WEBVTT

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<i>rC3 preroll music</i>

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Herald: Hello and welcome, dear creatures,
to our first sets of talks. And now a

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quick info about the translation. Der nun
folgende Vortrag wird ins Deutsche

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übersetzt. Ihr findet die Übersetzung im
Menü eures Videoplayers oder auf der

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Webseite unter dem Videoplayer im Tab
"Formats". <i>French translation</i> And

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exploring the virtual event such as rC3 is
difficult. So please help us out. Drop the

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herald news show, hints or interesting
stuff under the email address

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newsshow@rc3.world.Or go to the blog
newsshow.rc3.world. And we have a Q&amp;A

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section for this talk "The Mission of the
MV Louise Michel". There is the

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possibility to ask questions. And when you
want to leave us a question, use the IRC

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channel which is also linked below or go
to Twitter or the fediverse, using the

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hashtag #rc3one. That is rc number 3
letter o letter n letter e: rc3one. And

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now the upcoming talk is "The Mission of
the MV Louise Michel". Feminism will be

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antiracist or it won't be. Search and
rescue is not standing for...SAR is not

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standing for search and rescue, as going
by the Louise Michelle crew, it also

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stands for solidarity and resistance. The
talk will be about the mission of the

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rescue vessel Louise Michel and why
smashing borders won't work without

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smashing the patriarchy and the other way
around. The talk is given by a small group

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of people who run together with many
others the high speed lifeboat MV Louise

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Michel, which patrols the Mediterranean.
And now let's go live to the bridge of the

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Louise Michel. The stage is yours.
Hannah: Hello. Thanks a lot for the invitation

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to have a slot at the CCC 2020. Although
we have almost no time to...for

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preparation. But we are anyway happy to
sit here today and give you a small impact

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about what the Louise Michel project is or
can be. So, there is much more than could

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be said in 40 minutes. So hello everyone.
We are sitting on the bridge of the lovely

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Louise Michel. At the moment we have 6
crew on boards. And here in the

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room are Leona, Anouk, Yakob, Lorence and
me, I'm Hannah. And we will give you a

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short introduction about what the project
has been done in the last 12 to 14 months.

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And then we will try to make a slight
switch and talk about mostly

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sexist boundaries.
Leona: So, yes, maybe many of you already

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heard, this ship is a search and rescue
ship. And was bought nearly one year ago.

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It all started with Banksy writing an
email to Pia Klemp, offering a ship. And

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then after a few discussions, the ship was
bought and a group of a few people put

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many work, many effort in it to prepare a
former navy French navy ship into a search

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and rescue vessel. The preparation when
nearly all of them were done in France and

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the ship was brought then to Burriana in
Spain. And, turned from a French navy boat

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into...a pink disaster. <i>laughs</i> Is now again in
Burriana, Spain. We left for our first

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mission on the 5th...of the 18th of
August. Went to the central Mediterranean

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Sea in front of the Libyan coast. And we
were involved of rescuing almost 300

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people. And after returning to Spain, the
ship didn't get detained or didn't get

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seized, what we kindly or we were
expecting this. So we aren't detained, but the ship is

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blocked. And now after the first mission,
a group of people decided to keep the ship

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to get the ship ready again for the next
mission. And that's basically what we are

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working on right now. Like getting a new
registration, because Louise Michel was

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registered as a so-called pleasure craft,
as a motor yacht, which was no problem at

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all, because it's obviously a pleasure
craft and the motor yacht. So as long as

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authorities...well...they didn't know that
we were supposed to do a search and

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rescue, it was no problem at all. But
after they found out that we are doing

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search and rescue, we lost our
registration. And are now working on

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getting a new one to be able to sail
again. And yeah, so we are now in harbour,

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doing shipyard time. That means preparing
the ship, working on problems, fixing

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stuff that needs to be fixed on the ship,
which is quite a lot. And yeah, also doing

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a lot of paperwork, because as many of you
also may know, search and rescue is very

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political and there are many political
issues...let's call it like this...that

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needs to be fixed. Many stones are...they
are put in our way. And yeah, that's what

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we're working on right now.
H: In the short description was

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already said, that we don't understand
SAR, that normally stands for search and

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rescue. That we understand this SAR as
solidarity and resistance. That

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means...all of what we are trying to say
with this, is that we are not standing our

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activism or our acting not as a
humanitarian thing, but as political. And

