More hate and persecution of immigrants and asylum seekers from the racist right. Hope Not Hate, the anti-racist, anti-religious extremism magazine and website, reported on Wednesday that a group of Identitarians, Defend Europe, had secured a ship with which it intended to patrol the Mediterranean, harassing the Italian naval and coastguard vessels charged with rescuing migrants from Africa and the Middle East crossing the Med. Early in May, activists from Germany, Austria, France and Italy, and the Canadian and US social media journalists, Lauren Southern and Luke Rudkowski, travelled to the Italian towns of Catania, where they blocked a rescue ship from leaving port. Over the course of the month and then into June, they travelled to Olbia, Modena, Brescia, Bolzano and other towns to explain their mission to the locals.
They were also crowdfunding on social media to raise sufficient money to obtain a ship to stop rescue boats at sea. They have also been collecting information on the international organisations dedicated to rescuing immigrants, and their individual members.
See: http://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/06/27/far-right-secure-ship-disrupt-mediterranean-ngos/
According to a later report, the ship
is actually a Finnish-made research ship named ‘Suunta’. It is nearly 40m long and has a gross tonnage of 422 tonnes. According to Defend Europe the ship has “a range of 3000 nautical miles”, a “place for a crew of 25”, and a “crane for RIBs [small inflatable boats]”
We have tracked down the Suunta to the port of Djibouti off the east coast of Africa, which fits in with the Identitarians own claims that their “biggest problem now is, that our ship is not on the Mediterranean sea. It needs to be transferred from a different ocean.”
Hope Not Hate believe that the ship is due to leave Djibouti to reach Port Suez on the 13th of this month, in order to travel up through the Suez canal.
http://hopenothate.org.uk/2017/06/29/details-far-right-mission-hinder-ngo-rescue-missions-med/
This is quite horrific. Conditions on these boats are appalling, with the human cargo frequently packed against and on top of each other, with little sanitation. Many of them are forcibly drugged to prevent them causing problems during the voyage. These people are some of the world’s most desperate, fleeing countries torn apart by war or an oppressive, persecutory government. Many of these ships sink during the crossing. The Identitarians aim of stopping migrants from being rescued from these ships means, quite simply, that they will die from drowning.
Not that such carnage would cause many pangs of conscience amongst the Far Right. ‘Millennial Woes’, a Scots member of the Alt Right, who has since left for America, stated on one of his wretched videos that preventing further non-White immigration would mean shooting down the migrant ships. He considered this a dreadful necessity. And Sun rentagob Katie Hopkins had to apologise a little while ago, after she ranted about destroying migrant boats.
Yesterday I got the following email from the magazine, which it asked me to share.
An important update regarding the “Defend Europe” ship, the boat that has been chartered by the European far right to try to stop refugees from North Africa reaching Europe.
We have been able to track down the ship to a port in Djibouti, on the east coast of Africa, and we have eyes on its movements. We know that the boat is due to set sail next week and will reach the Mediterranean, via the Suez Canal, in two weeks’ time.
This is a very real threat. Defend Europe has two main aims: to block aid agency ships from making life-saving rescue missions, and to patrol the sea and prevent crossings from taking place.
A number of the NGOs working in the area have already recounted stories of being threatened by far right activists and fear a hostile and intimidating environment in which to carry out their essential work.
Thank you to the thousands of supporters who have shared their thoughts on how we should oppose this action. Right now, the most important thing to do is to create as much attention around this as possible.
These people really are low, to deny life-saving aid to desperately poor people fleeing from terror at home aboard such dangerous craft. They have to be stopped before their actions lead to someone dying.
Tags: 'Defend Europe', 'Millennial Woes', Bolzano, Brescia, Catania, Deaths, Djibouti, Hope Not Hate, Identitarian Movement, Immigration, Katie Hopkins, Lauren Southern, Luke Rudkowski, Mediterranean, Middle East, Modena, Olbia, Port Suez, racism, Social Media, Suez Canal
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