15/kashmirs-struggle-did-not-start-in-1947-and-will-not-end-today
For more on Britain's partition of India, see this Ted Ed video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrcCTgwbsjc&ab_channel=TED-Ed
For more on Britain's awful colonial rule of India, check out this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIzQxNZfGM4&ab_channel=OddCompass
Read this BBC news story about the Indian army killing of Kashmiri activists in May: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4n11j4wewxo
Ben mentions Klara in this interview. She was an activist with No Name Kitchen in Bosnia. Check out episodes 58 and 59 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Bosnia and No Name Kitchen
Ben mentions Bihac, but doesn't explain where that is. Whoops. It's a small town in northwest Bosnia on the border with Croatia. Episodes 58 and 59 are there.
Denny mentions Kurdistan. More more on them, check out this episode of Revolution and Ideology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rH-6ojrXv0&ab_channel=RevolutionandIdeology
In this episode, we speak with Lauren Starkey, a campaigner and independent social worker who works with Albanian victims of human trafficking.
Lauren is going to tell us how the British government decided that Albanian men shouldn't be granted asylum in the UK, even if they are victims of human trafficking.
She tells us how this approach punishes victims of human trafficking, forces them to live in destitution, and threatens to send them back to an environment they were trafficked from.
And we also have an addendum at the end of the episode, in which we talk about Labour's reported plans to end asylum seekers to Albania.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
You can follow Lauren Starkey on Twitter here: @LaurenHStarkey
Lauren mentions the defunct (in the UK) charity Love 146. You can check out their US website here: https://love146.org/
For more on the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), see here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-trafficking-victims-referral-and-assessment-forms/guidance-on-the-national-referral-mechanism-for-potential-adult-victims-of-modern-slavery-england-and-wales
Ben mentions a journalist trying to interview people as they cross the Channel. You can watch that here: bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-53722861
For more on the UK, see episodes 61, 57, 49, 44, 42, 40, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21, 17 and 11 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
Check out Amnesty International's assessment on the Nationality and Borders' Act 2022, see here: amnesty.org.uk/nationality-borders-bill-truth-behind-claims
See here for more on the UK government's legal battle with former Albanian president Berisha: reuters.com/world/europe/albanias-former-pm-berisha-loses-appeal-against-ban-uk-2024-06-17/
Read this Guardian report on the children who went missing from Britain's migrant hotels: theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jul/17/children-missing-from-home-office-hotels-likely-to-have-been-trafficked-report-finds
You can read about the British PM visit Italy's far-right PM Giorgia Meloni here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-italy-asylum-offhore-meloni-b2613670.html
For more on Israel's Rwanda scheme, see here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/israel-deportation-of-african-asylum-seekers-is-a-cruel-and-misguided-abandonment-of-responsibility
In this episode, we speak with Dan Sohege, director of the human rights advocacy organisation Stand For All.
We've a new government here in the UK. So I thought it'd be a good idea to ask Dan to give us his analysis of the Labour's plans for asylum seekers.
Dan tells us how Labour's plans to increase immigration raids will only make things worse for victims of trafficking.
We also discuss the recent far-right riots happening across Britain and Northern Ireland, and how our media and politicians bear much of the blame for the violence.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Follow Dan Sohege on Twitter: @stand_for_all
For more on Stand for All, visit: standforall.co.uk
Ben mentions a website where you can see a decade's worth of headlines on immigration. You can see that here: stuartleech.com/canto/dehumanising-headlines
Check out episode 44 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Reclaim the Sea for more on the Bibby Stockholm
Ben mentions episode 49 with Paul O'Connor from the Public and Commerical Services (PCS) union in this episode. Check that out.
For more episodes focused on the UK, see episodes 57, 49, 44, 42, 40, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21, 17 and 11.
Check out this story on the UK Border Force carrying out push back training: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/uk-border-force-may-have-begun-attempts-to-push-refugees-back-across-the-channel-already-evidence-suggests/
Read more about UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's comments on Bangladeshi asylum seekers here: middleeasteye.net/news/uk-labours-keir-starmer-caused-diplomatic-row-over-bangladesh-comments
Corporate Watch have a story here on the state of the hotels housing asylum seekers in the UK: https://corporatewatch.org/refugees-are-being-housed-in-an-infested-hotel-while-the-home-offices-slum-landlords-are-raking-it-in/
For more on the Southport murders and the far-right conspiracies that set off the riots in Britain, see here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/31/how-false-online-claims-about-southport-knife-attack-spread-so-rapidly
Dan mentions a far right protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Knowsley last year. Read about that here: morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/refugee-hate-and-rabble-rousing-who-are-patriotic-alternative
In today's episode, we speak with Spyros, from the Free Pylos 9 campaign.
He's going to tell us more about the Pylos Shipwreck, how the authorities refused to help the 750 people on the small fishing boat, and how it sank on June 14, 2023, when the Greek coastguards tried to tow it. Only 104 of the 750 people survived.
Spyros also tells us about the nine survivors who were used as scapegoats for the disaster and jailed, about the campaign to free them, and how they were treated once they were acquitted.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on Free Pylos 9, see their website here: freepylos9.info
Follow the Free Pylos 9 campaign on Twitter here: @FreePylos9
Find them on Instagram: freepylos9
For more background on the Pylos shipwreck and the 9 criminalised survivors, read this article by the Human Rights Legal Project: humanrightslp.eu/post/the-lack-of-jurisdiction-in-the-pylos-9-trial-and-the-incoherent-interpretation-of-international-cri
Spyros mentions the Captain Support Network. Check them out here: captainsupport.net
He also mentioned the Justice for Pylos campaign. Check out their website (in Greek) here: justice4pylos.org
For more on The Civil Fleet's coverage of the Pylos Shipwreck, see here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Greece
Check out episodes 3, 4, 9, 16, 25, 26, 28, 35, 52, 53, and 56 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Greece
Ben mention Lighthouse Reports and their investigation into the Pylos Shipwreck. You can read that here: lighthousereports.com/investigation/drowning-in-lies/
Check out Solomon's coverage of the shipwreck here: wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-pylos-tragedy-could-have-been-avoided
For more on Alarm Phone visit: alarmphone.org, and find them on Twitter on @alarm_phone.
You can read Alarm Phone's timeline of the shipwreck here: alarmphone.org/en/2023/06/14/europes-shield/
Oh, and by the way, Hellas is Greece in Greek, and therefore the Greek coastguard are also called the Hellenic Coastguard.
In this episode, we go back to the border town of Bihac, in Bosnia, to see how the solidarity network No Name Kitchen (NNK) supports People on the Move there.
In Part 2 of this miniseries on Bosnia, we'll near more from NNK's volunteers in Bosnia, and also from the refugees/migrants/People on the Move who are trapped in the Balkan country.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: nonamekitchen.org
Follow NNK on Twitter via @NoNameKitchen1
Follow them on Instagram: @no_name_kitchen
And listen to episodes 58 Part 2, 51, 41, and 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
Want to know where Bihac is exactly? Check out this map: tinyurl.com/34txjd3d
Ben mentions border guards forcing people-on-the-move to stay inside hot cars as a form of punishment. For more on this practice, see this story by Lighthouse Reports: lighthousereports.com/investigation/europes-black-sites/
And check out Episode 34 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Klaas van Dijken, one of the co-founders of Lighthouse Reports
Check out a film called Shadow Game for more on the term the game: shadowgame.eu/en/film/
In April, I went to Bihac, a small town in Bosnia near the border with Croatia, to see how the solidarity network No Name Kitchen (NNK) supports People on the Move there.
In this episode, NNK's volunteers in Bihac will tell us how they provide first aid, food and clothing to the People on the Move there, and how they document border violence.
We'll also talk with a few of the people trapped in Bosnia, who'll tell us about their journeys to the Balkan country, and the abuses they have faced from border guards at the edge of Fortress Europe.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: nonamekitchen.org
Follow NNK on Twitter via @NoNameKitchen1
Follow them on Instagram: @no_name_kitchen
And listen to episodes 58 Part 2, 51, 41, and 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
Want to know where Bihac is exactly? Check out this map: tinyurl.com/34txjd3d
Joe mentions the IWGB union. For more on them, check them out here: iwgb.org.uk
Joe also mentions Sea-Watch, one of the bigger refugee rescue groups operating in the Mediterranean. For more on them, see: sea-watch.org
And check out episodes 54, 43, 22, 7, and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Sea-Watch, too.
You can read Joe's article on the Chinese person he meet in Bosnia, here: nonamekitchen.org/a-new-friend-in-the-field-people-from-china-in-the-balkans-seeking-for-a-better-life/
In this episode we speak with Agustina Oliveri, campaigns manager at the UK-based human rights organisation, Free from Torture.
Agustina talks to us about Freedom from Tortures' brilliant campaigns against the British government's plans to exile asylum-seekers to Rwanda by targeting the airlines that are willing to do the government's dirty work.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on Freedom from Torture, see: freedomfromtorture.org
Check them out on Twitter, here: @FreefromTorture
Or On Instagram, here: instagram.com/freedomfromtorture
Join Freedom from Torture's campaign calling on Jet2 and AirTanker to stand on the right side of history: https://secure.freedomfromtorture.org/page/148549/action/1?ea_tracking_id=web
Check out this video of Agustina on the phone with Jet2 about the Rwanda scheme: https://twitter.com/FreefromTorture/status/1785646030723194902/video/1
Check out this video of Freedom from Torture presenting Privilege Style with the Worst Airline of the Year Award in 2022: https://twitter.com/fl360aero/status/1581635733554548741/video/1
Watch Freedom from Torture's video of Joan, a Holocaust survivor, confronting Suella Braverman on her hateful language here: twitter.com/FreefromTorture/status/1614172335921303554
Here's a photo of Freedom from Torture crashing the Real Madrid vs Barcelona FC match in 2022 with a message about the Rwanda Scheme. https://twitter.com/FreefromTorture/status/1582026657854259203
Read The Civil Fleet's exclusive story on the 40 people who died in Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation in 2023: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/at-least-40-people-died-in-home-office-asylum-seeker-accommodation-in-2023/
Read The Civil Fleet's stories on the UK's Rwanda scheme: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Rwanda/
Read the UN statement condemning the UK's Rwanda scheme: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/uk-rwanda-asylum-law-un-leaders-warn-harmful-consequences
For more on Samos Volunteers, see here: samosvolunteers.org
For more on the Bibby Stockholm, check out Episode 44 with Reclaim the Sea
For more on the UK holding asylum-seekers on former military bases, check out Episode 32 with journalist Bethany Rielly
Check out Episode 42, with journalist Nicola Kelly, on asylum seekers being abused and intimidated by staff at Home Office hotels.
Ben mentioned the Australian policy of exiling asylum seekers to an island nation, but couldn't remember which. It was Nauru. Read this Amnesty International investigation exposing the abuse of refugees there: amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/australia-investigation-discovers-appalling-abuse-refugees-nauru
Read about the direct action in the courts and in the streets which stopped the first deportation flight to Rwanda: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2022/06/15/britains-first-rwanda-deportation-flight-grounded-due-to-action-in-the-courts-and-on-the-streets/
Read this 2023 Human Rights Watch report on the UK Supreme Court finding the UK-Rwanda scheme unlawful: hrw.org/news/2023/11/15/uk-supreme-court-finds-uk-rwanda-asylum-scheme-unlawful
Here's a video of British cops rounding up people set to be deported to Rwanda: twitter.com/BennnyH/status/1786305873196839313
Here's the Home Office's video of cops rounding up people set to be exiled to Rwanda: twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/status/1785635671316537510
Read this story in The National on the government of Belize denying it is negotiating with the UK over its inhumane deportation policy: thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/11/03/belize-denies-negotiating-with-uk-over-inhumane-deportation-policy/
Here's a video of people preventing a deportation raid in Peckham, southeast London on May 2, 2024: https://twitter.com/TobyonTV/status/1786034196038693135
In this episode we speak with Kiana, Anne, Mahtab and Hannah from the Free Homayoun campaign.
Homayoun Sabetara, a widower and father of two, fled Iran to reunite with his daughters in Germany in 2021. Mahtab is one of his daughters.
Along the way, Homayoun was forced to drive a car carrying several others across the Greece-Turkey border. He was arrested in Greece, charged with human smuggling, and sentenced to 18 years behind bars at a trial conducted without interpreters.
Kiana, Anne, Mahtab and Hannah tell us more about Homayoun's case, his upcoming appeal on April 22, and how Europe's systematic criminalisation of people on the move.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more details on the Free Homayoun campaign, visit: freehomayoun.org/en
Follow the Homayoun campaign on social media: Instagram @freehomayoun Twitter: @freehomayoun Mastodon: @freehomayoun
Anne and Hannah mention the Seebrucke movement. For more on that, see: seebruecke.org/en
Borderline Europe is also mentioned in this episode. For more on that organisation, see here: borderline-europe.de/?l=en
Ben makes frequent reference to the Iuventa crew in this episode. If you don't know who they are and/or want to know more about them, see epiosde 54 and read here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Iuventa/
For more on the Samos 2, see episode 26. Incidentally, Dimitris Choulis who is interviewed in that episode, is also Homayoun Sabetara's lawyer.
For more on the criminalisation of people on the move, see episodes 53, 48, 35, 29, 28, 26 and more.
Ben mentions Sean Binder & Sara Mandini, Check out episode 16 for more on them.