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this is inspired by the central critique,
that humanitarian work, which is just to

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say this kind of short. The other medal
or the other side of the same medal. So

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humanitarian work tries to milder what
capitalism, patriarchy or racism do to and

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with the world. And so, it makes the shit
that's going on looking better. But it's

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making invisible what all these structures
of power cause. So this is racism,

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this is death. This is...they make the
structures of inequality and power

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invisible.
L: And this is kind of what also our

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project is about, not only going to sea
saving lives, because the - obviously -

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the EU is not willing or...mean they are
definitely...they would be able to do it,

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but they are not willing to save lives or
to stop people from drowning. So, we are

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definitely...this is part of our project,
but part of our project, the main part of

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our project is definitely to put some
effort in changing the whole system,

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because as Hannah already said, like
capitalism and definitely racism, they

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cause the death, that we can see at our
borders, especially in the Mediterranean

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Sea. So without capitalism, without racism
and also without the patriarchy, there

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would be not such a problem. Like there
wouldn't be so many people drowning at

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sea. And this is that, what we mainly
understand, what we should do...like,

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bringing effort in changing the system.
H: And that also means, that our actions

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have to be followed by the adults and they
have to be reflected. We have to reflect

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on what we are doing and not get caught by
this stupid game, all this disgusting

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game, that is played by national states,
by the European Union, or by all those

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authorities, who are trying to force us to
work on stupid registrations. So what the

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main situation is, for us and also for all
other rescue ships is, that we are

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blocked, that we are hindered, that the
European Union stopped all their rescue

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programs they had. The central
Mediterranean is still the most deadly

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border in the world, but it's not the only
deadly border in the world. Borders at all

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are killing and causing death and torture
and suffering. And the borders are

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imaginary lines. Or boundaries are
imaginary lines, that have been set up at

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some point. And so it makes the people
believe, that there is something, that has

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to be protected...by the national borders
or the borders of states are not the only

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borders we are struggling with. And there
are also borders between, or boundaries that

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we have to cross, like gender, like
racism, like capitalism, like

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inequality...Maybe I can hand over.
L: Like what Hannah already said, like the

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boundaries not only exist between
countries and states or even continents,

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but also between human beings, between
people. And this is something we are also

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seeing like a lot on ships. All of us
worked on different kind of ships. And

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we've seen a lot of borders, a lot of
boundaries, whether they were quite

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visible or most of them were more
invisible between people. And the reason

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for that, or the reasons for those
boundaries, I think...you said them

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already, are mostly gender, are the color
of the skin of people, the level of

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education people have. And all this stuff
is causing boundaries between people and

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borders between people. And we, as a
political project, not we are not only

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trying to fight the borders between
countries and helping, or we're trying to

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put effort in helping people across those
borders between countries, but also

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helping people and forcing...not only
forcing, but...challenging ourselves to

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cross those borders, that society teached
us to live within. So, we are also trying

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to...as I said, help people, but also
challenging ourselves to cross those

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borders that exists in our head and that
are very invisible from time to time. But

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when you work as a crew, they get...you
can feel them, you can't see them, but you

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can feel them.
H: And this is maybe something that we can

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say as one of our main understanding.
So, we don't see, when we talk about

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migration or when we talk about people on
the move, so, migration is everything.

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It's also migration, when I move from
Berlin to Spain, because I think I like

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the beautiful, all the warm weather more.
This is also migration, there's nothing

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like this.
L: And I mean, the weather is quite nice.

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We are in Spain right now and it's just 
wonderful to be here. <i>laughs</i>

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H: But this is also migration. Migration
is also when you move from the landscape

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or from land side to the city. But it's
not framed as migration. And I think

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there...it's always a difficulty to go
somewhere else. And people who are

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crossing the borders of the European
Union, we don't understand this as fleeing

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people, who need our urgent help and
support. But we understand this

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movement, there's a kind of challenging
borders. So, because I don't accept these

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imaginary lines, that they were told, that
they are not allowed to cross. Freedom of

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movement is a basic right of human beings
and should be like this. And this is

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something, that we should stand for. And
so then the people always say like, OK,

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there is e.g. an institution like Frontex,
that is a policing, military organization.

