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The Louise-Michel is a boat that will save the lives of migrant people shipwrecked in the Mediterranean. The project was built in secret between the two activists.
We previously told you about Pia Klemp, this feminist ship captain. In 2019, then captain of the Sea Watch 3, which comes to the aid of migrants in difficulty in the Mediterranean, she forcibly accosts around forty people in distress in Lampedusa despite the refusal of the Italian authorities.
Pia Klemp is currently being prosecuted in Italy as part of her rescues of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. The latter, which took place from 2016 to 2017, are in fact assimilated by the courts to complicity in illegal immigration.
To continue her humanitarian activities, she recently received unprecedented and surprising help from one of the most elusive figures of our time: the street artist Banksy.
This was indeed touched by the strong convictions and determination of Pia Klemp.
He then contacted her by email: “I read your story in the papers, you sound badass to me. I'm an artist from the UK and have worked on the migrant crisis, obviously I can't keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something like that? Please, keep me informed. Banksy.”
The young woman accepts. The project is then prepared in the greatest secrecy so as not to be worried by the authorities.
An old customs boat is bought and painted by the artist, a little girl in pink holding a heart-shaped buoy.
On August 18, the boat set sail for its first rescues.
Named after a militant 19th century anarchist, the Louise Michel is made up of a feminist crew. Its captain proudly defends his anti-fascist and anti-racist positions as the primary motivation for expeditions to rescue people at sea.
With this boat, faster than those usually used for rescues, Pia Klemp hopes to be able "to get ahead of the Libyan coast guards before they reach boats with migrants and bring them back to the detention camps in Libya ”.
"A number of European states remain very cautious about the possibility of letting NGOs operate a rescue service at sea that they no longer provide themselves in the central Mediterranean", explained to RFI Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR special envoy. for the Mediterranean. The rescue is then carried out by the Libyan coast guards who unload the refugees in Libya, where they are left to their own devices, risking falling into the hands of traffickers or being killed.
Migrants are arriving three times as many as in 2020, but we are still well below the high figures of 2015.
The Louise Michel wishes to awaken European consciences in the face of the tragedy that takes place every day in front of its doors.