In this episode, we speak with Camilla from the refugee rescue organisation SOS Humanity.
She tells us about the time the so-called Libyan Coastguard shot at them, disrupting a rescue operation in the central Mediterranean, and causing the death of at least one person in early March 2024.
She also tells us how, after that ordeal, the Italian authorities then ordered the Humanity 1 rescue ship to sail for a port, thousands of miles away.
And how, when they finally reached land, the authorities tried to detain the ship because they apparently disobeyed the Libyan Coastguards.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on SOS Humanity, check out their website, here: sos-humanity.org/en/sos-humanity
You can donate to them here: sos-humanity.org/en/donate-now
Follow SOS Humanity on Twitter: @soshumanity_en
You can watch video footage of the Libyan Coastguard's interference of the Humanity 1 rescue, here: youtube.com/watch?v=ARLiTPf7kzc&t=7s&ab_channel=TheCivilFleet
Check out episode 31 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on the Humanity 1 rescue ship
Also, read more about SOS Humanity on The Civil Fleet news blog, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/SOS-Humanity
Ben mentions Mediterranea: Saving Humans and their rescue ship, the Mare Jonio. For more on them, check out episodes 18 and 47 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Ben mentions a trip to Trapani and the Iuventa rescuers. Check out the previous episode of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on that, and check out episodes 2, 24 and 36
Camilla mentions fellow refugee rescue organisation SOS Mediterranee. For more on them, see here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/SOS-Mediterranee/
Fore more on the Libyan Coastguards, see here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Libyan-coastguard
And read this exclusive story on the EU continuing its support of the Libyan Coastguard despite its fears of human rights abuses: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/eu-to-continue-supporting-the-libyan-coastguard-despite-its-fears-of-human-rights-abuses/
And this 2020 investigation on how the EU’s supposed training of the Libyan coastguard has only made things worse: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/06/20/sending-refugees-back-to-hell-with-eu-support/
Camilla mentions Alarm Phone. Want to know more about them? Check out episodes 48, 5 and 3.
Read about Italy's top court declaring Libya not to be a safe port: reuters.com/world/africa/returning-sea-migrants-libya-is-illegal-italys-top-court-says-2024-02-18/
Read about the Libyan Coastguards harassing MSF's rescue ship Geo Barents here: https://searchandrescue.msf.org/testimonies/eu-sponsored-shameful-abuses-in-the-central-mediterranean-must-end.html
And watch this video of another incident: https://twitter.com/MSF_Sea/status/1768986324139217156
Ben mentions the Pirate History Podcast. Check that out here: piratehistorypodcast.com
You can read SOS Humanity, Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye's joint statement on the detention of their ships in March 2024, here: sos-humanity.org/en/press/italy-escalates-the-obstruction-of-civil-search-and-rescue/
Activists aboard the Iuventa rescue ship saved the lives of over 14,000 people in the central Mediterranean between 2016 and 2017.
Based on dodgy allegations from a security guard with links to the far right, the Italian secret services began spying on the Iuventa crew in September 2016.
The Italian authorities seized the Iuventa in August 2017, and initially warned 10 members of the crew that they were under investigation for human smuggling.
But in March 2021, only four of them were charged with “aiding and abetting illegal immigration to Italy.”
The four are Kathrin Schmidt, Dariush Beigui, Sascha Girke and Uli Tröder.
The preliminary hearing began in May 2022, and has been marred by the prosecution’s many procedural errors and a lack of proper translation for the German defendants.
At the end of February 2024, Ben Cowles went to Trapani, on the Italian island of Sicily, to cover what was hoped to be the end of the pretrial.
In this episode we interview Dariush and Sascha, two of the Iuventa four, on the day the prosecution gave up.
We speak with Elisa De Pieri from Amnesty International, Allison West from ECCHR, former Iuventa crewmate and Die Linke Party candidate Lea Reisner, and Mediterranea: Saving Humans' head of operations Beppe Caccia.
We also hear from the Iuventa's lawyers Nicola Canestrini and Francesca Cancellaro about the absurdity of the charges brought against the activists.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Check out The Civil Fleet's previous episodes with Iuventa crew members: • Episode 2 with Sascha Girke • Episode 24 with Kathrin Schmidt • Episode 36 with one of their lawyers Francesca Cancellaro
Read all about the Iuventa on The Civil Fleet blog, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Iuventa
Read about Italy's top court declaring Libya not to be a safe port: reuters.com/world/africa/returning-sea-migrants-libya-is-illegal-italys-top-court-says-2024-02-18/
You can read the full European Ombudsman's findings on Frontex's operations, here: ombudsman.europa.eu/en/case/en/63451
Or you can read a news story about it, here: euractiv.com/section/politics/news/eu-ombudsman-slams-frontexs-dependence-on-eu-countries-for-sea-operations/
For more on the ECCHR, listen to episode 15 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Silvia Rojas-Castro, a legal advisor at the ECCHR, and Elise Flecher, a senior programmes officer at Lawyers for Justice in Libya
Allison mentions UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawler. You can read about her intervention in the Iuventa case, here: https://iuventa-crew.org/en/2023/05/03/un-special-rapporteurs-call-on-italian-prosecution-to-dismiss-iuventa-case/
And on The Civil Fleet, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/10/08/un-expert-condemns-criminalisation-of-ngo-rescuers/
You can read the latest ECCHR report on the Iuventa pretrial, here: https://www.ecchr.eu/en/press-release/nach-7-jahren-staatsanwaltschaft-fordert-einstellung-des-verfahrens-im-iuventa-prozess/
A few times in the episode, Ben mentions a man, Ibrahima Bah, who was prosecuted in the UK for driving a boat across the Chanel. You can read about him in the Guardian newspaper, here: theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/12/ibrahima-bah-teenage-asylum-seeker-manslaughter
Read Ben's written interview with Lea Reisner on The Civil Fleet, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/09/18/this-would-not-have-happened-if-the-people-we-found-were-white/
Read about former Frontex boss Fabrice Leggeri joining the far right in France: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/former-eu-border-agency-chief-joins-french-far-right-rn-party-2024-02-18/
Read about UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joining a protest organised by a climate conspiracy group last month: theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/25/sunak-stands-with-net-zero-and-climate-conspiracy-group-at-farming-protest
For more on Mediterranea: Saving Humans and the Maersk Etienne, check out episodes 18 and 47 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Read about the Maersk Etienne, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/?s=Etienne
IN THIS episode we speak with Nadia, a young refugee woman from Lebanon, and Alexandros, a Greek human rights lawyer.
Nadia tells us how she and her husband Dawood were forced to leave Lebanon by boat, how they spent over 10 days at sea, and how, once they were rescued, Dawood was arrested by the Greek authorities and accused of human smuggling.
Alexandros tells us how he and his colleague Dmitris won the legal case against Dawood, and tells us more about the unjust EU directive that is locking up refugees.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
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---Show Notes---
For more on Dawood's case, read this article by the Human Rights Legal Project humanrightslp.eu/post/hrlp-lawyers-to-defend-dawood-who-has-been-in-custody-for-a-year-and-a-half
Check the Human Rights Legal Project out here: humanrightslp.eu/who-we-are-hrlp
For more on the situation in Lebanon following the 2020 explosion, read this Guardian report: theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/03/port-of-beirut-explosion-aftermath-scars-on-already-broken-lebanon
Check out The Civil Fleet's previous interview with Alexandros about the Samos 2: civilfleet.libsyn.com/episode-26-the-samos-2-and-the-criminalisation-of-refugees-in-greece
And here's the interview Alexandros helped set up with Hanad Abdi Mohammad, a Somalian refugee who was sentenced to 142 years behind bars because he momentarily steered a boat: civilfleet.libsyn.com/episode-35-sentenced-to-142-years-for-doing-what-any-human-would-do
Want to see what Malta's search-and-rescue zone looks like? See the July-August 2022 issue of ECHOES from the Central Mediterranean: https://issuu.com/civilmrcc/docs/cmrcc_echoes_issue_1_jul_aug_2022
Here's the UK Home Office's tweet of Ibrahima Bah, who was criminalised for steering a dinghy which collapsed in the Channel: twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/status/1761090973520576879
For more on Ibrahima Bah, read this statement by Captain Support UK: captainsupport.net/jury-convicts-ibrahima-bah-statement-from-captain-support-uk/
And this news report by Sky News: news.sky.com/story/ibrahima-bah-asylum-seeker-boat-pilot-locked-up-after-death-of-four-migrants-13078980
For more on the Maersk Etienne, read about it here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Etienne/
And check out episode 18 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Iason Apostolopoulos, who talks about it in that interview: civilfleet.libsyn.com/episode-18-there-is-no-end-to-this-cruelty
In this episode, we speak with journalist Bashar Deeb from Lighthouse Reports about two investigations he worked on.
The first, called 'Frontex and the Pirate Ship', is a disturbing story of how the European Border and Coastguard Agency helped a notorious Libyan rebel group intercept a refugee boat in the Mediterranean.
The second, ‘Drowning in Lies’, exposes how Greece tried to cover up its role in the Pylos shipwreck by tampering with witness testimony.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Check out Lighthouse Reports here: lighthousereports.com
And follow them on Twitter: @LHreports
Read Frontex and the Pirate Ship here: lighthousereports.com/investigation/frontex-and-the-pirate-ship/
Read Drowning in Lies here: lighthousereports.com/investigation/drowning-in-lies/
For more on Frontex, see episodes 50 and 23 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Read The Civil Fleet's coverage of Frontex, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Frontex/
Check out this 2021 report by Sea-Watch called ‘Crimes of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex in the Central Mediterranean Sea’ here: sea-watch.org/frontex_crimes/
For more on the Tariq Ben Zeyad unit, read this Amnesty International report: amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/12/libya-hold-commanders-of-tariq-ben-zeyad-armed-group-accountable-for-catalogue-of-horrors/
For more on the campaign group Refugees in Libya, check out episode 23 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
In early 2020, The Civil Fleet exposed how the EU planned to continue to support the Libyan Coastguard despite the bloc's concerns the government was violating the human rights of migrants and profiting from their detention: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/eu-to-continue-supporting-the-libyan-coastguard-despite-its-fears-of-human-rights-abuses/
Read this interview with a Somali refugee held in a bogus ‘refugee camp’ in Libya: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2020/03/09/they-lock-our-legs-together-with-a-chain-an-interview-with-a-slave/
For more on Libya, check out episode 15 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Check out episode 33 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on the situation at the Lithuania-Belarus border
For more on Malta's floating prisons, read this: maltatoday.com.mt/comment/blogs/102694/illegal_floating_prisons__carla_camilleri
The UK is also holding people on the move on a floating prison, called the Bibby Stockholm. For more on that, see episodes 44 and 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
It was the Maersk Etienne that rescued 27 people in 2020, which Malta refused to allow to come ashore. Listen to episode 18 and/or, read about it here: bit.ly/3HyJMHU
For more on Alarm Phone, listen to episodes 48, 5, and 3 of The Civil Fleet Podcast. Read about them here, too: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Alarm-Phone/
Read about the Crotone shipwreck here: msf.org/italy-over-60-people-killed-crotone-shipwreck
Read about the Pylos shipwreck, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2023/06/16/shipwreck-survivors-say-greek-coasts-towed-their-boat-before-it-sank/
Ben was trying to paraphrase this quote by Robert Fisk at the end of the episode: Journalists rarely "move mountains or bring down regimes; instead, we just chip, chip, chip away at the rock face, hoping that someone notices — so that no one can say ‘we didn’t know’."
In this episode, we speak with Sergio from No Name Kitchen.
He tells how the group supports people on the move along the Balkan route, and the types of violence they experience along the European Union's edges.
Sergio also talks to us about No Name Kitchen's Bloody Borders report, and of the horrific levels of abuse suffered at European borders.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more No Name Kitchen, visit: nonamekitchen.org
Follow them on Twitter here: twitter.com/NoNameKitchen1
Read NNK's Bloody Borders Report here: tinyurl.com/27ss86b8
If you'd like to volunteer with NNK, see here: nonamekitchen.org/volunteer/
Check out Sergio's awesome NNK jumper here: nonamekitchen.org/shop/
Check out episodes 6 (Irina) and 41 (with Barbara) of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on NNK. Episode 6 is here tinyurl.com/mrx2twad and episode 41 is here: tinyurl.com/yn8z2duk
Want to know where Ceuta is? See this Google Map: tinyurl.com/yftbf79v
Never heard of Šid? Here it is in Serbia: http://tinyurl.com/3j53k8r3
According to the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM), at least 974 people died in the central Mediterranean in 2023, and at least 1,372 are missing. 17,025 people were intercepted at sea and returned to Libya.
Watch the Emergency NGO video Ben mentions in the episode here: tinyurl.com/2d78v54z
Sergio mentions the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN). For more on them, check out episode 8 of The Civil Fleet Podcast here: tinyurl.com/2p8v39s4. And see their website here: borderviolence.eu
Sergio mentions Lighthouse Reports. For more on them, see here: https://www.lighthousereports.com. And, check out episode 34 of The Civil Fleet Podcast: tinyurl.com/3bez9u9c
We very briefly mention the situation for people on the move at the Belarus border. For more on that, check out episode 33 of The Civil Fleet Podcast: tinyurl.com/2mkrwepe
Ben makes yet another reference to the works of Noam Chomsky in this episode when he talks about ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy victims.’ For more on that, read about it here: chomsky.info/consent01, or listen to it here: tinyurl.com/muttcnmw.