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And in 2011, they were told to accept a
new rule. That means they are not allowed

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to do pushbacks. Because they do
pushbacks. But what else do we expect? So,

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we have someone who is controlling
borders. We expect that these people

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controlling borders will say to someone,
who wants to cross it: "Oh, you're not

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allowed". And they expect, that the
opposite will say: "Ahja, cool...I will go

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home again." That's not how it works. And
this leads to a situation of violence,

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because as soon as this border is not
accepted and someone crosses anyway it

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will have an effect.
And that's, what we are facing

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at the moment and at the very 
moment where - sorry, I need

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a second, I lost my point. <i>laughing</i>
L: You were talking about the moment that

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people cross borders without having the
permission to cross them.

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H: Yeah, but I lost it. It's just gone.
L: <i>laughs</i> so, maybe I can jump in until

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Hannah finds her point and I think her
point was pretty good. So, I would love

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her to get back to that. But, when we were
preparing this talk, we also talked about,

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who was even able to draw the lines as
borders. Like, for example, Frontex is

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"protecting" the border between, for
example, African states and European

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states. And, but there are so many other
borders. And we figured out in our heads,

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that it's always the most powerful
position, who is able to draw those lines

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as borders. And when it comes to borders
or boundaries between people, that it's

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also, again, the most powerful, powerful
position that is drawing this line. And

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this should be changed. So it should not
be these powerful persons deciding, where

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the boundaries or the borders are and who
is allowed to live within which border,

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like...for example, cis man decides this
is the border between a male and a female

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person, who's deciding this. This is just
stupid and same for borders between

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countries like European states is
deciding, so this is the line and I'm a

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European person, so I'm allowed to live
within this line and all of you should

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just fuck off and stay outside. And you
can just put this into many, many

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different situations, I think.
H: Borders are a matter of distinction and

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it separates people from each other. So,
while it is saying you are different than

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me? Because you are male and this is a
female or because you are white and black

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and that's your passport and that's your
passport. And maybe you don't even have a

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passport. And we are mostly talking in our
crew about gendered borders, about - and

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this is something that makes sense, when
we are understands a ship as a place or as

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a space of hierarchy, of patriarchy. That
is, so it brings bad luck, when you have

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a woman on board. That's the story that's
told. And we have this talk also

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yesterday, that we have a funny fireball,
that you can throw into the fire, when

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there is a fire and then will explode. And
there's a picture on it and you see a male

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who is throwing, like, very nice and
slightly into a fire.

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L: He's definitely the hero of the
situation.

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H: As it is. And there's also a pictogram
of a woman. And she's putting this ball

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from the top into burning oil.
L: Very nicely.

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H: Very nicely and she's smiling. And this
stands for something, that we are facing,

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when we, as not cis males, enter a space,
like a ship. We notice so every day, that

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we are kind of in the wrong place. We
notice that it's a different, when you go

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alone through a port. We have all these
visible things, that we can talk about.

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So, when you have a male chief engineer, it's
a male chief engineer and you can say this

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is a powerful position. But there are so 
many things, that you can't see that clearly.

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L: Yeah. So they are these visible

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boundaries, but also like invisible
boundaries. So we were also talking about,

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what is changing, when you have, for
example, cis men coming on board the ship.

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What does this create, like what feelings
change and how feelings change and how

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behavior also changes? And what does
it make with the whole crew? Maybe all of

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you also have situations in mind, when you
were only, for example, cis females or

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FLINT persons in a project or in a room
and how this was, how you were working

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together? How you were living together?
And as soon as cis man is entering the

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room, the project, how this is changing.
And this is also about boundaries between

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people, I think.
H: And it's challenging us a lot. So,

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always, when we try to crew mostly FLINT
people. So, we try to turn the

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usual...what is a Normalverteilung
(German, Gaussian Distribution)?

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L: The usual Normalverteilung
(German), sorry for the English speaking

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persons. <i>laughs</i>. <i>L: I've no idea</i>.
H: So, usually these rooms are structured,

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that if you have women on board or FLINT
people on board. That you have one or two

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and the rest of cis men. And we try...
L: And, maybe also saying, that on many,

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many ships, the FLINT person is doing the
crew care, or the, for NGO ships, it's

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the guest care positions. Like many
medical departments are made of, we can

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say it, like of women and guest care and
crew care is, like are mostly female

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positions. But when it comes to engineers
or captain or officer positions, this is

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mainly cis male position.
<i>unintelligible</i>

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H: And that was what I was about to say. So, 
we are doing crewing for the ship and we

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try to crew mostly FLINTs persons. And, 
that also means, that we can open the doors.

