Catania: Press Conference Against The Docking Of The C-Star­, The Fascist Ship

The anti-racist groups who have circulated an open letter for the blocking of the C-Star are organising a press conference to emphasise the Catania is a city which welcomes migrants, and which rejects the arrival of the ship belonging to the Fascist group Generazione Identitaria and instead expresses its solidarity with the NGOs saving lives at sea – organisations which have been hit by a ferocious and unjustified campaign of defamation in recent months.

The press conference will be held tomorrow, Saturday 22 July at 10m, at the port of Catania, next to Dock 8.

Illustration by Guglielmo Manenti

Borderline Sicilia Mobilises Against The Catania Landning Of the Anti-Migrant Ship

Borderline Sicilia is backing the call-out launched by antiracist groups in Catania against the proposed landing of the C-Star in the port of Catania. The ship has been hired froman British mercenary company by the far-right organisation 'Generazione Identitaria” , as Andrea Palladino reported in Famiglia Cristiana yesterday.

The Vos Prudence Lands at Catania

Yesterday morning, Médecins Sans Frontières' vessel, the Vos Prudence, landed the bodies of another six people who died at the border. Five of them are young women, whose bodies seemed to have remained at sea for around a week before being recovered from international waters, respectively 42 and 20 nautical miles from the Libyan coast. The sixth body belongs to a man, and was transferred by Save the Children's vessel, the Vos Hestia. 

The Vos Prudence in port at Catania

“They are trouble, that is the true reason behind the slander”

Currently, the Italian media is mounting a large-scale smear campaign targeting organizations for civil marine salvage in the Mediterranean. Not only Frontex but also prosecutors and politicians try to discredit NGOs. A status report from Italy by Judith Gleitze, borderline-europe Sicily. 

“It is an unbearable hypocrisy, especially if these attacks come from someone who holds office [...] The existence of ‘smugglers’ and of the criminal system that organizes the voyage to Europe for migrants in the most cases are a direct consequence of European and domestic immigration policies (and this is the case since the Schengen Agreement in 1985),” says Antonio Cinieri on his blog “Migr-azioni” (5).

Remembering The Largest Massacre in the Mediterranean, And All Migrants Who Continue To Die At Sea

On the night between the 17th and 18th of April 2015, 800 people lost their lives in the largest shipwreck in the central Mediterranean Sea since the Second World War. Bangladesh, Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia are just some of the countries where the migrants originally came from who, after departing Libya in their desperate attempt to reach Europe, were swallowed up by the sea.

The Reason the NGOs Are Being Attacked Right Now

Exactly a week after the press conference held on board the Aquarius, the SOS Mediterranee and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) ship has come back in to port at Catania. Despite the vehement criticisms, the NGOs have continued to patrol the Mediterranean and rescue migrants, saving hundreds of people from certain death and demonstrating that sea rescue missions are more necessary today than ever before.

The Aquarius at Catania