In this episode we speak with Josephine from Abolish Frontex, a decentralised network of activist groups focused on ending the EU's deadly border regime.
Josephine is going to tell us about Frontex, which is the European Border and Coastguard Agency, it's many scandals, it's operations within and outside Europe, and why it should be abolished.
We also talk about the International Day of Action the network is calling for on December 18th, demanding Frontex ends its operations in Africa.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on Abolish Frontex visit: abolishfrontex.org
For more of the network's demands, see here: abolishfrontex.org/how
For more on the International Day of Action, see here: abolishfrontex.org/blog/2023/10/30/frontex-out-of-africa-join-our-international-action-day-on-18-12-2023/
For more on Frontex's involvement in pushbacks in Greece, read this: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-border-force-frontex-implicated-in-migrant-abuse/a-49892097
See this article for more on Frontex's involvement in the abuse of people on the move in the Balkans: balkaninsight.com/2020/02/06/frontexs-history-of-handling-abuse-evidence-dogs-balkan-expansion/
Read The Civil Fleet's coverage of Frontex, here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Frontex/
Ben mentions an arms fair that took place in London this summer. For more on that, see: stopthearmsfair.org.uk
For more on the Transnational Institue, go here: tni.org/en
Ben, briefly mentions Frag Den Staat (Ask the State). See here for more on them: fragdenstaat.de
And, check out episode 23 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Frag Den Staat's Luisa Izuzquiza – in which we focus on Frontex
Want to know more about the Balkan route that Ben and Josephine briefly mention? Then check out episodes 41 (with No Nae Kitchen) and episode 8 (Border Violence Monitoring Network - BVMN)
In this episode, we speak with Paul O'Connor the senior national officer at the Public and Commerical Services (PCS) union - one of the largest unions in the UK, representing workers across all government departments and in the private sector.
Paul tells us about the safe passage for refugees policy the union's members wrote with Care4Calais, and why it is a genuinely humanitarian way to stop the small boat crossings of the Channel.
We also touch on working class solidarity, anti-fascism and, the Bibby Stockholm, the hostile environment, and how a string of governments have created the asylum-seeker backlog.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on the PCS union, see: pcs.org.uk
For more on PCS and Care4Calais' Safe Passage Policy, read about it here: https://care4calais.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Safe-Passage-Policy-Paper.pdf
If you'd like to email your MP about PCS's safe passage policy, see here: action.pcs.org.uk/page/134188/action/1
Ben and Paul speak about the Tories throughout this episode. The Tories is the nickname of the ruling Conservative Party.
For more on The World Transformed, the festival Ben mentions in the episode, see here: theworldtransformed.org
See here for more on the UK Border Force training to push refugees back across the Channel already, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/uk-border-force-may-have-begun-attempts-to-push-refugees-back-across-the-channel-already-evidence-suggests/
For more on Channel Rescue and Care4Calais, see episodes 11 and 17 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
Ben and Paul speak about Priti Patel a few times in this episode. She was the UK's Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. She was replaced by Suella Braverman. The Home Secretary is a similar governmental role to interior minister in many European countries.
For more on the UK's treatment of refugees, the Rwanda Scheme, the Hostile Environment, the Illegal Immigration Act and the Bibby Stockholm see episodes 21, 25, 32, 38, 39, 40, 42 and 44.
Paul mention Detention Action. For more on them, see: detentionaction.org.uk
Ben and Paul speak about the FBU, which is the Fire Brigades Union. For more on the union's solidarity work with refugees, see here: https://www.fbu.org.uk/news/2023/03/05/trade-unions-unite-solidarity-refugees
Paul mentions the Scottish Rolls-Royce workers who refused to work on fighter jets bound for Chile in the 1970s, when the country was ruled by the western-back dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. For more on that, check out the documentary film Nae Pasaran, here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/naepasaran
For more on the vast amounts of money the UK government has spent in France trying to stop people from crossing the Channel, see this Al Jazeera report from March 2023: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/10/uk-to-fund-france-detention-centre-as-leaders-agree-migration-deal
Jihed, a Tunisian activist with Alarm Phone and Louise Michelle, talks to us about the mistreatment of refugees / migrants / people on the move in Tunisia in this episode.
He tells us how a speech by Tunisia's President Kais Said earlier this year — in which he spouted off racist, far-right conspiracy theories — affected refugees in Tunisia.
We hear about border violence between Tunisia and Libya, and how Europe's border operates inside the country.
Jihed was also an active participant in the Tunisian revolution. He tells us about that and its effects on refugees today. We also hear how Kais Said's government oppresses Tunisian citizens.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
You can follow Jihed on Twitter here: @brirmijihed
For more on Alarm Phone visit: alarmphone.org, and find them on Twitter on @alarm_phone.
For more on Louise Michel, visit: mvlouisemichel.org. Follow Louise Michel on Twitter: @MVLouiseMichel
For more on human rights issues in Tunisia, read Amnesty International's 2022 report, here: amnesty.org/en/location/middle-east-and-north-africa/tunisia/report-tunisia/
For more on the EU's anti-migrant deals with Tunisia, read this Human Rights Watch article: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/28/eu-commission-should-stop-ignoring-tunisias-abuses-against-migrants
Ben mentions people across Europe being afraid to help refugees for fear of being accused of people smuggling. Check out The Civil Fleet Podcast's episodes 47, 41, 36, 35, 33, 28, 24, 17, 16, 9, 8 and 2 for more on this.
Ben also mentions how refugees in Europe are also being kept in cars for hours in hot weather as a form of torture before they're pushed back across borders. See episode 34 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Lighthouse Reports for more on this.
Jihed mentioned Maldusa, an Italian cultural association that supports migrant solidarity efforts across the country. Check out episode 46 of The Civil Fleet Podcast to hear from Maldusa activist Jasmine.
In this episode, we speak with Serena from Mediterranea: Saving Humans, an Italian refugee rescue organisation.
Serena tells us how the Italian authorities have prevented the organisation's ship, the Mare Jonio, from going back to sea to save lives for over a year.
She also tells how the authorities recently ordered the Mare Jonio to remove all of its rescue equipment or face arrest.
--Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Visit Mediterranea: Saving Human's website here: mediterranearescue.org/en
Follow Mediterranea: Saving Humans on Twitter: @RescueMed
For more on Mediterranea: Saving Humans, and the ongoing pretrial case against it, check out Episode 18 with Iason Apostolopoulos
Read The Civil Fleet's stories about Mediterranea: Saving Humans, here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/mediterranea/
Ben and Serena mention Matteo Salvini. He is Italy's transport minister, former interior minister, and the leader of one of the country's far-right parties.
Mare Nostrum was an Italian-state-run refugee rescue mission in the central Mediterranean. Read this Guardian newspaper report from 2014 on its end: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/31/italy-sea-mission-thousands-risk
Article 98 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea requires all ships to "render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost to proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress..." Read that here: https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf
Ben mentions UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman a few times in this episode. Earlier this week, she outlined her ambition to overhaul international refugee conventions during a speech in the United States.
Read about that here in the Morning Star newspaper: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/shameful-cruel-and-dangerous
And read in the Guardian newspaper about how even members of her own right-wing party think she has gone too far: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/28/tory-mps-criticise-suella-braverman-alarmist-speech-on-migration
Ben and Serena breifly touch on the EU's deals with Tunisia. Read this article by Human Rights Watch calling on the EU Commission to stop ignoring Tunisia's abuses of migrants: https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/28/eu-commission-should-stop-ignoring-tunisias-abuses-against-migrants
Maersk Etienne, check out episode 18. And/or, read about it here: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/?s=Etienne
For more on the Iuventa, check out Episodes 2, 24 and 36.
For more on Lampedusa, see Episode 46 with Maldusa's Jasmine
In this episode, we speak with Jasmine from the Italian cultural association Maldusa, an organisation that supports migrant solidarity efforts, and documents border violence.
Jasmine tells us about September 12, when more than 5,000 people arrived on Lampedusa, overwhelming the Mediterranean island's under resourced and completely inadequate migrant reception facilities and services.
She also tells us how the Italian state has not only completely failed the migrants but the locals too, and how many of them mobilised in solidarity with the new arrivals.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on Maldusa, visit: maldusa.org/en
Follow them on Twitter: @Maldusa_Project
Here is a joint statement signed by Maldusa and many other organisations on Lampedusa and Europe's reception crisis: https://www.maldusa.org/l/arrivals-in-lampedusa-solidarity-and-resistance-in-the-face-of-europes-reception-crisis/
Jasmine mentions the Italian refugee rescue organisation Mediterranea: Saving Humans. For more on them, listen to episode 18, and stay tuned for episode 47!
Find out more about Mediterranea: Saving Humans, here: mediterranearescue.org/en
Don't know where Lampedusa is? Then check out this google map, here.
Jasmine talks about Italian ships saving people lives at sea in 2015. This was naval mission was called Mare Nostrum. Read this Guardian report from 2014 on the end of Mare Nostrum: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/31/italy-sea-mission-thousands-risk
Georgia Meloni is the far-right Prime Minister of Italy. Matteo Piantedosi is Interior Minister, and Ursula von der Leyen is president of the European Commission.
Want to know more about the Dublin Agreement? Then check out this explainer video by The Guardian newspaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooecJWPcAY&t=28s&ab_channel=TheGuardian
The book Ben forgets the name of is called No Wall They Can Build, published by the US-based anarchist collective CrimethInc. You can listen to the audiobook here: https://crimethinc.com/podcasts/no-wall-they-can-build
In this episode we speak with Jutta, the head of deployment on the MareGo, a relatively new refugee rescue organisation operating in the central Mediterranean.
Jutta tells us how the MareGo's crew saved hundreds of lives in two operations in July – one of which was carried out at night with no help from the authorities.
She also tells us about the incompetence of the Italian coastguards.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
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---Show Notes---
For more on the MareGo, visit: mare-go.de
Follow MareGo on Twiiter: @marego_vessel
To donate to the MareGo, see here: mare-go.de/spenden
Read about the MareGo's nighttime rescue on The Civil Fleet here: bit.ly/47RrkHO
In this episode we speak with Tigs Louis-Puttick, the founder of Reclaim the Sea, a UK-based organisation helping refugee women reclaim the seaside as a place of joy.
Tigs tells us about teaching refugees to swim and surf, about the UK government placing asylum seekers on a floating barge – the Bibby Stockholm – and the company which owns the barge's links to the trans-atlantic slave trade.
She also tells us how she was arrested in July 2023 during a protest outside the UK Home Office against the Illegal Migration Bill.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Follow Reclaim the Sea on Twitter: @Reclaim_The_Sea
You can read Reclaim the Sea's report on the financial and moral cost of the Bibby Stockholm here: reclaimthesea.org.uk/atwhatcost
Read Reclaim the Sea's open letter to UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman here: bit.ly/3DTusoT
Two days before this podcast was released, the people who were being held on the Bibby Stockholm were taken off the prison barge because legionella was found in its water supply. Read about that here: bit.ly/45r3wss
For more on the Bibby Stockholm's links to the transatlantic slave trade, see this article by Corporate Watch: bit.ly/3KDwQnI
For more on Corporate Watch, check out episode 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
This short article on the Liverpool Museum's website also looks at Bibby Marine's links to the slave trade: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/bibby-line-shipowners
For more on Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye, see episodes 1, 7, 10, 22, 23 and 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
Check out this trailer for The Swimmers, a film Ben mentions in the podcast: bit.ly/4578xqd
For more on the UK's Police Crime and Sentencing Act, see this explanation by the human rights organisation Liberty: bit.ly/3KzJgwL
For more on the UK's Illegal Migration Bill, see episodes 38, 39 and 42 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
In this episode, we speak with firefighter and refugee rescuer Brendan Woodhouse about Doro, a book he co-wrote with Doro Goumaneh.
Brendan tells us how he rescued his co-author from a boat in the Mediterranean in 2019 from the Sea-Watch 3, and while waiting for Italy to allow the rescued to disembark, Doro asked Brendan to write his story.
Brendan tells us about co-writing the book, Doro's journey and new life in France, and how the book has been received.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
You can buy Brendan and Doro's book from publishers Unbound, here: unbound.com/books/doro/
Or from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), here: https://shop.fbu.org.uk/products/doro-book
You can follow Brendan on Twitter here: @_Brendan01_
Check out episode 22 of The Civil Fleet podcast to hear Brendan's previous interview.
For more on Sea-Watch, follow them on Twitter: @seawatch_intl
Or check out their website, here: sea-watch.org/
To read the article Ben mentions about Miguel Roldan and the FBU, see here: bit.ly/3QqcX6W
For more on the Iuventa, check out episodes 2, 24 and 36.
In today's episode, we speak with freelance investigative journalist Nicola Kelly about two important articles she wrote this year for the Guardian newspaper.
The first concerns the UK government providing £3m to the Turkish border guards to stop people on the move at the country's border with Iran.