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Although we are kind of the door keepers
and we can open the doors for those

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people, who usually have it much more
difficult to enter such a project or to

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enter such positions, that they can take
over, when they are entering Louise

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Michel. But of course, that's the story 
about being exclusive. And we have, we are

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struggling a lot with the fact, that we
are still working in a surrounding, that

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is super masculine dominated. So, always
when we are looking for people, who can

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take over the powerful positions, like
being a captain, an officer, a chief

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engineer. We are having a wide range of
cis men, who offer their support. But on

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the other side, there's no one. 
And this is something that is

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really a problem. And it takes 
us much time to deal with the

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situation, because we really want
to stick to this idea of creating a kind

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of, as possible as that could be, a kind of
safe space. And, because we experienced,

00:23:14.210 --> 00:23:19.341
that the surrounding and the climate on
the ship, is definitely another one, when

00:23:19.341 --> 00:23:28.050
you have a most FLINT crew. So, there is
more space you can give for trust, because

00:23:28.050 --> 00:23:33.751
people come and say, when they don't trust
themselves to do something, or when they

00:23:33.751 --> 00:23:36.770
don't feel comfortable with something,
there is much more talking, there is much

00:23:36.770 --> 00:23:43.220
more reflecting. It's super easy to hand
over jobs, when you have a climate that

00:23:43.220 --> 00:23:51.460
allows not to know. When you have a
climate, that allows you to be weak,

00:23:51.460 --> 00:23:54.470
because this is a ship and when it goes
out and there's a problem, that no one

00:23:54.470 --> 00:23:57.640
said like: "Hoho, I made a mistake, but
maybe I just cover it with something."

00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:01.930
L: No, no, no, don't do it.
H: Don't do it. And then it's important,

00:24:01.930 --> 00:24:08.250
that someone comes and says: "I don't know
how to do it." And...

00:24:08.250 --> 00:24:14.670
L: Maybe this is at least, what we have
seen during the last month, when we were

00:24:14.670 --> 00:24:19.309
working together on this ship as a new
crew and with many different people coming

00:24:19.309 --> 00:24:25.270
from different countries, from different
environments. That - or at least it's my

00:24:25.270 --> 00:24:29.610
experience, I don't know what 
about you? That it was many

00:24:29.610 --> 00:24:37.940
times, it were women asking
for help or being less self-confident and

00:24:37.940 --> 00:24:42.900
trying to, like, double check, when it
was, on the other hand, like men always

00:24:42.900 --> 00:24:47.360
jumping in, like, being much more self-
confident and maybe it's for reasons and

00:24:47.360 --> 00:24:53.210
it's totally fine. But I think this is how
we grew up, how we got educated and what

00:24:53.210 --> 00:24:58.940
society teached us, how we should be,
like, women always being or many times,

00:24:58.940 --> 00:25:03.840
being very or less self-confident than men
are. And this is something we try to

00:25:03.840 --> 00:25:10.450
challenge on this ship, like, empowering
women to be at least as self-confident as

00:25:10.450 --> 00:25:17.450
the men are, or as the men try to be.

00:25:17.450 --> 00:25:22.490
H: Maybe we should come to an end. So, I
think now we are at the point, where we

00:25:22.490 --> 00:25:28.960
can talk, like, a lot more about all these
little lines, that we are crossing every

00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.640
day. And it's not just
about <i>unintelligible</i>

00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:37.180
and taking care of the engine room.
L: We can talk about a lot about the

00:25:37.180 --> 00:25:41.240
engine, because our chief engineer has to
stay off, so he's not here. <i>laughs</i> We

00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:53.960
can say a lot about him.
H: And...but I think for all kinds of

00:25:53.960 --> 00:26:04.400
political action, the main thing is that
we have to, we have to stay. And maybe

00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:11.570
sometimes we also have to improve it. The
enmity with the circumstances and by

00:26:11.570 --> 00:26:18.250
keeping the friendship to the world or
with the world. And, so we are trying to

00:26:18.250 --> 00:26:23.370
create a kind of an open space, by never
accepting any fucking kind of border, that

00:26:23.370 --> 00:26:29.371
is dropping or crossing our waves. So we
have to reflect, we have to force

00:26:29.371 --> 00:26:36.180
ourselves to step about this or to cross
this borders, to step over it. And to not

