Friday, May 26, 2023

BANKSY-- The Louise Michel Affair--S.O.S...

     
29 August 2020--

"...an 'anti-racist and animal rights activist' who is also German..."
Pia Klemp, the ship's captain.

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     Incline Village, Nev. (EOC)-- Yet another story about refugees in peril being rescued by daring radicals on the high seas. This time it takes on a different twist, not the usual heroes such as Doctors Without Borders, but an elusive London street artist who uses the name of "Banksy" as a pseudonym. His identity has been speculated in various media reports, but the story is not about the artist, but the rescue mission.

Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean

The British street artist Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa, the Guardian can reveal. The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where on Thursday it rescued 89 people in distress, including 14 women and four children.


     The ship itself  doesn't appear to have the capability to achieve its objective of bringing on board large numbers of refugees. Its captain is Pia Kemp, referred to by at least one Italian agency as "La Pirata;"

Lei è Pia Klemp, la "pirata" che sta traghettando in Italia 219 clandestini: "La mia è un'azione antifascista" - Rassegne Italia

La Louise Michel fa rotta verso l'Italia con 219 migranti a bordo, gli ultimi 13o raccolti nella notte nel Mediterraneo. La nuova nave della Ong più amata dai radical chic di tutta Europa, finanziata e decorata addirittura da Banksy in persona, street-artist [...]


      "And after Carola Rackete, we will learn to know Captain Pia Klemp, an 'anti-racist and animal rights activist' who is also German and, like the former captain of Sea Watch, on trial in Italy for aiding and abetting illegal immigration."


Un navire pour secourir les migrants en Méditerranée : le dernier projet du street-artiste Banksy

Le projet a été gardé secret le plus longtemps possible pour ne pas risquer d'être compromis par les autorités. Le street-artiste britannique Banksy a financé un bateau pour secourir les migrants qui tentent de rejoindre l'Europe à partir de l'Afrique du Nord, révélait, jeudi 27 août, The Guardian.


     "The captain of the boat is Pia Klemp, a German human rights activist, known for having driven several other rescue ships, including the Sea-Watch 3, for which she had declined the honorary medal that the City of Paris wished to give her, showing its disagreement with the migration policy carried out in the capital. She is still the subject of an investigation by the Italian courts, for 'helping illegal immigration' in particular." Al Jazeera reported earlier today that other vessels were in on the distress call;


      "On Saturday, Sea-Watch 4, another migrant rescue vessel, jointly operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the NGO Sea-Watch, announced it was altering course and heading towards Louise Michel. "We already have 201 people on board, the first of whom were rescued a week ago and who until now are denied a place of safety," Hannah Wallace Bowman, MSF's Field Communications Officer onboard Sea-Watch-4, told Al Jazeera." (1)
At least one vessel named Sea Watch Bravo's position is located at Marine Traffic. (2)

     How all of this will eventually play out, with the EU governments not likely to welcome any new effort to rescue Libyans in leaky boats headed toward the European mainland, remains to be seen. 

Late News: 30 August 2020:

Boat carrying nearly 370 migrants reaches Italy's Lampedusa

A fishing boat carrying nearly 370 migrants landed overnight on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where the main holding centre is already overcrowded, prompting the local mayor to call for a general strike to push the government take action.

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