British street artist Banksy has funded a boat to rescue refugees trying to reach North Africa, the Guardian can reveal.
The ship, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set sail on August 18 from the Spanish port of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where it rescued 89 people in distress on Thursday, including 14 women and four children.
It is now looking for a safe seaport to disembark the passengers or transfer them to a European coastguard.
The crew, consisting of European activists with long experience in search and rescue operations, had already assisted in two other rescue operations with a total of 105 people, who are now on board the NGO ship Sea-Watch 4.
Painted in bright pink and with Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life jacket with a heart-shaped safety buoy, the Louise Michel sails under a German flag. The 31-meter motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs authorities, is smaller but significantly faster than other NGO rescue ships.
Banksy’s involvement in the rescue mission dates back to September 2019 when he sent an email to Pia Klemp, the former captain of several NGO boats that have rescued thousands of people in recent years.
“Hello Pia, I read about your story in the newspapers. You sound like a badass, ‘he wrote. “I’m an artist from the UK and I’ve done some work on the migrant crisis, of course I can not keep the money. Can you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know. Well done. Banksy. ”
Klemp, who at first thought it was a joke, believes she was chosen by Banksy because of her political stance. “I do not see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist struggle,” she told the Guardian.
She made it clear that Banksy’s involvement in the operations was limited to financial support. “Banksy will not pretend he knows better than we do how to run a ship, and we will not pretend to be artists.”
With a top speed of 27 knots, the Louise Michel would “hopefully be able to overtake the so-called Libyan coastguard before joining boats carrying refugees and migrants and retreating to the detention camps in Libya,” Klemp said.
Non-state seafarers have long criticized the massive return of migrants to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard in cooperation with EU member states. International organizations have accused the Libyan Coast Guard of abusing people at sea or selling them to militias at Libyan ports after they intercepted them.
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 7,600 migrants have been intercepted so far this year and have returned to Libya, a war-torn country where various political factions continue to fight for power. Often confined to informal camps, the situation for migrants in Libya is desperate, with acts of systematic torture and rape long documented by human rights organizations.
The 10 crew members of Louise Michel have different backgrounds, but they all identify themselves as anti-racist and anti-fascist activists who advocate for radical political change. Because it is a feminist project, only female crew members may speak on behalf of Louise Michel.
Lea Reisner, a nurse and head of mission for the first rescue operation, said the project was at its heart anarchist, intended to bring a variety of struggles for social justice, including for women and LGBTIQ rights, racial equality, rights of migrants, environment and animal rights.
The planning of the mission was carried out in secret between London, Berlin and Burriana, where the Louise Michel had been designed to be equipped for sea rescue. The crew feared that media attention could jeopardize their goals: if word had spread that a project funded by Banksy would soon sail to the central Mediterranean to rescue migrants, European authorities could have attempted the mission. to cross. For this reason, Banksy’s team and the rescue activists agreed to release the news about the boat only after carrying out the first rescue.
By Louise Michel is the latest intervention by members of civil society trying to prevent deaths in the Mediterranean. Other NGO rescuers have been engaged in rescue activities this year, but have been hampered by what they consider to be excessive and politically motivated inspections carried out by Italian authorities. Closures and restrictions on Covid-19 have also affected sea rescue activities, with NGO crews unable to return to the central Mediterranean in recent weeks.
So far, more than 500 refugees and migrants are known to have died in the Mediterranean, and the real number is estimated to be significantly higher. On Wednesday, 45 people – including five children – died when the engine on their boat exploded from Libya, in the country’s deadliest shipwreck this year, the UN said. More than 19,500 migrants have survived the Mediterranean crossing this year along the central maritime route and reached Italy as well as Malta.
Claire Faggianelli, an activist who prepared the Louise Michel for its first mission, saw the project as a wake-up call for Europe. “We really want to try to awaken Europe’s awareness and say, ‘Look, we’ve been calling on you for years now. There’s something that should not happen at the very borders of Europe, and you close your eyes to it. “Wake up!” She said.
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