00:26:36.180 --> 00:26:43.280
getting lost or desperated or frustrated.
And this is what we can be. So, we can

00:26:43.280 --> 00:26:47.740
create a space, where even when we are
blocked and it always feels kind of

00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:51.860
senseless to get to this sucking port,
sitting around don't know what you are

00:26:51.860 --> 00:26:55.640
doing, because why we are sitting here and
everyone's talking about all those lovely

00:26:55.640 --> 00:27:03.230
pink little ship that tries to challenge
European borders. We are - in the end - we

00:27:03.230 --> 00:27:06.840
have to say, we are blocked. But somehow we
also have to deal with this frustration

00:27:06.840 --> 00:27:10.430
and we have to go on. So, there's no
possibility to say, like, OK, they forbid

00:27:10.430 --> 00:27:16.130
us to do this - so, we can't accept that,
but at the same time, we have always have

00:27:16.130 --> 00:27:22.840
to challenge ourselves. And we always have
to support ourselves. And we have to

00:27:22.840 --> 00:27:28.670
understand ourselves as part of a social
movement. And this is, why we really

00:27:28.670 --> 00:27:36.470
appreciate to get some questions from the
audience to get something more, than this

00:27:36.470 --> 00:27:41.620
limited space we are living in here.
L: Yeah, maybe as a conclusion, we can

00:27:41.620 --> 00:27:47.190
say, that we are not only fighting or
dreaming of a world without borders

00:27:47.190 --> 00:27:53.260
between countries, but also for a world, 
or we have this vision of a world without

00:27:53.260 --> 00:28:01.120
borders between humans in any 
kind, in any way. Thank you.

00:28:01.120 --> 00:28:08.560
Herald: That is a nice way to talk.
Thanks so much for telling us all that.

00:28:08.560 --> 00:28:17.260
And I can relate the virtual applause
you're getting from the

00:28:17.260 --> 00:28:22.430
audiences. You sadly cannot
hear that. But I am sure,

00:28:22.430 --> 00:28:28.620
that there's a massive feeling of
gratitude and thank you from all of those

00:28:28.620 --> 00:28:36.140
who are watching. And I've got some
questions for you from the audience. And,

00:28:36.140 --> 00:28:41.130
if we've still got some minutes left, so
when you have an additional question, use

00:28:41.130 --> 00:28:48.510
the IRC, link below the video, or use
Twitter or the Fediverse using the hashtag

00:28:48.510 --> 00:29:01.000
#rc3one in letters. So hashtag rc number
three letters o, n, e. Then our signal

00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:06.280
angel will put that down in the pad, so I
can ask the question. And the first

00:29:06.280 --> 00:29:14.280
question coming in to you, for you is:
"Have you had any direct confrontation or

00:29:14.280 --> 00:29:19.570
other experience with Frontex 
officers or boats?"

00:29:19.570 --> 00:29:30.960
L: Maybe I can answer the question. So,
yes, definitely yes. When we go in to the

00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:36.470
center of the Mediterranean Sea, when 
you go, yeah, in front of the coast of

00:29:36.470 --> 00:29:43.850
Libya, for example, you can basically
nearly every day see Frontex airplanes

00:29:43.850 --> 00:29:51.790
crossing, like, searching for boats,
searching for NGOs; what the hell are they

00:29:51.790 --> 00:30:00.090
doing there. And, yeah, so it's from what
I experienced during the missions, I went

00:30:00.090 --> 00:30:06.390
on, it was mainly airplanes, that were
searching for, for example, boats in

00:30:06.390 --> 00:30:12.610
distress or people on the move and giving
this information unfortunately not to NGO

00:30:12.610 --> 00:30:17.820
ships, for example, or informing
coastguards in the way like, OK, those

00:30:17.820 --> 00:30:23.330
people need help, but informing, for
example, the so-called Libyan coast guard

00:30:23.330 --> 00:30:29.880
to go there to push the people back. And
that's definitely one of the main

00:30:29.880 --> 00:30:37.440
experiences I make with the Frontex. Like
organizing illegal pushbacks.

00:30:37.440 --> 00:30:48.520
Herald: Most of it was plane sightings and
not direct contact with personnel or ships

00:30:48.520 --> 00:30:56.540
in touching distance. OK, so the next
question is more of a technical side.

