#rC3 - The Mission of the MV Louise Michel

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MV Louise Michel". There is the

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

people cross borders without having the
permission to cross them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

L: Yeah. So they are these visible

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mainly cis male position.
unintelligible

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

that the surrounding and the climate on
the ship, is definitely another one, when

you have a most FLINT crew. So, there is
more space you can give for trust, because

people come and say, when they don't trust
themselves to do something, or when they

don't feel comfortable with something,
there is much more talking, there is much

more reflecting. It's super easy to hand
over jobs, when you have a climate that

allows not to know. When you have a
climate, that allows you to be weak,

because this is a ship and when it goes
out and there's a problem, that no one

said like: "Hoho, I made a mistake, but
maybe I just cover it with something."

L: No, no, no, don't do it.
H: Don't do it. And then it's important,

that someone comes and says: "I don't know
how to do it." And...

L: Maybe this is at least, what we have
seen during the last month, when we were

working together on this ship as a new
crew and with many different people coming

from different countries, from different
environments. That - or at least it's my

experience, I don't know what
about you? That it was many

times, it were women asking
for help or being less self-confident and

trying to, like, double check, when it
was, on the other hand, like men always

jumping in, like, being much more self-
confident and maybe it's for reasons and

it's totally fine. But I think this is how
we grew up, how we got educated and what

society teached us, how we should be,
like, women always being or many times,

being very or less self-confident than men
are. And this is something we try to

challenge on this ship, like, empowering
women to be at least as self-confident as

the men are, or as the men try to be.

H: Maybe we should come to an end. So, I
think now we are at the point, where we

can talk, like, a lot more about all these
little lines, that we are crossing every

day. And it's not just
about unintelligible

and taking care of the engine room.
L: We can talk about a lot about the

engine, because our chief engineer has to
stay off, so he's not here. laughs We

can say a lot about him.
H: And...but I think for all kinds of

political action, the main thing is that
we have to, we have to stay. And maybe

sometimes we also have to improve it. The
enmity with the circumstances and by

keeping the friendship to the world or
with the world. And, so we are trying to

create a kind of an open space, by never
accepting any fucking kind of border, that

is dropping or crossing our waves. So we
have to reflect, we have to force

ourselves to step about this or to cross
this borders, to step over it. And to not

getting lost or desperated or frustrated.
And this is what we can be. So, we can

create a space, where even when we are
blocked and it always feels kind of

senseless to get to this sucking port,
sitting around don't know what you are

doing, because why we are sitting here and
everyone's talking about all those lovely

pink little ship that tries to challenge
European borders. We are - in the end - we

have to say, we are blocked. But somehow we
also have to deal with this frustration

and we have to go on. So, there's no
possibility to say, like, OK, they forbid

us to do this - so, we can't accept that,
but at the same time, we have always have

to challenge ourselves. And we always have
to support ourselves. And we have to

understand ourselves as part of a social
movement. And this is, why we really

appreciate to get some questions from the
audience to get something more, than this

limited space we are living in here.
L: Yeah, maybe as a conclusion, we can

say, that we are not only fighting or
dreaming of a world without borders

between countries, but also for a world,
or we have this vision of a world without

borders between humans in any
kind, in any way. Thank you.

Herald: That is a nice way to talk.
Thanks so much for telling us all that.

And I can relate the virtual applause
you're getting from the

audiences. You sadly cannot
hear that. But I am sure,

that there's a massive feeling of
gratitude and thank you from all of those

who are watching. And I've got some
questions for you from the audience. And,

if we've still got some minutes left, so
when you have an additional question, use

the IRC, link below the video, or use
Twitter or the Fediverse using the hashtag

#rc3one in letters. So hashtag rc number
three letters o, n, e. Then our signal

angel will put that down in the pad, so I
can ask the question. And the first

question coming in to you, for you is:
"Have you had any direct confrontation or

other experience with Frontex
officers or boats?"