The second article we discuss is about asylum seekers being abused and intimidated by staff at Home Office hotels.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Follow Nicola on Twitter here: @NicolaKelly
You can read the articles we discussed in this episode here:
UK provided £3m to Turkish border forces to stop migrants: bit.ly/46NVviG
Asylum seekers ‘abused and intimidated by staff in Home Office hotels’: bit.ly/3pImJ9T
Since we recorded this interview, Nicola has written the first in her mini-series of 'Lost at Sea', which follows those who have gone missing in the Channel. Read that here: bit.ly/46NVLOG
Nicola mentions a far-right protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Knowsley, near Liverpool. You can read more about that here: bit.ly/46UcwaT
Check out this interview with anti-fascist activists who were at the protest: bit.ly/46Ttmaa
And more about the aftermath here: bit.ly/3XX7bf8
For more on the UK, check out episodes 11, 17, 21, 32, 38, 39, and 40 of The Civil Fleet podcast
Ben mentions an Al Jazeera infographic on refugees, host countries and routes. Check that out here: bit.ly/3XQ2F1T
Nicola mentions that child asylum-seekers have gone missing from a hotel in Brighton. You can read about that here: bit.ly/3Ddwm3k
In today's episode we speak with Barbara from No Name Kitchen about the organisation's work supporting people on the move along the Balkan route into Europe.
She tells us how the EU has externalised its borders in Bosnia and Serbia, how the authorities have effectively made it illegal to help people on the move there, and how this has forced people on the move are to survive underground.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
Instagram: thecivilfleet
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: nonamekitchen.org
Follow them on Twitter: @NoNameKitchen1
And find them on Instagram here: no_name_kitchen
To volunteer with No Name Kitchen, see here: nonamekitchen.org/volunteer
Check out No Name Kitchen's merch here: nonamekitchen.org/shop
Check out episode 6 with No Name Kitchen's Irina on the Spanish military brutally forcing hundreds of people back across the border at Ceuta.
Ben and Barbara mention the criminalisation of solidarity in Greece. For more on the situation there, check out episode 28, with Alice and Hamid from Borderline Lesvos, episode 26, with Samos 2 lawyers Alexandros Georgoulis and Dimitris Choulis, and episode 16, with criminalised activists Madi Williamson and Sean Binder.
Don't know what the Dublin Protocal is? Check out this video explanation from the Guardian here: tinyurl.com/2ps3a6em
TODAY we speak with Sophie and Patrick, journalists and activists with the anti-capitalist research co-operative Corporate Watch.
Sophie and Patrick tell us about the private companies profiting from the UK and Europe's deportation regime - specifically Air Partner and Carlson Wagonlit, two corporations that organise chartered deportation flights across the continent.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
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info@civilfleet.com
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Support:
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---Show Notes---
If you're facing deportation from the UK, this article by Right to Remain may be useful: righttoremain.org.uk/toolkit/removal
Visit Corporate Watch's website, here: corporatewatch.org
Follow Corporate Watch on Twitter here: @CorpWatchUK
You can listen to the first episode of Corporate Watch's Eco-defence podcast here: corporatewatch.org/eco-defence-podcast-episode-one-an-interview-with-coal-action-network/
And you can subscribe to Corporate Watch newsletter here: mailtrain.cw.autonomic.zone/subscription/j0wqz7hDr
Oh, and here's the Corporate Watch book Ben mentions, which is actually called Investigating Companies: A Do-It-Yourself Handbook, and you can download it there for free: corporatewatch.org/product/investigating-companies-a-do-it-yourself-handbook
Here's the online course you can do for free with Corporate Watch: corporatewatch.org/courses/knowyourenemy
Patrick briefly mentions the situation in Calais. See episodes 11 and 17 for more on that.
He also mentions the Dublin Regulation — an EU law that sends people on the move back to the first member state they applied for asylum in. For more on that, see this video explanation by The Guardian newspaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ooecJWPcAY&ab_channel=TheGuardian
If you're interested in anti-immigration raids in the UK, see here: antiraids.net/about/
Here's an article on Open Democracy about the activists who stopped a Rwanda-bound deportation plane: opendemocracy.net/en/rwanda-asylum-plan-deportation-protest
Be sure to read this Liberty Investigate's expose: Horrors of self-harm and desperation on failed Rwanda flight: libertyinvestigates.org.uk/articles/revealed-horrors-of-self-harm-and-desperation-on-failed-rwanda-flight
Sophie mentions G4S and the death of Jimmy Mubenga. For more about him, see here: inquest.org.uk/jimmy-mubenga-jury-conclusions, here: theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/16/g4s-guards-found-not-guilty-manslaughter-jimmy-mubenga , and here: ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/he-breathe-remembering-jimmy-mubenga-years
In today's episode we speak with filmmaker Sonita Gale, about her award-winning documentary film Hostile.
Sonita tells us how Britain's "hostile environment" stretches much further back than 2012, when then home secretary Theresa May coined the term, and is rooted in the British Empire.
We hear how successive governments — both Labour and Conservative — have created an inhumane system for migrants and refugees in the UK and how this has affected the people in her film.
She also tells us how these dehumanising policies lead to the Windrush Scandal, and how they link with the NHS crisis, workers' rights, poverty, and the government's anti-protest laws.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social
info@civilfleet.com
civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on Sonita Gale's documentary, see here: hostiledocumentary.com
If you're in the UK, you can watch the film online here: tinyurl.com/569sfdd7
If you're outside the UK, then check here for more information on how to watch it: https://www.hostiledocumentary.com/watch-the-film/
See the trailer for Hostile here: tinyurl.com/34me88cv
You can follow Hostile on Twitter here: @hostiledoc
And follow Hostile on Instagram here: instagram.com/hostiledoc
For anyone outside the UK that doesn't know what the Home Office is, it is similar to the Ministry of the Interior in much of Europe, or the Department for Homeland Security in the US.
The head of the UK Home Office (called the Home Secretary) is Suella Braverman. Before her, it was Priti Patel. Both are mentioned in the podcast.
Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron were all former Conservative Prime Ministers. Members of the Conservative party are often referred to as Tories, and the party as The Tory Party.
Theresa May was the Home Secretary in 2012. She coined the term Hostile Environment in 2012. You can read more about that, and the 10-year anniversary of it, here: tinyurl.com/4aynzkbz
Ben and Sonita mention Enoch Powell and his Rivers of Blood speech. You can read more about him and his infamous speech here: tinyurl.com/mtt3pcdf
Here's a good explanation of the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill and why it is so dangerous by the human rights organisation Liberty: tinyurl.com/ktwxcxtw
For more on the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) policy, see the NRPF Network, here: tinyurl.com/yc6rj3x9
Here is a good explanation of the Windrush Scandal by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants: tinyurl.com/t6stcvnx
The Noam Chomsky quote at the end of the film is this: "As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome.”
The Chomsky quote that Ben (mis)quotes (again!) is this: “If you assume that there’s no hope, you guarantee there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, there are opportunities to change things.”
In today's episode, we speak with migrant rights campaigner and policy expert Zoe Gardener about the UK's Illegal Migration Bill. Zoe tells us how the government plans to reject the asylum applications for anyone who enters the country irregularly, including victims of trafficking and slavery, to house them in old military bases, and to deport them to a third country. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social info@civilfleet.com civilfleet.com Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet ---Show Notes--- You can follow Zoe on Twitter here: @ZoeJardiniere Zoe's articles on Open Democracy can be found here: https://bit.ly/3Ljzsb1 Watch Zoe explain to British politicians how the government's Nationality and Borders Bill will not only cause suffering and injustice, but will not work in its aim to end irregular migrant journeys to the UK, here: https://bit.ly/40sF5HW You can find Zoe's YouTube channel here: https://bit.ly/3AdR2qB What to know more about the Overton Window? Here's a good (but very US-focused) explanation of it by Vox: https://bit.ly/3H1KrTK For more of The Civil Fleet Podcast's UK-focused interviews, check out episodes 32 with journalist Bethany Rielly, 25 with Syrian refugee Hasan, 21 with Doctors Without Borders UK advocacy officer Sophie McCann, 17 with Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley, and 11 with Channel Rescue activist Kim. This report in the Independent newspaper reveals how asylum seekers were forced onto the deportation flight to Rwanda and restrained: https://bit.ly/3H2cEKg Read this Guardian report on Privilege Style airline pulling out of the UK government's scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda: https://bit.ly/3Ait6lS Check out this story in Huck Magazine on how a campaign led by ex-torture survivors and refugee organisations left the Tories with no planes to carry out their Rwanda deportations: https://bit.ly/3N20gxz For more on the UK government's deportation deals with private airlines, see this excellent expose https://bit.ly/41rAEyC On the topic of asylum seeker hotels, The Civil Fleet exposed how deaths in the Home Office's asylum-seeker accommodation more than doubled in 2022: https://bit.ly/3or2tZf The Illegal Migration Bill was launched in March 2023. You can follow its process through Parliament and the House of Lords (the UK's unelected upper chamber of government) here: https://bit.ly/3KXxifx For more on the UK's Hostile Environment policies, see this report by left-wing think tank IPPR: https://bit.ly/41stESa Zoe briefly mentions Britain's Windrush scandal in this episode. For more on that, see this excellent explaination by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, here: https://bit.ly/3Aib96X She also mentions the UK's rivers, lakes and beaches being covered in raw sewage. Read Surfers Against Sewage's summation of the scandal, here: https://bit.ly/3AeRvZs UK will give France nearly half a billion pounds in major push to solve small boats crisis: https://bit.ly/40HJ18d The full quote by the late David Graber that Ben paraphrases at the end of the episode is this: “The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.” Finally, here's a short video report I worked o the Illegal Migration Bill for the Morning Star newspaper: https://bit.ly/3LgzQH4
In today's episode we speak with Jelka and Amara.
Amara was one of 108 people who were rescued by an oil tanker, called the El Hiblu 1, in March 2019 after escaping Libya.
The European authorities ordered the El Hiblu 1's crew to wait for the Libyan coastguards to come and take the rescued back to the war-torn country.
But, the rescued convinced the crew to sail north instead. Amara, along with fellow teenagers Abdalla and Kadar, acted as translators between the refugees and the crew.
The Maltese special forces eventually raided the ship, in full tactical gear, when it got close to the island nation.
Amara, Abdalla and Kadar were arrested and accused of terrorism, piracy and worse for what is essentially an extraordinary act of humanitarianism.
They have been stuck in a bureaucratic legal nightmare for four years while the Maltese prosecutors try to figure out what crime to charge them with.
We're going to hear from Amara briefly about halfway through today's episode. With the pretrial in Malta still ongoing, he is unable to tell us too much about what happened.
And so, we'll mainly be speaking with Jalka from the Free the El Hiblu 3 campaign.
She's going to tell us more about what happened to Amara, Abdalla and Kader and the campaign to free them.
---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social info@civilfleet.com civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on the El Hiblu 3 and the Free the El Hiblu 3 campaign, see here: elhiblu3.info
Follow Free the El Hiblu 3 on Twitter on: @ElHiblu3, and on Instagram here: instagram.com/elhiblu3
If you'd like to read the El Hiblu 3 e-book, then go here: elhiblu3.info/book
You can read more about Amara's story here: elhiblu3.info/amara.html
Read Kader's here: elhiblu3.info/kader.html
And Abdalla's here: elhiblu3.info/abdalla.html
Ben mentions an exclusive story he worked on about the rising numbers of deaths at UK Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation. You can read that here: bit.ly/42xtR7v
Ben and Jelka mention EUNAVFOR MED, which stands for European Union Naval Force Mediterranean. You can read more about that here: bit.ly/3K0LQvP, here: bit.ly/40pF6go, and here: bit.ly/3yY04qO
Ben and Jelka briefly mention the campaign group Refugees In Libya and one of its organisers David Yambio. He appears on episode 29 of The Civil Fleet podcast.
Here's a link to the Times of Malta documentary on the El Hiblu 3 with English subtitles: bit.ly/3LJJra0
Ben briefly mentions Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity. You can find more about them here: derbyshirerefugeesolidarity.org
In today's episode we speak with Francesca Cancellaro, one of the human rights lawyers representing the Iuventa 4 — four activists on pretrial in Italy after saving over 14,000 lives in the Mediterranean.
Francesca updates us on the pretrial, walks us through some of the many irregularities prolonging it, and explains why the case is so important for the future of activist-led rescue missions.
She also tells us why the Iuventa crew are taking the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office to court over the abandonment and destruction of their ship.
---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social info@civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Find more on the Iuventa here: iuventa-crew.org/en
Follow them on Twitter: @IuventaCrew
Wanna hear more from the Iuventa 4?
Check out Episode 2 with Sascha and Episode 24 with Kathrin of The Civil Fleet podcast.
Also, check out this 2020 lockdown video interview I did with Darius and Hendrik about the Iuventa. Ten former members of the crew were under investigation then. (Ignore my cringy introduction.) Watch it here: bit.ly/3JwCOq4
Read more about the Iuventa on The Civil Fleet here: bit.ly/3ZFHf7K
Ben and Francesca mention Matteo Salvini several times throughout this episode. He is a far-right Italian politician, and at the time the Iuventa was operating, he was the country's Interior Minister.
For more on the No Translation No Justice campaign, see here: bit.ly/3Lo3DOq
Francesca mentions the ECCHR (European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights) at one point in the podcast. For more about them, visit: ecchr.eu/en and/or listen to Episode 15 of The Civil Fleet podcast.