00:30:56.540 --> 00:31:05.390
I think the core of the question was about
how to grade situations, but I'm trying to

00:31:05.390 --> 00:31:11.770
read that out, I think something is lost
in the translation. I hope you see what

00:31:11.770 --> 00:31:19.120
that means, but take it in good-meant
spirit. How do you define a maritime

00:31:19.120 --> 00:31:27.730
emergency / ship wreckage? Do 
you already take action for a dinghy with

00:31:27.730 --> 00:31:34.607
a working motor and rescue them? Or is it 
only about situations where people's lives

00:31:34.607 --> 00:31:40.348
is crucially endangered? Is there some
guideline that you can...

00:31:42.668 --> 00:31:46.656
Oh!
L: Great.

00:31:46.656 --> 00:31:52.506
Herald: What's happened, Toto? Yes.
H: He was asking a question...

00:31:57.453 --> 00:32:01.473
L: If this is our Internet, now 
we can just sit here.

00:32:01.473 --> 00:32:07.280
H: No, I think it's not our Internet, I think 
it's just the audio signal.

00:32:19.915 --> 00:32:24.585
Herald: I just saw the chat explode, 
with all the technical stuff.

00:32:54.490 --> 00:33:02.760
Herald: I have so many good questions I
would like to ask, but yeah,

00:33:02.760 --> 00:33:06.930
technicalities are the great dictator and
we are allowed to go four minutes over,

00:33:06.930 --> 00:33:20.030
right Toto? I'm preparing to go four minutes
over. When will we ever be back?

00:34:16.630 --> 00:34:19.200
Give me a go and then I start.

00:34:32.210 --> 00:34:38.450
So second question, so maybe something
is lost in the translation,

00:34:38.450 --> 00:34:43.820
but take it in a good
spirit. This is about technicalities. How

00:34:43.820 --> 00:34:52.679
do you define a maritime emergency/ship
wreckage? Do you already take action for a

00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:57.410
dinghy with a working motor and rescue
them? Or is it only about situations where

00:34:57.410 --> 00:35:04.890
people's life is crucially endangered?
H: As soon as you enter the central

00:35:04.890 --> 00:35:11.830
Mediterranean Sea and try to make it from
e.g. Libya to Italy with a dinghy, with a

00:35:11.830 --> 00:35:15.779
small engine, even if it's working, it's a
distress case.

00:35:15.779 --> 00:35:19.730
Herald: Yeah, OK.
L: Yeah. And to be honest, it's not only

00:35:19.730 --> 00:35:24.170
if the engine is broken down or there's
already water coming in, but those

00:35:24.170 --> 00:35:30.850
dinghies are normally super crowded. And
you never know about the weather coming up

00:35:30.850 --> 00:35:35.410
because me personally, I always have this
idea of the beautiful central

00:35:35.410 --> 00:35:39.550
Mediterranean Sea with nice weather, no
waves at all. But that's definitely not

00:35:39.550 --> 00:35:47.630
the case. So, um, yeah, I think it's not
always about this super dramatic scenes,

00:35:47.630 --> 00:35:52.400
but as Hanah said, as soon as you enter
those boats, this is not a good idea.

00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:57.609
Herald: And and it's quite a distance and
it would take several days to get there

00:35:57.609 --> 00:36:02.110
right? So it is it is not a pleasure
cruise or something.

00:36:02.110 --> 00:36:09.010
L: No, I would not say so, not in general.
Herald: OK, next question. Is the crew

00:36:09.010 --> 00:36:15.080
also trying to overcome hierarchies on
board, are they trying to find structures

00:36:15.080 --> 00:36:22.068
that work without classical captains etc.?
L &amp; H: Yes.

00:36:22.068 --> 00:36:27.630
Herald: And, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
H: So there is, there is a legal side of

00:36:27.630 --> 00:36:33.661
the things. And so when the ship is on the
sea and when it's operating, the person

00:36:33.661 --> 00:36:38.530
who is responsible is always the captain.
So the person who's facing all the legal

00:36:38.530 --> 00:36:42.640
consequences are those in powerful
positions. And this is something that we

00:36:42.640 --> 00:36:49.060
have to keep in mind. But for all
decisions that are made on the ship, it's

00:36:49.060 --> 00:36:58.230
not up to the captain or the leader who's
the coordination on the mission or to the

00:36:58.230 --> 00:37:06.180
few powerful positions we have, the
decisions get made by all, and we are

00:37:06.180 --> 00:37:15.791
trying to keep it as flat as possible. And
of course, everyone's allowed also to say

00:37:15.791 --> 00:37:21.660
his or her opinion and it's going to be
acknowledged.