L: Maybe I can answer the question. So,
yes, definitely yes. When we go in to the

center of the Mediterranean Sea, when
you go, yeah, in front of the coast of

Libya, for example, you can basically
nearly every day see Frontex airplanes

crossing, like, searching for boats,
searching for NGOs; what the hell are they

doing there. And, yeah, so it's from what
I experienced during the missions, I went

on, it was mainly airplanes, that were
searching for, for example, boats in

distress or people on the move and giving
this information unfortunately not to NGO

ships, for example, or informing
coastguards in the way like, OK, those

people need help, but informing, for
example, the so-called Libyan coast guard

to go there to push the people back. And
that's definitely one of the main

experiences I make with the Frontex. Like
organizing illegal pushbacks.

Herald: Most of it was plane sightings and
not direct contact with personnel or ships

in touching distance. OK, so the next
question is more of a technical side.

I think the core of the question was about
how to grade situations, but I'm trying to

read that out, I think something is lost
in the translation. I hope you see what

that means, but take it in good-meant
spirit. How do you define a maritime

emergency / ship wreckage? Do
you already take action for a dinghy with

a working motor and rescue them? Or is it
only about situations where people's lives

is crucially endangered? Is there some
guideline that you can...

Oh!
L: Great.

Herald: What's happened, Toto? Yes.
H: He was asking a question...

L: If this is our Internet, now
we can just sit here.

H: No, I think it's not our Internet, I think
it's just the audio signal.

Herald: I just saw the chat explode,
with all the technical stuff.

Herald: I have so many good questions I
would like to ask, but yeah,

technicalities are the great dictator and
we are allowed to go four minutes over,

right Toto? I'm preparing to go four minutes
over. When will we ever be back?

Give me a go and then I start.

So second question, so maybe something
is lost in the translation,

but take it in a good
spirit. This is about technicalities. How

do you define a maritime emergency/ship
wreckage? Do you already take action for a

dinghy with a working motor and rescue
them? Or is it only about situations where

people's life is crucially endangered?
H: As soon as you enter the central

Mediterranean Sea and try to make it from
e.g. Libya to Italy with a dinghy, with a

small engine, even if it's working, it's a
distress case.

Herald: Yeah, OK.
L: Yeah. And to be honest, it's not only

if the engine is broken down or there's
already water coming in, but those

dinghies are normally super crowded. And
you never know about the weather coming up

because me personally, I always have this
idea of the beautiful central

Mediterranean Sea with nice weather, no
waves at all. But that's definitely not

the case. So, um, yeah, I think it's not
always about this super dramatic scenes,

but as Hanah said, as soon as you enter
those boats, this is not a good idea.

Herald: And and it's quite a distance and
it would take several days to get there

right? So it is it is not a pleasure
cruise or something.

L: No, I would not say so, not in general.
Herald: OK, next question. Is the crew

also trying to overcome hierarchies on
board, are they trying to find structures

that work without classical captains etc.?
L & H: Yes.

Herald: And, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
H: So there is, there is a legal side of

the things. And so when the ship is on the
sea and when it's operating, the person

who is responsible is always the captain.
So the person who's facing all the legal

consequences are those in powerful
positions. And this is something that we

have to keep in mind. But for all
decisions that are made on the ship, it's

not up to the captain or the leader who's
the coordination on the mission or to the

few powerful positions we have, the
decisions get made by all, and we are

trying to keep it as flat as possible. And
of course, everyone's allowed also to say

his or her opinion and it's going to be
acknowledged.

L: But we have to be honest about that, we
have to challenge ourselves to make this

running, to work with this flat hierarchy.
Yeah, we are on it, we are far from

perfect, but we are trying to improve
ourselves every day.

Herald: Good. OK, the nice people of the
signal angel crowd have written me down

another question. Has there been other
attempts to sabotage your work except the

legal challenges of the ship license,
maybe attempts to distract you from

complicated work, maybe even algorithmic
driven behavior recognition or something?