For more on the February 26 2023 shipwreck off the coast of Italy, see here: bit.ly/3ZIj8FA
Following the shipwreck, Sascha gave this powerful speech in court: bit.ly/3mKgGzG
Francesca also mentions Mary Lawlor, the UN's special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders. You can read her recent statement about the criminalisation of the Iuventa 4 here: bit.ly/3JwhVv4
Read how the ship has been left to rot in port and why the Iuventa crew are taking the Trapani Prosecutor’s Office to court over it here: bit.ly/3mIaND1
For more on Carola Rackete — captain of the Sea Watch 3 in 2019 who, after the crew had saved 40 lives in the Mediterranean Sea, entered the port of Lampedusa without permission — read this: bit.ly/3ytzRQG
In this episode we speak with Hanad Abdi Mohammad, a Somalian refugee who has gone through hell.
In 2020, Hanad and about 33 others were abandoned by Turkish human traffickers in a dinghy in the Aegean Sea.
They calle for help, but instead of saving their lives, the Turkish coastguards pushed their boat towards Greek waters.
When they were eventually rescued by the Greek coastguards and taken to Greece, Hanad was arrested for human smuggling because he tried to steer the boat.
In 2021, he was given 142 years behind bars for his supposed crime. But at an appeal court in January this year, his sentence was reduced to eight years and the judge ordered his release.
Hanad tells us his side of the story.
---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social info@civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
In today's episode, we speak with Klaas van Dijken, one of the co-founders of the investigative journalism organisation Lighthouse Reports.
Klaas talks to us about two recent investigations he and his team worked on:
• How asylum seekers are held in secret prisons on commercial ships to facilitate illegal pushbacks from Italy to Greece, and
• How refugees are being arbitrarily detained and tortured at secret facilities along EU borders before being illegally forced back across borders.
---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social info@civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Lighthouse Reports website can be found here: lighthousereports.nl
To read the two stories discussed in this episode, see here: • Detained below deck: bit.ly/3R97fVF • Europe’s Black Sites: bit.ly/3HAlY8H
Find Lighthouse Reports on Twitter here: @LHreports
Here's a BBC news story from 2014 on the ECHR ruling on Italy's practice of sending people back to Greece: bbc.in/3DjDMT9
What is the Dublin Agreement? Read this explainer by InfoMigrants: bit.ly/3WQj9oI
Here's a report from The Brussels Times on the new Frontex chief Hans Leijtens saying the agency needs to "restore trust": bit.ly/408AUlH
Klaas mentions a report Lighthouse published on Frontex's involvement in illegal pushbacks. You can read that here: bit.ly/3XGhtPv
Ben mentions the 200 missing asylum seekers children in Britain. Read about that here: bit.ly/3DjeB3d
Klaas briefly mentions No Name Kitchen. Find out more about them here: nonamekitchen.org and/or check out episode 6 of The Civil Fleet podcast
In today's episode, we speak with Dalia, an activist from the Lithuanian human rights and medical aid organisation, Sienos Grupe (Border Group in English).
She tells us about the conditions faced by people trapped at Lithuania's border with Belarus, which has been sending people towards the EU since 2021, and how Russia may also be involved.
Dalia describes how Sienos Grupe are helping to prevent pushbacks at the border and support people in the country's refugee camps, as well as those who decide to stay in Lithuania.
We also hear how some Sienos Grupe members have been criminalised for their human rights work.
---Get in touch---Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social info@civilfleet.com
Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
For more on the Sienos Grupe, visit their website here: sienosgrupe.com
Follow Sienos Grupe on Facebook (with updates in English and Lithuanian): facebook.com/sienosgrupe
For more on The Civil Fleet's stories on the Belarus border, see here: bit.ly/3WaC9xJ
Here's a map of Lithuania and Belarus: bit.ly/3Db62rd
Want to know more about the protests in Belarus? Check out these articles: bit.ly/3XaGpyz / bit.ly/3ZCiRo0
Here's an August 24, 2020 report by Al Jazeera on the protests in Belarus: bit.ly/3w4vpXG
Read this December 2022 report by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on the situation at Lithuania-Belarus border: bit.ly/3ZzZpYU
Here a 2021 monitoring report by the Lithuanian Red Cross on the situation at the border: bit.ly/3QGJMLl
IN THIS episode we speak with Bethany Rielly, the home affairs reporter at the Morning Star newspaper, about the scandal surrounding the Manston migrant centre in Britain.
Manston is a former military base in Kent, which opened as a processing centre earlier this year for those who arrived into the country by crossing the Channel.
Bethany tells us how people are being detained in awful conditions at the overcrowded camp for weeks, when they are only supposed to be held there for 24 hours, and about the outbreak of Victorian-era diseases inside there.
We discuss how the recent far-right terrorist attack on a migrant processing centre in Dover made things worse for those detained at Manston, and how the British Home Secretary reacted to it with far-right rhetoric and conspiracy theories.
She also tells us about the protests against the conditions inside Manston and why the union that represents border guards is joining legal action against the government over it.
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---Show Notes---
You can follow Bethany Rielly on Twiiter via @bethrielly
And you can find all of her stories for the Morning Star newspaper here: bit.ly/3Gaqwm9
You can find the Morning Star's website here: morningstaronline.co.uk
Or follow it on Twitter here: twitter.com/M_Star_Online
For anyone not familiar with British Politics, "the Tories" is the nickname of the ruling Conservative Party.
The UK Home Office is similar to the Department of Homeland Security in the US or the Ministry of the Interior and for Community in Germany.
The Home Secretary is currently Suella Braverman. Before her, it was Priti Patel. Both have been controversial figures and frequently demonised people seeking asylum in Britain.
Here are some links to stories about Braverman's controversies:
• A general overview of her career in politics: bit.ly/3tt9d88
• A look at five controversial statements she has made: bit.ly/3UY3rat
• And the time she made reference to "cultural Marxism," an antisemitic, Nazi-conspiracy theory: bit.ly/3TyteVq
Confused by, or never heard about, cultural Marxism? Check this video out about it: bit.ly/3E5KUC7
Near the beginning of the episode, Bethany mentions the death of Alan Kurdi. He was a two-year-old Syrian-Kurdish boy who died in a shipwreck off the coast of Turkey. Photographs of his body lying face down on a beach were shown across the world. You can read more about him, here: bit.ly/3TxMEtB
Stand Up to Racism, which Bethany mentions in the podcast, is an anti-fascist organisation. You can find more about them here: standuptoracism.org.uk.
Want to know more about Lesbos? Then check out episode 28 with Alice and Hamid from Borderline Lesvos about their work on the island running a welcome centre for registered refugees
For more on what was happening in Italy as this episode was being recorded, see the stories linked here: bit.ly/3GhUvZh
For more on the British government's Nationality and Borders Bill, and the Rwanda deportation scheme, check out episode 21 with Doctor's Without Borders (MSF) UK advocacy officer Sophie McCann
Read my exclusive story on the rising numbers of deaths at Home Office asylum-seeker accommodations here: bit.ly/3O2qHlg
Here's some links to Bethany's stories mentioned in this episode:
• Refugee families detained in tents for weeks at ‘wretched’ holding centre in Kent: bit.ly/3WWYLU3
• Migrant centre in Kent ‘catastrophically overcrowded’, ministers warned: bit.ly/3EuheA9
• Protests break out inside ‘catastrophically overcrowded’ asylum processing centre: bit.ly/3WUHXNz
• Children cry for help while trapped ‘like animals in a cage’ in overcrowded asylum centre: bit.ly/3X4jCVE
• Harrowing conditions at Manston made me suicidal, former resident tells Morning Star: bit.ly/3tq9jNS
• Hundreds demand end to ‘illegal and inhumane’ Manston detention centre: bit.ly/3URoMST
• Dover petrol bomb attack on migrant centre not treated as terror incident until two days after: bit.ly/3X4jJAy
The RAF stands for The Royal Air Force
Ben compares the Mantson Camp to Moria, which was an overcrowded camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. You can read more about that here: bit.ly/3O6kMvv
Here's a link to Diane Taylor's story in the Guardian newspaper about the outbreak of MRSA at Manston: bit.ly/3Ob5YMk
Here's the clip of BBC journalist talking about the UK 'defending itself on the frontline against migrants' that Ben mentions: bit.ly/3TACHf4
For more on The Channel, see here: bit.ly/3hBmads
Check out Hope Not Hate here: hopenothate.org.uk
For more on Action Against Detention and Deportations (AADD), see here: bit.ly/3UH6kNe
In today's episode, we speak with SOS Humanity's human rights observer, Mirka Schäfer.
Mirka tells us about the organisation's first rescue mission aboard the Humanity 1, and how it saved the lives of over 390 people in the central Mediterranean last month
We hear about how the crew found 207 people in Malta's SAR zone who had been adrift at sea with no food and water for days.
After the crew brought them on board, the European authorities refused to allow the rescued to come ashore for another seven days. Mirka tells us all about that and what it was like when the ship's supplies began to run low.
---Show Notes---
For more on SOS Humanity, visit: sos-humanity.org/en/home
Follow SOS Humanity on Twitter here: @soshumanity_en
For The Civil Fleet's coverage of SOS Humanity, see here: bit.ly/3V5ZaCx
Read The Civil Fleet's coverage of the Humanity 1 here: bit.ly/3RHRMdV
For more on Alarm Phone, see episodes 3 and 5, or read about them here: bit.ly/3En4mvT
To read the report that Mirka mentions in the interview, go here: bit.ly/3CMQVEB
Mirka and Ben talk briefly about SOS Mediterranee. For more on them, see here: bit.ly/3SRTk5Y
Want to know more about the Nadir? Then check out episode 27 with Leon.
What is Frontex? It's the European Border and Coastguard Agency. Check out episode 23 with transparency activist Luisa Izuzquiza for a more in-depth look at them. Or read about it on The Civil Fleet, here: bit.ly/3EqjSaq
For more on Frontex's cooperation with the Libyan Coastguards and its refusal to work with activist rescuers, see this interview with Sea Watch’s head of airborne operations Tamino Bohm on The Civil Fleet: bit.ly/38lSc8T and read this exposé: bit.ly/3yuKjZq
You can read the exclusive story Ben mentions at the beginning of the episode here: More people die in Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation in first six months of 2022 than in the whole of 2021: bit.ly/3SHRJ2X
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In today's episode, we speak with David Llado, a search-and-rescue coordinator for the Spanish rescue organisation Open Arms.
David talks to us the organisation's new ship, the Open Arms Uno, and runs us through what happened on its first mission.
He tell us why, despite the fact that the new vessel has gone through more official checks than any other ship in the Spanish fleet, the authorities may still block it from saving lives in the Mediterranean.
We also hear about the lengths European states have gone to stop the Open Arms' other ships, and how they break international law by refusing to provide the rescued with a safe port for days and days.
We end on the worrying potential return to power of Italy's far right leader Matteo Salvini.
---Show Notes---
For more on the Open Arms, visit: openarms.es/en
Follow Open Arms' English Twitter feed here: @openarms_found
To read The Civil Fleet's coverage of the Open Arms, see here: bit.ly/3L3I2Zu
Check out The Civil Fleet's December 2020 written interview with David Llado here: bit.ly/3RZrLat
Listen to Episode 13 with Albert Mayordomo for more on the Open Arms
For more on the EU-Turkey migrant deal, see this article by the International Rescue Committee: bit.ly/3Di7rwO
Watch the clip Ben mentions with the barber cutting hair on the Open Arms Uno here: bit.ly/3d5e9eR
Listen to episode 29 for more on David Yambio's story
Also, hear about Syrian refugee Hasan's journey to the UK in episode 25
For more on the Colibri reconnaissance plane, see here: bit.ly/3B7oRcN
For more on Seabird reconnaissance plane, see episode 1, and/or read about them here: bit.ly/3qvSnnA
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In today's episode, we speak with David Llado, a search-and-rescue coordinator for the Spanish rescue organisation Open Arms.
David talks to us the organisation's new ship, the Open Arms Uno, and runs us through what happened on its first mission.
He tell us why, despite the fact that the new vessel has gone through more official checks than any other ship in the Spanish fleet, the authorities may still block it from saving lives in the Mediterranean.
We also hear about the lengths European states have gone to stop the Open Arms' other ships, and how they break international law by refusing to provide the rescued with a safe port for days and days.
We end on the worrying potential return to power of Italy's far right leader Matteo Salvini.
---Show Notes---
For more on the Open Arms, visit: openarms.es/en
Follow Open Arms' English Twitter feed here: @openarms_found
To read The Civil Fleet's coverage of the Open Arms, see here: bit.ly/3L3I2Zu
Check out The Civil Fleet's December 2020 written interview with David Llado here: bit.ly/3RZrLat
Listen to Episode 13 with Albert Mayordomo for more on the Open Arms
For more on the EU-Turkey migrant deal, see this article by the International Rescue Committee: bit.ly/3Di7rwO
Watch the clip Ben mentions with the barber cutting hair on the Open Arms Uno here: bit.ly/3d5e9eR
Listen to episode 29 for more on David Yambio's story
Also, hear about Syrian refugee Hasan's journey to the UK in episode 25
For more on the Colibri reconnaissance plane, see here: bit.ly/3B7oRcN
For more on Seabird reconnaissance plane, see episode 1, and/or read about them here: bit.ly/3qvSnnA
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IN today's episode, we speak with Yambio David Oliver, founder of the campaign group Refugees in Libya.
He tells us why he had to flee his home in South Sudan, about working in a gold mine in Chad and why he was forced to make the deadly desert crossing into Libya.