00:37:21.660 --> 00:37:27.580
L: But we have to be honest about that, we
have to challenge ourselves to make this

00:37:27.580 --> 00:37:34.870
running, to work with this flat hierarchy.
Yeah, we are on it, we are far from

00:37:34.870 --> 00:37:38.750
perfect, but we are trying to improve
ourselves every day.

00:37:38.750 --> 00:37:48.510
Herald: Good. OK, the nice people of the
signal angel crowd have written me down

00:37:48.510 --> 00:37:54.160
another question. Has there been other
attempts to sabotage your work except the

00:37:54.160 --> 00:37:58.970
legal challenges of the ship license,
maybe attempts to distract you from

00:37:58.970 --> 00:38:05.340
complicated work, maybe even algorithmic
driven behavior recognition or something?

00:38:05.340 --> 00:38:11.990
This is more of a technical question.
H: I think I didn't really get the

00:38:11.990 --> 00:38:17.670
question. But to be honest, this legal
side of things is quite effective. So

00:38:17.670 --> 00:38:22.080
there was once the question of we can't
just leave as a pirate ship without a

00:38:22.080 --> 00:38:35.510
flag. And if we do so and that's an
invitation for all armed forces to enter

00:38:35.510 --> 00:38:41.150
our ship. And this is quite effective. And
I think the main problem is with all kinds

00:38:41.150 --> 00:38:48.311
of repression. And that's how police also
works and is that it is not just trying to

00:38:48.311 --> 00:38:53.380
block you or to sanction you, but it's
also about destroying structures. And this

00:38:53.380 --> 00:38:58.710
is what we have to work on and all the
structures we are organizing to not let

00:38:58.710 --> 00:39:03.490
them destroy our networks, our
connections, our relations and everything

00:39:03.490 --> 00:39:08.800
else.
Herald: OK, so this legal action works

00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:15.980
really, really well. So the idea of I've
given some context for this. Do you think

00:39:15.980 --> 00:39:23.010
that you're constantly surveyed by others
so that they can throw sticks into the

00:39:23.010 --> 00:39:27.960
spinning wheels?
L: We definitely have to keep this in mind

00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:34.350
all the time. We would not talk about very
sensitive stuff or we are trying very hard

00:39:34.350 --> 00:39:43.710
to protect our data. But we are not sure
about this, but we have to keep this in

00:39:43.710 --> 00:39:49.960
mind. I'll be keeping this in mind.
Herald: And that's another question about

00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:55.500
the hierarchy on board. More specifically
what decision making processes do you use

00:39:55.500 --> 00:39:58.750
on board? Do you want to give us some
insight on that?

00:39:58.750 --> 00:40:06.710
H: Yes, of course. We do, we are organized
with a small crew, like a core crew, who's

00:40:06.710 --> 00:40:11.359
coordinating and is also kind of decision
making. This is sometimes a problem, but

00:40:11.359 --> 00:40:17.920
the ship always works independently of
it's core crew. And the crew who is

00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:24.020
involved is organizing themselves so they
can have a very structured day, like every

00:40:24.020 --> 00:40:29.550
day morning meetings or try to find other
ways to at the moment, the situation with

00:40:29.550 --> 00:40:35.640
the current crew is that we have our
construction sites that we are working on,

00:40:35.640 --> 00:40:39.300
but everyone is free to organize
themselves. If they want to work up to 11

00:40:39.300 --> 00:40:42.370
in the evening, they're more than welcome.
But we will stop them at some point

00:40:42.370 --> 00:40:48.600
because we don't want, we have an anti burn
out policy. So then they also have to start

00:40:48.600 --> 00:40:59.050
later. So, no, we don't really have a
plan, but we are trying to give the

00:40:59.050 --> 00:41:04.240
communication to those or the organization
to those who are doing it. That means the

00:41:04.240 --> 00:41:10.000
ship organizes itself and the core crew
is trying to to take care of all the

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:16.680
organizational side of the things. That
means caring about money, about

00:41:16.680 --> 00:41:26.650
registration, the legal aspects. But at
least we are always giving a big part of

00:41:26.650 --> 00:41:30.479
our responsibilities that we have as a
core crew at the moment. And they wanted me

00:41:30.479 --> 00:41:36.040
a part of the core crew. And the ship crew
is doing their own organization together

00:41:36.040 --> 00:41:43.710
with us. So, yeah.
Herald: Yeah. For information for the

00:41:43.710 --> 00:41:49.090
studio, I'm planning to go four minutes
over and I'm already one over. So there's

00:41:49.090 --> 00:41:57.330
room for two more questions. After having
rescued people do you social distance them

00:41:57.330 --> 00:42:04.920
because of their unknown health status.
This is a Corona related one.