This is more of a technical question.
H: I think I didn't really get the

question. But to be honest, this legal
side of things is quite effective. So

there was once the question of we can't
just leave as a pirate ship without a

flag. And if we do so and that's an
invitation for all armed forces to enter

our ship. And this is quite effective. And
I think the main problem is with all kinds

of repression. And that's how police also
works and is that it is not just trying to

block you or to sanction you, but it's
also about destroying structures. And this

is what we have to work on and all the
structures we are organizing to not let

them destroy our networks, our
connections, our relations and everything

else.
Herald: OK, so this legal action works

really, really well. So the idea of I've
given some context for this. Do you think

that you're constantly surveyed by others
so that they can throw sticks into the

spinning wheels?
L: We definitely have to keep this in mind

all the time. We would not talk about very
sensitive stuff or we are trying very hard

to protect our data. But we are not sure
about this, but we have to keep this in

mind. I'll be keeping this in mind.
Herald: And that's another question about

the hierarchy on board. More specifically
what decision making processes do you use

on board? Do you want to give us some
insight on that?

H: Yes, of course. We do, we are organized
with a small crew, like a core crew, who's

coordinating and is also kind of decision
making. This is sometimes a problem, but

the ship always works independently of
it's core crew. And the crew who is

involved is organizing themselves so they
can have a very structured day, like every

day morning meetings or try to find other
ways to at the moment, the situation with

the current crew is that we have our
construction sites that we are working on,

but everyone is free to organize
themselves. If they want to work up to 11

in the evening, they're more than welcome.
But we will stop them at some point

because we don't want, we have an anti burn
out policy. So then they also have to start

later. So, no, we don't really have a
plan, but we are trying to give the

communication to those or the organization
to those who are doing it. That means the

ship organizes itself and the core crew
is trying to to take care of all the

organizational side of the things. That
means caring about money, about

registration, the legal aspects. But at
least we are always giving a big part of

our responsibilities that we have as a
core crew at the moment. And they wanted me

a part of the core crew. And the ship crew
is doing their own organization together

with us. So, yeah.
Herald: Yeah. For information for the

studio, I'm planning to go four minutes
over and I'm already one over. So there's

room for two more questions. After having
rescued people do you social distance them

because of their unknown health status.
This is a Corona related one.

L: Yeah. Lovely. I'm so happy to talk
about this.

Herald: Aren't we all.
L: Yeah, great. Finally. So after the

rescue we try to wear masks and to hand
over masks to our guests and for sure the

guests, they had to, it was mandatory for
them to quarantine when they came on land

in Italy. And we tried to make everything
possible to keep the guests healthy, like

protecting them from our possible
infection, but also trying to protect the

crew from getting infected. So this is a
small boat. We have to be realistic. It's

not possible to social distance like two
meters like there is no way. But we do

everything possible to protect us and
other people.

H: And I think we have to add to this,
that this corona thing is used from the

authorities to stop us because they say
it's not possible on some NGO ships to

keep the social distance, to ban [us]. And
to be honest, when you look at the

situation on the Mediterranean Sea, when
you have a question about drowning or

spreading Corona, I would prefer spreading
Corona. Yeah.

L: So we we think Corona should not be an
excuse to close harbors or to block ships

because as you all know treat first what
kills first and drowning kills you first.

And Corona is quite a bad thing and very
serious, but it should not be an excuse to

close our borders.
Herald: And follow up on that. You said in

your talk that the Louise Michel is a safe
space. Do you advertise or announce this

in any way when you rescue somebody? Do
you have a standard procedure where you

say, listen, this is a little bit
different as other ships or something like

that? Or how do you approach those you are
rescuing and inform them about that? I

think it's not the first step. But how do
you do this kind of information?

H: I would just say first that we are not
a safe space, but we are trying to get as

close as possible. And the rest I have to
hand over to Leona.

L: We are definitely talking to our guests
about this, telling them that we are

living very close on a very small space
and that this is a safe space. So there's

no place for racism or any kind of
discrimination, weapons, drugs whatsoever.

So this is definitely a topic and it works
at least what I experience, It's it wasn't

a problem at all. So there was a huge
respect from the people on the move and

from the crew among each other. That was
great to see.

Herald: So our time is up. Thank you so
much for coming to us live from the boat

Louise Michel. It was a pleasure. And now
it is my great pleasure to hand over to

the Herald news show, which will be live
from Bielefeld Heideblümchen. And, see you

in the next talk. Bye.
L: Thank you. Bye.

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