We hear about his time in the North African country, where he was treated like a slave, forced to join a militia, and made multiple attempts to escape across the Mediterranean.
He tells us about the Libyan Coastguards, who pushed him back to Libya from Maltese waters, about the police raids on refugees in Tripoli, and how the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) failed to protect them.
He tells us how he brought international attention to the plight of refugees in Libya, how his activism made him a target for the militias, and how he finally managed to escape the country.
---Show notes---
For more on Refugees In Libya, see their blog here: refugeesinlibya.org, and The Civil Fleet's coverage here: bit.ly/3dwbsD7
Follow Refugees in Libya on Twitter: @RefugeesinLibya
You can read The Civil Fleet's previous interviews with Yambio here: bit.ly/3phm633 and here: bit.ly/3PmmcRy
Here's a response from the UNHCR on the situation outside its community day care centre in Tripoli in January: bit.ly/3bPFCAP
Early on in the interview, Yambio refers to himself as an IDP, an internally displaced person. You can read more about IPD on the UNHCR's website here: bit.ly/3PoGARY
If you need to see a map of Central and North Africa, and of the countries Yambio speaks about, see here: bit.ly/3dtYhT8
This 2016 Vox video seems to have a good (though US-centric) explanation of the Sudanese Civil War and South Sudanese Civil War: bit.ly/3BYKv58
Read this Al Jazeera article on child soldiers in South Sudan: bit.ly/3Au4qI9
Here's a couple of interesting articles on the gold mines in Chad: bit.ly/3piqbE5 and bit.ly/3C4jP2H
For more on the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding, see episode 19 of The Civil Fleet podcast with Italian journalist Lorenzo D'Agostino.
For more on Mohammed Al-Khoja and Bija, see this story by The Africa Report bit.ly/3C5BZBf, and this Guardian story: bit.ly/3pimX3v
For more on Alarm Phone, see episodes 3 and 5.
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In this episode, we hear from Alice and Hamid from Borderline Lesvos about their work on the island running a welcome centre for registered refugees.
They tell us how the NGO helps people adjust to life on the island, and helps them with things like bureaucracy, housing and the Greek language.
We hear about Moria camp 2, and how the kids languishing inside there are struggling with their mental health.
They also speak about the dwindling numbers of refugees on the island, the illegal practice of refugee pushbacks, and how the authorities may in fact be employing the mafia to do this.
And they also discuss how the state is criminalising refugees on some truly ridiculous grounds. In fact, Hamid, a refugee himself, tells us how he was imprisoned for two years for something he didn't do.
---Show notes---
For more on Borderline Lesvos, see borderlinelesvos.org
And for their sister NGO, Borderline Europe, see: borderline-europe.de/?l=en
In this episode Ben mistakes Borderline Europe with Border Violence Monitoring Network, you can find out more about BVMN in episode 8.
For The Civil Fleet's coverage of Greece, see here: bit.ly/3IpMOzm
For Lesvos/Lesbos, see: bit.ly/3NU3D6r
For Moria 2 refugee camp, see: bit.ly/3uzfCQk
Check out episode 25 to hear from Hasan, the Syrian refugee Ben mentions in this podcast
For more on the Sappho Square protest mentioned by Hamid, read this: bit.ly/3AJDLHP
Want to know more about the Samos 2 and other criminalisations of refugees in Greece? Then see episode 26, in which we hear from N and Hasan's lawyers Alexandros Georgoulis and Dimitris Choulis
For more on the woman who tried to kill herself with fire who the authorities charged with arson, read this Info Migrants story here: bit.ly/3yUmpGH
and Are Your Syrious's story on the postponement of her trial here: bit.ly/3c5Nz4g
For more on Sean Binder's case, see episode 16 for our interview with him and fellow activist Madi Williamson
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One night in May this year, 110 people were crammed onto a wooden boat somewhere along Libya's Mediterranean coastline.
The boat was much too small for them all, and none of them had been given a life jacket. But they, much like the tens of thousands of others who have attempted to reach safety in Europe, must have been desperate to escape that war-torn country.
The people eventually made it into Malta's SAR zone, where the island nation was legally responsible for coordinating their rescue. But of course, Malta did no such thing.
Two activist-run rescue ships did come to their aid on May 24th. And while they were waiting on instructions from the authorities that night, the wind and waves began picking up.
The sea got so rough that the refugees' boat capsized, fling 110 people into the water in the pitch black of night.
In today's episode, Leon, an activist who was aboard the Nadir that night, is going to tell us all about the rescue operation, ResQship, and about the crew's run-ins with the EU-supported Libyan Coastguards too.
---Show notes---
For more on ResQship, visit their website here: resqship.org
A follow them on Twitter here: @resqship_int
Follow The Civil Fleet's coverage of the Nadir here: bit.ly/39SnJjy
For more on the Nadir's May 24 rescue mission, see here: bit.ly/3ylXlIA
The Nadir, at the time this episode was published, is currently carrying 19 people and is in desperate need of a port. Read The Civil Fleet's latest story on this here: bit.ly/3zYdJQC
Ben mentions the Sea-Watch 3, Sea-Eye 4 and the Ocean Viking near the beginning of the interview. If you want to know more about them, see episodes 22, 10, 7, and 1.
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In today's episode, we speak with lawyers Alexandros Georgoulis and Dimitris Choulis about the controversial legal case they worked on known as the Samos 2. The Samos 2 are two Afghan refugees who tried to reach Greece by boat with 22 others in November 2020. Their boat got into trouble as it neared the island of Samos and capsized. The Greek coastguards were aware of the incident, but did not launch a rescue. The next day, one of the refugees, known only as N, found the body of his six-year-old son on the rocks. The cops arrested him and charged him with "endangering the life of his child." He faced 10 years in prison. Hasan, another one of the refugees on the boat that night, was also arrested and charged with human trafficking because the authorities said he drove the boat. He faced 230 years behind bars. Then in May 2022, both N and Hasan were freed and can now try to rebuild their lives in Greece. Alexandros and Dimitris, who represented the Samos 2, are going to tell us about the injustice caused by the Samos 2 case, and the absurd EU directive that is causing refugees to be charged with human trafficking. ---Show notes--- You can follow Alexandros Georgoulis on Twitter on: @GeorgoulisLAW Dimitris Choulis is on Twitter on: @DimitrisChoulis For more on the Samos 2, check out the Free the Samos 2 website here: freethesamostwo.com And on The Civil Fleet here: bit.ly/3twRMnx
For more on the Amir Zahiri and Akif Rasuli case, which Alexandros talks about, see here: bit.ly/39oAt1g Read more about Hanad Abdi Mohammad's case here: bit.ly/3QhtWWB, here: nyti.ms/3mDQQtJ and here (if you read French or can translate the page): bit.ly/3mXWNSJ. The Civil Fleet's stories on Greece can be found here: bit.ly/3QgPnHu. Iason Apostolopoulos, mentioned right at the beginning of the interview, is a Greek rescue worker. We interviewed him on episode 18.
Get in touch: @FleetCivil info@civilfleet.com civilfleet.com Support: ko-fi.com/civilfleet
In today's episode, we speak with Syrian refugee Hasan about why he was forced to flee Syria and how he was treated by the authorities while attempting to reach Europe. Hasan, which is not his real name, is now safe and living in London. He was also detained here in Britain after reaching the country and was held in one of the notorious former British army barracks while his asylum claim was being processed.
He's going to tell us about that, too, and why it is an awful way to treat asylum seekers. We'll also hear his thoughts on British Home Secretary Priti Patel's new policy to ship refugees off to Rwanda.
---Show notes---For more on the Greek-Turkey border, see here: bit.ly/3NMCuTk
Read about the UK government's aborted plans to push migrants back to France: bit.ly/3PUlwnW
19 people died in Home Office asylum-seeker accommodation in 2021: bit.ly/38TpI6Z
Check out the following stories by journalist Bethany Rielly's on:
how campaigners forced the British government to delay deportations to Rwanda: bit.ly/3t73xAU
and, how asylum-seeker waiting times has tripled under Patel: bit.ly/3Q3PwOu
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In today's episode, we speak with Kathrin Schmidt, a rescue worker who saved the lives of 14,000 refugees in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Iuventa five years ago. This Saturday, May 21, she and three others from the ship are due to appear in an Italian court on charges of facilitating illegal entry into the country. They could all face 20 years behind bars.
The charges are bogus, of course, and Kathrin is going to tell us why. She will also explain how the Italian secret services wiretapped the Iuventa and surveilled journalists and lawyers speaking with their clients.
She will also explain what this case means for the future of activist-led sea rescues, and for the people on the move at Europe's edges.
---Show notes---
For more on the Iuventa, visit the website here: iuventa-crew.org
If you can, you can set up a donation to them here: iuventa-crew.org/donate
Follow the Iuventa Crew on Twitter: @IuventaCrew
You can also read this 2020 The Civil Fleet interview with Iuvena crew members Dariush Beigui and Hendrik Simon on their arrest here: bit.ly/38CdhMB
And/or listen to episode 2, which features Sascha, the Iuventa's former head of operations
You can read more of The Civil Fleet's Iuventa stories here: bit.ly/38EDH0e
Read more about the EU-Turkey deal here: bit.ly/3wuQDPm
MRCC stands for Marine Rescue Coordination centre.
An SAR Zone stands for Search-and-rescue zone.
You can find a glossary of similar terms that often pop up on the podcast often here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
Frontex is the European Border and Coastguard Agency. It has been accused of aiding the Greece authorities to illegally push people back across its borders and of assisting the Libyan Coastguard to intercept refugees escaping the country. See episode 23 for more.
The Civil Fleet exposed how the EU's supposed training of the Libyan Coastguards, and Frontex's relationship with them, only made matters worse for those trying to escape across the Mediterranean. Read that here: bit.ly/3yNtYPH
Carola Rackete is an environmental and human rights activist from German. In June 2019, while captaining the Sea-Watch 3 and carrying 40 rescued refugees for 17-days, she sailed into port against the commands of the Italian authorities. She was placed under house arrest. But, in January 2020, Italy's highest court said she should never have been arrested nor charged with anything. You can read about that here: bit.ly/3sMCY3N
Sean Binder is another activist who has been arrested, detained and dragged through the courts for having saved hundreds of refugees lives. He appears in episode 16 of The Civil Fleet Podcast, along with Madi Williamson, a qualified nurse who has faced similar troubles for her humanitarian work.
The Samos 2 are two refugees, known as N and Hasan, who have been put on trial in Greece. Hasan was charged with human trafficking because he allegedly drove the boat they were on. N lost his son when their boat crashed as they approached the shore. He became the first refugee ever to be charged with "endangering the life of his child." On Wednesday, May 18, 2022, N was found innocent and Hasan was freed on a suspended sentence. You can read more about them here: freethesamostwo.com
In the UK, the Appeals Court overturned the sentences of four people who were sent to prison for having driven dinghies across Channel. You can read about that here: bit.ly/3Lv2p0k
The Civil Fleet revealed in March 2021 that the UK government was spending up to £1 billion ($1.2bn / €1.1bn) on drones to fly over the Channel, the sole purpose of which appeared to be to help the state prosecute people seen driving the boats. Read about that here: bit.ly/3yNs0ik
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In today's episode, we speak with transparency activist Luisa Izuzquiza from the German campaign group Frag Den Staat (Ask the State).
She tells us why Frag Den Staat and Sea-Watch are launching legal action against Frontex, the European Border and Coastguard Agency.
She also explains why Frontex is an inherently violent institution that is incompatible with human rights, and why it should be abolished.
---Show notes---
Check out Frag Den Staat's English website: fragdenstaat.de/en
Follow Frag Den Staat on Twitter: @fragdenstaat
Take a read of Frag Den Staat's press release on why they and Sea-Watch are taking legal action against Frontex: bit.ly/3sqPO7C
Be sure to read up on Luisa Izuzquiza's work with Frag Den Staat here: bit.ly/3FP1dnz
For more on Switzerland's Frontex referendum, see here: frontex-referendum.ch/en/
And be sure to check out Abolish Frontex too: abolishfrontex.org/
Should you want to, you can see Frontex's official website here: frontex.europa.eu
For more on Frontex's cooperation with the Libyan Coastguards and its refusal to work with activist rescuers, see this interview with Sea Watch’s head of airborne operations Tamino Bohm on The Civil Fleet: bit.ly/38lSc8T and read this exposé: bit.ly/3yuKjZq
You can read about former Frontex director Fabrice Leggeri's resignation on Politico here: politi.co/3M6IAOa
For more on Sea-Watch, see episodes 1 and 22 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
A few times throughout the interview, Ben and Luisa refer to freedom of information requests by the initialism FOI.
Luisa mentions the 15M movement in Spain. You can read about them here: bit.ly/3M7se7P
For more on Spain's intelligence agency and its recent scandals, check out this story I wrote for the Morning Star in January: bit.ly/3yw7p28 and this more recent story in the Guardian newspaper: bit.ly/3yKGccb
For more on the threats to the freedom of information in Britain, see this 2021 article from the Press Gazette: bit.ly/3P6r2U6 and follow the Campaign for Freedom of Information's updates here: cfoi.org.uk
If you'd like to learn more about FOI requests or make on in Britain, be sure to check out What Do Thet Know: whatdotheyknow.com
Lighthouse Reports revealed last month that Frontex aided at least 957 refugee pushbacks by Greece in 2020-2021. You can read more about that here: bit.ly/3ONFikm
Ben and Luisa briefly talk about the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. For more on the refugee situation in Ceuta, check out episode 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with No Name Kitchen activist Irina
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In today's episode, speedboat driver Brendan talks to us about the Sea-Watch 3's latest rescue mission in the Mediterranean, and what happened when he came across a shipwreck. He also talks about how the Libyan Coastguards also handed over the people they'd saved over to his speedboat.