00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:07.460
L: Yeah. Lovely. I'm so happy to talk
about this.

00:42:07.460 --> 00:42:15.830
Herald: Aren't we all.
L: Yeah, great. Finally. So after the

00:42:15.830 --> 00:42:26.610
rescue we try to wear masks and to hand
over masks to our guests and for sure the

00:42:26.610 --> 00:42:31.470
guests, they had to, it was mandatory for
them to quarantine when they came on land

00:42:31.470 --> 00:42:37.851
in Italy. And we tried to make everything
possible to keep the guests healthy, like

00:42:37.851 --> 00:42:42.570
protecting them from our possible
infection, but also trying to protect the

00:42:42.570 --> 00:42:47.820
crew from getting infected. So this is a
small boat. We have to be realistic. It's

00:42:47.820 --> 00:42:54.280
not possible to social distance like two
meters like there is no way. But we do

00:42:54.280 --> 00:42:59.070
everything possible to protect us and
other people.

00:42:59.070 --> 00:43:06.390
H: And I think we have to add to this,
that this corona thing is used from the

00:43:06.390 --> 00:43:14.340
authorities to stop us because they say
it's not possible on some NGO ships to

00:43:14.340 --> 00:43:24.630
keep the social distance, to ban [us]. And
to be honest, when you look at the

00:43:24.630 --> 00:43:29.130
situation on the Mediterranean Sea, when
you have a question about drowning or

00:43:29.130 --> 00:43:32.210
spreading Corona, I would prefer spreading
Corona. Yeah.

00:43:32.210 --> 00:43:39.680
L: So we we think Corona should not be an
excuse to close harbors or to block ships

00:43:39.680 --> 00:43:46.870
because as you all know treat first what
kills first and drowning kills you first.

00:43:46.870 --> 00:43:52.310
And Corona is quite a bad thing and very
serious, but it should not be an excuse to

00:43:52.310 --> 00:44:01.031
close our borders.
Herald: And follow up on that. You said in

00:44:01.031 --> 00:44:09.030
your talk that the Louise Michel is a safe
space. Do you advertise or announce this

00:44:09.030 --> 00:44:17.580
in any way when you rescue somebody? Do
you have a standard procedure where you

00:44:17.580 --> 00:44:21.590
say, listen, this is a little bit
different as other ships or something like

00:44:21.590 --> 00:44:28.130
that? Or how do you approach those you are
rescuing and inform them about that? I

00:44:28.130 --> 00:44:32.619
think it's not the first step. But how do
you do this kind of information?

00:44:32.619 --> 00:44:38.619
H: I would just say first that we are not
a safe space, but we are trying to get as

00:44:38.619 --> 00:44:43.950
close as possible. And the rest I have to
hand over to Leona.

00:44:43.950 --> 00:44:48.810
L: We are definitely talking to our guests
about this, telling them that we are

00:44:48.810 --> 00:44:57.440
living very close on a very small space
and that this is a safe space. So there's

00:44:57.440 --> 00:45:02.859
no place for racism or any kind of
discrimination, weapons, drugs whatsoever.

00:45:02.859 --> 00:45:10.380
So this is definitely a topic and it works
at least what I experience, It's it wasn't

00:45:10.380 --> 00:45:15.910
a problem at all. So there was a huge
respect from the people on the move and

00:45:15.910 --> 00:45:20.700
from the crew among each other. That was
great to see.

00:45:20.700 --> 00:45:31.430
Herald: So our time is up. Thank you so
much for coming to us live from the boat

00:45:31.430 --> 00:45:39.609
Louise Michel. It was a pleasure. And now
it is my great pleasure to hand over to

00:45:39.609 --> 00:45:45.870
the Herald news show, which will be live
from Bielefeld Heideblümchen. And, see you

00:45:45.870 --> 00:45:51.650
in the next talk. Bye.
L: Thank you. Bye.

00:45:51.650 --> 00:45:55.336
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