19 June 2023
On the Pylos Shipwreck
Only 104 out of the 750 passengers who travelled on the fishing boat, which capsized on June 14 and sank in the Ionian Sea, were rescued. The bodies of 80 have been recovered so far and the remaining passengers, an estimated total of as many as 500 people, including large numbers of women and children, remain missing. The boat had departed from Libya the previous Friday and was heading towards Italy. The tragic shipwreck, which immediately became yet another icon of the never-ending catastrophe of asylum seeking in the Mediterranean, occurred on the high seas, 87 kilometres from the Greek Coast. As long as the overarching policy aim is to deter racialized migrants from entering the EU, tragedies like the one in Pylos are bound to continue. Continue reading >>
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09 July 2021
Visibility and Crime at Sea
On 30th June 2021, search-and-rescue activists from Sea-Watch witnessed a brutal attack by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard against a migrant vessel carrying 64 during an attempted pushback. Now, prosecutors in Sicily have launched an investigation against the Libyan Coast Guard for “attempted shipwreck.” This the first time, a European court opens an investigation against the Libyan Coast Guard, and the fact that an Italian court should do so bears legal and political importance. Continue reading >>
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11 September 2020
Preserve the Ashes of Moria
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin has famously left in ruins after its bombing during World War II. If Moria too is left destroyed, it will at least provide the semblance of such a memorial for catastrophe. Unlike with the church, this will not be due to a grand political choice and a historical victory, but will nevertheless serve as a reminder, for those of us who look for it, of a torturous bureaucracy and a large revolt against it. Continue reading >>
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