--- Show notes ---
For more on Sea-Watch, visit: sea-watch.org/en
Follow Sea-Watch on Twitter here: @seawatch_intl
You can read Brendan's evocative article on the fourth rescue operation on The Civil Fleet here: bit.ly/3y2U296
For more on Derbyshire Refugee Solidarity, see here: derbyshirerefugeesolidarity.org
Operation Mare Nostrum, which Brendan mentions in the episode, was an Italian search-and-rescue mission that saved over 150,000 of lives in the central Mediterranean. It was replaced by several EU navy missions: Operation Triton, Operation Sophia, etc. However, since 2019, the only dedicated rescue assets in the central Mediterranean have been those run by charities, activists and NGOs.
Brendan mentions the Colibri, which is a reconnaissance plane operated by the French NGO Pilotes Volontaires. You can find out more about them here: @PVolontaires or at pilotes-volontaires.org
He also mentions Sea-Watch's reconnaissance plane Moonbird. You can read more about that here: bit.ly/38zRCEq or check out episode 1, in which Sea-Watch's Felix tells us all about it.
Brendan refers to himself as "an angry Geordie" at one point in the interview. A Geordie is a nickname for people who come from Newcastle, in the northeast of England.
Frontex is the European Border and Coastguard Agency. It has been accused on multi occasions of helping the Libyan Coastguards pull people back to Libya while ignoring NGO rescuers in the Mediterranean. The investigative journalists at Lighthouse Reports revealed this week that Frontex aided at least 957 refugee pushbacks by Greece in 2020-2021. You can read about it here: bit.ly/3ONFikm
Apologies for the loud sound around 55 minutes in. That was me taking off my glasses to wipe away a tear.
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In today's episode, Doctor's Without Borders (MSF) UK advocacy officer Sophie McCann talks to us about the British government's Nationality and Borders Bill.
She tells us how the Bill borrows from the worst parts of immigration policies around the world, and how it could cause more harm to people seeking asylum in Britain.
Sophie also talks about the physical and mental harms caused by Australia's policy of offshoring asylum seekers on the pacific island of Nauru, and how the Bill appears to be inspired by it.
--- Show notes ---
For more on MSF, visit: msf.org.uk
Follow MSF UK on Twitter here: @MSF_uk
Check out the link below to see MSF's analysis of the Nationality and Borders Bill, and for details on how you can write to your MP: bit.ly/3irBer8
Sophie and Ben briefly mention Napier barracks in the podcast. For more on that, have a read of this article by Bethany Rielly in the Morning Star newspaper: bit.ly/36AdMFq
For more on the Greek coastguards allegedly dropping people into the Aegean Sea to drown, see this investigation by Lighthouse Reports: bit.ly/3wpMNHK
Also, check out episode 18 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Mediterranea's Iason Apostolopoulos for more on this
Ben and Sophie briefly mention the PCS Union's UK Border Force members threatening to strike over the proposed pushback policy. You can read more about that here: bit.ly/3in5R0X
Also, listen to our interview with Care4Calais's Clare Moseley in episode 17 for more details on that.
You can read the policy proposals by the right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange, here: bit.ly/3qn3TC6
Here's an opinion piece in The Guardian newspaper on Alexander Downer's appointment to review the UK Border Force: bit.ly/3KZDT7N
You can read a 2018 MSF report on the extreme mental health suffering caused by Australia's policy of indefinitely offshoring asylum-seekers on Nauru here: bit.ly/3CYavfn
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In today's episode, we speak with Leona of the Louise Michel, a refugee rescue ship funded in part by the elusive British street artist Banksy.
During the Louise Michel's last mission in the central Mediterranean in January this year, the crew witnessed the EU-supported Libyan Coastguards shot at the people they had intercepted as they tried to swim away from them.
Leona tells us all about that, as well as the Louise Michel's previous missions: one earlier this year which saw fossil fuel giant Shell help send refugees stuck on one of its oil rigs to Tunisia, and how in 2020, the Maltese authorities abandoned the Louise Michel's crew with over 130 shipwreck survivors within its search-and-rescue zone.
--- Show notes ---
For more on Louise Michel, visit: mvlouisemichel.org
Follow Louise Michel on Twitter:
@MVLouiseMichel
For more on Banksy, check out: banksy.co.uk or check him out on Instagram.
For more on Louise Michel, the French anarchist and feminist, you can find some of her writings on the Anarchist Library, here: bit.ly/3tb5xaG. Zoe Baker has a great video about her here: bit.ly/3t9s87n. And I'd really recommend this graphic novel, The Red Virgin and The Vision of Utopia, too: bit.ly/3BT2sjo.
Read this written interview with Louise Michel crew member Lea from 2020 here: bit.ly/3tfTA3g.
Fossil fuel giant Shell and EU maritime authorities accused of complicity in Mediterranean refugee ‘pullback’: bit.ly/3vgBGjM.
For more on the situation in Libya, check out episode 15 of The Civil Fleet podcast for an interview with European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights's Silvia Rojas-Castro and Lawyers for Justice in Libya's Elise Flecher.
Leona mentions the Seabrid and Calibri 2 in the interview. These are two activist run reconnaissance plans, the first operated by Sea-Watch and the other by Pilotes Volontaires. Check out episode 1 of The Civil Fleet podcast for an interview with Sea-Watch's Felix about the Seabird and Moonbird planes.
Don't know what Alarm Phone is? See episodes 3 and 5.
For more on Mediterranea's Mare Jonio rescue ship, see episode 18.
Leona mentions that she was Rhib at one stage in the interview. A Rhib is an acronym for Rigid-hull Inflatable Boat - the kind of boat you'd see launched from a larger ship during rescue operations. Check out The Civil Fleet's glossary for more terms like this one: bit.ly/3Hnd2QP.
For more on Europe's walls, read this 2018 report by the Transnational Institute, which points out that EU member states "have constructed almost 1,000km of walls, the equivalent of more than six times the total length of the Berlin Walls, since the nineties to prevent displaced people migrating into Europe:" bit.ly/3HlAkGJ.
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
This month marked the five-year anniversary of the EU-sponsored agreement between Italy and Libya. The deal led to millions of Euros bing spent on the so-called Libyan Coastguard and thousands of people being pushed back into Libya's condemned detention centres. In today's episode, Italian journalist Lorenzo D'Agostino talks to us about some of the lesser known consequences of that deal, like how it made Libya's southern desert border more deadly and how the Italian anti-mafia squad has prosecuted people for steering their boats across the Mediterranean.
He also talks about how Europe's neocolonialist policies in Africa are driving the crisis and the journalistic problem of referring to people as refugees and migrants.
--- Show notes ---
You can find more of Lorenzo's journalism here: lorenzodagostino.com
And you can find him on Twitter here: @lorenzodago
The three stories Lorenzo wrote that we talked about in this episode can be found below:
Italy’s Failed Migration Fix Has Led to Chaos in Libya: bit.ly/3sCpdDZ
Friends of the Traffickers: Italy's Anti-Mafia Directorate and the ‘dirty campaign’ to criminalise migration: bit.ly/3Js1y02
Inside Italy's show trial against Libyan ‘boat drivers’: bit.ly/34E5lZh
You can find out more about the El Hiblu 3, here: bit.ly/3GLsPsr
Here you can read Amnesty International's condemnation of the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding: bit.ly/34W3q1K
Don't know who Open Arms or Alarm Phone are? Check out episode 13 for our interview with Open Arm's head of operations Albert Mayordomo, and episodes 3 and 5 with Alarm Phone activists Marie and Deanna.
Lorenzo mentions Antonio Gramsci and his theory of Cultural Hegemony in this interview. I think this video is a good place to start if you'd like to know more about the Italian Marxist and cultural hegemony: bit.ly/3HPfZe6
Dan O'Mahey is the UK's so-called Clandestine Channel Threat Commander. Here's an interesting read questioning what he is actually doing: bit.ly/3GGJ2Pr
Finally, you should definitely follow Refugees In Libya on Twitter is you haven't already: @RefugeesinLibya
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support:
patreon.com/civilfleet
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
In today's episode, we speak with Iason Apostolopoulos, a search-and-rescue coordinator with Italian refugee rescuers Mediterranea: Saving Humans. We speak about the organisation's latest rescue operation aboard the Mare Jonio, and how the Italian cops put Mediterranea under investigation last year for supposedly facilitating the arrival of "illegal migrants."
In July 2021, Iason was scheduled to receive the Medal of Honour from the Greek President for his search-and-rescue activities since 2015. But the country's right-wing government cancelled it at the last minute, calling him a "traitor to the state."
Iason tells us all about that too.
---Show notes---
For more on Mediterranea: Saving Humans, visit: mediterranearescue.org/en/
Or follow them on Twitter via: @RescueMed
The International Rescue Committee has a great explanation of the EU-Turkey deal here: bit.ly/3B0Nvez
Iason also worked on Doctors Without Borders' (MSF) rescue ship, the Geo Barents. For more on the Geo Barents, see here: bit.ly/3HtYsrF
Check out episode 14 of The Civil Fleet for an interview with the Geo Barent's search-and-rescue team leader Riccardo Gatti and midwife Kira Smith.
Ben and Iason mention Italy's former Interior Minister and leader of the far-right Lega Party Matteo Salvini. Read about a recent trial against him for blocking the Open Arms refugee rescue ship from entering a port in 2019 here: bbc.in/3gmyeeO
The Aquarius was a refugee rescue ship operated by MSF and SOS Mediterranee between 2016 to 2018. You can read about why it was forced to stop its operations here: bit.ly/35WeOvr
Carola Rackete was captain of the Sea Watch 3. After a 17-day stand-off with the Italian authorities following the rescue of 40 people in 2019, Rackete was forced to enter the port of Lampedusa without permission. You can read about that here: bit.ly/3uIVvA7
For pictures of the Mare Jonio's last rescue mission, see here: bit.ly/3Hy1niZ
Want to know more about Alarm Phone? Read about them here: bit.ly/3gqybyt or check out episodes 3 and 5.
For more on how Frontex has aided the Libyan Coastguards to return thousands of people back to Libya since at least 2020, see here: bit.ly/3rre1uE
For more on the Maersk Etienne, see here: bit.ly/3HyJMHU
Iason mentions the Iuventa at one point in the interview. Read an interview with two members of that ship here: bit.ly/3rppLO9 or check out episode 2.
Want to know more about Unclos and Solas? Check this out unclos.org, and/or this: bit.ly/3smJzAS
Read Aegean Boat Report's story on the 25 people who were kidnapped by the Greek authorities after they reached Lesbos here: bit.ly/3rsJ60O
For more on the situation in Greece on The Civil Fleet podcast, check out episodes 3, 4, 9 and 16.
Read this New York Times story in the 12 people who froze to death after the Greek Coastguards allegedly kidnapped and stripped them: nyti.ms/3Jaigkl
In today's episode we speak with Clare Moseley, the founder of Care4Calais, a volunteer-run charity working with refugees in the UK, France and Belgium.
She talks to us about the charity's joint legal challenge with the Public and Commerical Services (PCS) Union against the UK government's proposed policy of pushing asylum seekers crossing the Channel back to France.
Clare also tells us about the dire situation people stuck in Calais face every day, and how this systematic abuse only serves to further damage already-traumatised people.
--- Show notes ---
For more on Care4Calais, visit their website here: care4calais.org
You can donate to Care4Calais here: care4calais.org/donate-now
Care4Calais and PCS's legal fundraiser can be found here: bit.ly/3GTmNXy
For more on the PCS Union, visit: pcs.org.uk
Follow Care4Calais on Twitter here: @Care4Calais
As well as Care4Calais and PCS, Channel Rescue and Freedom from Torture are also taking the UK government to court over the government's plans to push asylum seekers back to France.
Here's a link to a story on The Civil Fleet on the possibility that the UK Border Force has already begun pushbacks in the Channel: bit.ly/33VgR1s
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: patreon.com/civilfleet
In today's episode we speak with Madi Williamson and Sean Binder, activists that have been targeted by the Greek authorities for their involvement with civilian-led refugee rescues.
Sean — and several others who worked with Emergency Response Centre International on the island of Lesbos — was detained for months on charges of money laundering, people smuggling, and espionage. He could face years in jail for saving lives.
Madi, a qualified nurse, has also been accused of spying. She was detained and strip searched by Greek police due to her work documenting refugee pushbacks in the Aegean Sea (see episodes 3,4, 9 and 12 for more on this subject).
Both speak about their cases and discuss the dystopian knock on consequences of criminalising humanitarian work.
--- Show notes ---
For more on Free Humanitarians, visit their website here: freehumanitarians.org
Here is a link to a Guardian story that Madi mentions about the European Union spending millions on military-grade tech to deter refugees: bit.ly/3qWqogU
At one point in the interview, Sean mentions the SOLAS Convention. If you'd like to know more about that, then go here: bit.ly/3qSfg4w
The group Ben (embarrassingly) refers to as The Good Lords were in fact called The Young Lords. Check out this Democracy Now video to find out more about them: bit.ly/330EaH5
Madi mentions the RSA (Refugee Support Aegean) at one point in the interview and the fact that the Greek government denied its registration as a non-profit civil society organisation in December 2021. You can read more about RSA here: rsaegean.org/en, and a joint statement by 19 organisations condemning the Greek government's move, here: bit.ly/3JOCgdk
For more on In-Sight Collaborative, visit: in-sightcollaborative.org
Follow Free Humanitarians on Twitter: @FrHumanitarians
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: patreon.com/civilfleet
In November, three prominent human rights groups filed a report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) into possible crimes against humanity being committed on migrants and refugees in Libya.
The groups — European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Lawyers for Justice in Libya, and the International Federation for Human Rights — also warned that the EU’s migration policies have “significantly contributed to this grave situation.”
In today's episode, Silvia Rojas-Castro, a legal advisor at the ECCHR, and Elise Flecher, senior programmes officer at Lawyers for Justice in Libya, tell us all about this and why the three organisations are calling on the ICC to act.
---Notes---
For more on The Civil Fleet, visit: civilfleet.com
For more about the ECCHR, visit: ecchr.eu/en and find them on Twitter: @ECCHRBerlin
Lawyers for Justice in Libya can be found here: libyanjustice.org and on Twitter: @LibyanJustice
Read about the International Federation for Human Rights here: fidh.org/en and follow them on Twitter @fidh_en
Be sure to read No Way Out: Migrants and Refugees Trapped in Libya Face Crimes Against Humanity, here: bit.ly/3E2Cgm1
You can find a glossary of some terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3lYbe9D
Ben mentions an interview he did with a man trapped in an unofficial detention centre in Libya. You can find that here: bit.ly/3EcSGrL
Here's a link to a 2017 BBC report on migrant slave markets in Libya: bbc.in/3p7PSId
Read this interview with a Sea-Watch activists on Frontex's collaboration with the Libyan Coastguard, here: bit.ly/3p8xI9k
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: patreon.com/civilfleet
In today's episode, we speak with Doctors Without Borders' (MSF) search-and-rescue team leader RICCARDO GATTI and certified midwife KIRA SMITH.
Riccardo and Kira tell us about their last rescue mission aboard MSF's rescue ship, the Geo Barents, in which they saved over 180 lives.
They also tell us about the 10 dead bodies they recovered from one of the overcrowded boats they came across.
---Show notes---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit: civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3lYbe9D
Follow MSF on Twitter here: @MSF_Sea
Or visit their website here: msf.org
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: patreon.com/civilfleet
In today's episode, we speak with Albert Mayordomo, the head of operations for the Open Arms refugee rescue organisation.
Albert tells us how France ended the Open Arms' previous mission before it began with legal tricks, delay tactics and banning the ship from all of French ports.
He also talks to us about some other times European states have stopped the Open Arms' from operating, and about the ship's run-ins with the EU-supported Libyan Coastguard.
---Show notes---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit: civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3lYbe9D
Follow Open Arms on Twitter here: @openarms_found
Or visit their website here: openarms.es/en
Read previous story with Albert about the Open Arms' run in with the Libyan Coastguards in February 2021 here: bit.ly/3kYHqbM
Read about the UN's independent study calling on the international community ‘to suspend all agreements with Libya’ here: bit.ly/3x66sL7
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: patreon.com/civilfleet
IN this episode we speak with Iñigo Mijangos, chairman of Humanitarian Maritime Rescue (SMH), the Basque NGO that operates the Aita Mari refugee rescue ship.
Inigo spoke to us a day before the Aita Mari set sail for the central Mediterranean. The ship had been stuck in a kind of bureaucratic purgatory and was blocked from leaving port since its last rescue mission in June because the Spanish port authorities' tried to force it to comply with the wrong type of safety regulations.
Inigo also tells us all about that, and how an out-of-date carton of jam was one of the reasons why the Italians blocked the ship from sailing last year. He also speaks on how and why SMH was set up, and about the organisation's work in Greece.
---Show notes---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit: civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3lYbe9D
Follow SMH on Twitter here: @maydayterraneo
Or visit their website here: smh.eus/en/
Read our 2020 interview with Inigo here: bit.ly/3voosiY
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: patreon.com/civilfleet
In today's episode, we speak with Kim from Channel Rescue, a human rights monitoring organisation based along the south coast in Britain.
She tells us why Channel Rescue was started, what its activists do on their observation missions, and how they ensure the British authorities are carrying out their legal duty to rescue people in distress.
We discuss the British government's handling of the emerging human rights crisis at its southern sea board. And Kim also tells us about Channel Rescue's run in with the far-right.
---Show notes---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit: civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on Channel Rescue visit: channelrescue.wordpress.com
Or find them on Twitter: @ChannelRescue
Read about the far-right Britain First's ‘migrant patrol’ ship here: bit.ly/3Dqz7x5
Read about the British government spending up to £1bn on military drones to monitor migrants in the Channel: bit.ly/3mGl6W4
Read an interview with Italian researcher Matteo Villa who debunks the idea that search-and-rescue operations are encouraging people to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean: bit.ly/3BkFuAd
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support: patreon.com/civilfleet
In today's episode, we speak with Sea-Eye spokeswoman Sophie.
She tells us about saving 409 people aboard the Sea Eye 4 in May, what happened when the ship encountered the Libyan Coastguard during a rescue operation, and how the Italian authorities misused safety laws to stop the ship going back to sea.
Sophie also talks about why Sea Eye's previous ship was named after Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian-Kurdish boy whose body was photographed face down on a Turkish beach in September 2015
--- Show notes ---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on Sea Eye visit: sea-eye.org/en/
Or follow them on Twitter: @seaeyeorg
Read more about the Amnesty International report on the detention centres in Libya here: bit.ly/3s2JOkn
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
info@civilfleet.com
Support:
patreon.com/civilfleet
In today's episode we speak with Natalie Gruber, the co-founder of Josoor, a solidarity network monitoring human rights abuses at the land borders between Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria, and supporting the migrants and refugees trapped there.
She tells us how the organisation was founded, how it works with 'people on the move' to document human rights abuses carried out on them, and how the Greece government has tried to criminalise Josoor.
Natalie also details some of the testimonies that the network has collected in the region and how the authorities have pushed thousands of people back to Turkey, which, despite the Greek government's claims, cannot be considered a safe place for refugees.
--- Show notes ---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on Josoor visit: josoor.net
Or follow them on Twitter: @JosoorNet
For more on the Black Book of Pushbacks, see: bit.ly/36N7SxM
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
In today's episode, we speak with Simon Campbell from the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) about the violence people face attempting to reach Europe along the Balkan route.
He tells us about BVMN's work documenting the human rights violations in the region, the lengths the countries there are willing to go to prevent people on the move from breaching Fortress Europe, and the widespread, illegal practice of forcing people back across multiple borders.
--- Show notes ---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on the Border Violence Monitoring Network, visit: borderviolence.eu
Or follow them on Twitter: @Border_Violence
Read BVMN's Black Book of Pushbacks Volumes I and II here: bit.ly/3vU76ZS
Towards the end of the interview, Simon mentions Kenmure Street in Glasgow, where in May 2021, an immigration raid on two men was foiled by their neighbours and anti-racist protesters. For a run down of the events as they happened that day, check out my colleague Niall Christie's tweets: bit.ly/3A2xHqN
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
In today's episode we speak with Hannah Wallace Bowman, the head of mission on the Sea-Watch 4 refugee rescue ship
She talks to us about the ship's last mission, in which they saved the lives of over 450 people and how they witnessed the Libyan Coastguard violently intercept a refugee boat.
She also tell us about the dispiriting nature of being detained in Italy for the second time with a fully equipped and crewed ship as people continue to drown in the Mediterranean.
--- Show notes ---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on Sea-Watch, visit: sea-watch.org/en
Follow Sea-Watch on Twitter on @seawatch_intl
You can find footage of the Libyan Coastguard violently intercepting a refugee boat in April here: bit.ly/3wZyPJM
The Italian authorities detained the Sea-Watch 4 after it rescued 455 people in April. You can read more here: bit.ly/3z0gNst
You can read about how the Italian authorities prevented the Aita Mari rescue ship from sailing last year: bit.ly/2SRVOrf
You can read The Civil Fleet's previous written interviews with Hannah here: bit.ly/3yXIulT
Here, Sea-Watch 4 crew member Philipp explains how the Italian authorities prevented the ship from sailing because of a minor issue with the ship's toilets: bit.ly/3wWrVEP
For more on Frontex's role in the forced return of refugees back to Libya, see here: bit.ly/3gd76hA
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
A diplomatic rift last week between the governments of Spain and Morocco resulted in the Spanish military tear-gassing children and brutally forcing hundreds of people back across the border at Ceuta.
In today's episode we speak with Irina, an activist from Spanish NGO No Name Kitchen, who tells us what she witnessed at Europe's border with Morocco.
She also tells us how No Name Kitchen has been fighting the systematic abuse of undocumented people in the city before last week's events, and how the current crackdown is not just a risk for refugees and migrants but also for the racialised people who have been living there for decades.
--- Show notes ---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on No Name Kitchen, see: nonamekitchen.org, and find them on twitter on @NoNameKitchen1
You can find No Name Kitchen's statement and demands to the Spanish authorities here: bit.ly/3vb8tnr
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
IN TODAY'S episode, we speak with Alarm Phone activist Deanna. She talks to us about the refugee shipwreck in the Mediterranean last month that took the lives of 130 people.
Though the disaster may look like a catastrophic dereliction of duty, Deanna tells us that the authorities behaved exactly how the European border regime wants them to.
Deanna tells us why the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres in Italy, Malta and Libya should be replaced by civil-society organisations, and in fact how they already have been.
And we also speak about why Alarm Phone advocates for the removal of all borders and for the abolition of itself.
--- Show notes ---
For more on The Civil Fleet visit civilfleet.com
You can find a glossary of the terms used in this episode here: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on Alarm Phone visit: alarmphone.org, and find them on twitter on @alarm_phone.
Read/hear more about Alarm Phone here from fellow activists Jacob bit.ly/3uRfbPh and Rosa bit.ly/3tOmO7V
Get in touch:
@FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
In today's episode we speak with Marie, an activist from the human rights monitoring ship Mare Liberum.
She talks to us about the systematic human rights abuses the Greek, Turkish and EU authorities are carrying out on the people trapped in Greece's migrant camps and at sea.
Marie tells us about the lengths the German government has gone to ensure the Marie Liberum cannot sail.
We also hear about the time fascist groups on the Aegean islands tried to burn down the Marie Liberum while Marie and her fellow activists were on board
--- Show notes ---
If you like what the Civil Fleet is all about, you can find more on civilfleet.com
Here's a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on Mare Liberum, visit: mare-liberum.org/en/ or find them on twitter on @teammareliberum
You can read Mare Liberum's Pushback Report 2020 here: bit.ly/3e4ZFJy
Get in touch:
twitter.com/FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
In today's episode we speak with Rosa, a member of the activist network Alarm Phone.
She tells us how the organisation operates its hotline for refugee and migrants in distress at sea and about the Greek coastguard's violent treatment of people crossing over from Turkey.
--- Show notes ---
If you like what the Civil Fleet is all about, you can find more on civilfleet.com
Here's a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
For more on Alarm Phone visit: alarmphone.org
To read the Alarm Phone report mentioned in this episode, visit aeg.bordercrimes.net
You can find Alarm Phone on Twitter here: @alarm_phone
Get in touch:
twitter.com/FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
In today's episode we speak with Sascha, a former head of operations on the Iuventa refugee rescue ship that saved around 14,000 lives between August 2016 and 2017.
Sascha tells us what it was like working on the ship and how Italy's far right movement got the intelligence services to spy on their activities and how the cops seized the ship.
--- Show notes ---
If you like what the Civil Fleet is all about, you can find more on civilfleet.com
Here's a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
If you want to know more about the Iuventa case, visit iuventa10.org or see this interview I did last year with two other crew members: bit.ly/39paZ0C
Get in touch:
twitter.com/FleetCivil
facebook.com/TheCivilFleet
info@civilfleet.com
In today's show we talk with Felix, a spokesperson for Sea Watch — one of the NGOs operating in the Mediterranean.
Felix tells us about Sea Watch, it's ships (the Sea Watch 3 and 4) and it reconnaissance planes (Moonbird and Seabird).
We also speak about the events of two weekends ago, when the Moonbird's crew saw a merchant ship attempt to return refugees back to Libya — an act which would have been a violation of international law.
--- Show notes ---
Thanks for listening to this first episode of The Civil Fleet, a podcast by civilfleet.com that focuses on the NGO refugee rescuers in the central Mediterranean and beyond
Here's a glossary of some of the terms used in this episode: bit.ly/3kGhkt0
Want to know more about the EU's deal with the Libyan Coastguard? See here: bit.ly/384YWEO and here: bit.ly/3bd1ZNv
For more on Alarm Phone, see here: bit.ly/3sBL5xy
Here's the interview with Tamino Bohm, head of Sea Watch's airborne operations: bit.ly/3c8RsCf
Here's the story about the 40-day stand-off Malta put 27 refugees through who were stuck on the Etienne: bit.ly/3uK2Oox
Here's the story on the time Frontex did help an NGO rescue ship find refugees in distress at sea: bit.ly/3b8A9lp