The Civil Fleet Podcast

In this episode, we speak with Esmé , an activist and chef with the Global Sumud Flotilla .    She tells us about the activist group's humanitarian mission to Gaza, and what she saw during the Israeli navy's raid on the flotilla in international waters off Greece.    She also speaks on the kidnapping of her fellow activists and the beatings they were subjected on an Israeli ship.    ---Support The...

In this episode we speak with Iftach Cohen , co-founder of Front-LEX , a nonprofit legal organisation challenging EU border violence in court.     Iftach is going to tell us about the Alaa Hamoudi case, a Syrian man who was pushed back from Greece to Turkey by the Greek Coastguards in 2020, right under the eyes of the European Border and Coastguard agency, Frontex.    He tell us how Front-LEX won...

In this episode we speak with Ame, Alegro, Mirka and Ruben about No Name Kitchen 's solidarity activism with people on the move in Bulgaria.  They tell us about the abuses people on the move face inside the country, the terrible conditions of its migrant detention centres, and how the border guards allowed three Egyptian boys to freeze to death in December 2024.  ---Support The Civil Fleet Podcast...

In this episode, we speak with  Frey Lindsay, a journalist with the transparency and civil liberties organisation Statewatch .    He tells us how the so-called Libyan Coastguard is far from a unified organisation but is, in fact, an amalgamation of groups with different structures and vying allegiances.  Frey also tells us about a leaked EU document, obtained by Statewatch recently, that proposes...

In this episode, we speak with Mustafa, Bairbre and Louise about the treatment of Sudanese refugees in Greece.    Mustafa tells us about the revolution and ongoing proxy war in Sudan. He'll also tell us why he had to flee the country, and the Kafkaesque situation he found himself in after seeking asylum in Greece.    Louise and Bairbre tell us more about the situation for people on the move in Gre...

In this episode, we speak with  Juan Matias Gil , a search-and-rescue representative for Doctors Without Borders ( MSF ).   He tells us how the Italian government made it impossible for the medical charity to use its Geo Barents rescue ship, and about the Oyvon — MSF's new, smaller, faster rescue vessel.    He also tells us about the first rescue mission aboard the Oyvon. ---Support---   ko-fi.com...

In this episode, we speak with Diane Taylor , a journalist at the Guardian newspaper, about Britain's "one-in-one-out" deal with France, and about the British government's new, even harsher asylum-seeker policies.    Diane also tells us about the refugees she spoke to in France recently after they were deported from Britain, and about a group of asylum-seekers who went on hunger strike in protest...

In this episode, we speak with Peter from The Channel Monitoring Project.     He tells how the new project plans to monitor people crossing over from France to England, how the group hopes to counter the toxicity around this in Britain, and how anyone can get involved.    ---Get in touch---   Twitter: @ FleetCivil   Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social   Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social   Ins...

In this episode, we speak with Lorenzo D'Agostino , a journalist who took part the Global Sumud Flotilla 's civilian-led mission to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.    He tells us about joining sailing from Barcelona towards Gaza, how its boats came under repeated drone attacks, and how the activists were eventually intercepted and kidnapped by the Israeli Navy.    Lorenzo tells us how, once in I...

In this episode, we speak with Patrick , a search and rescue worker on SOS Mediteranee 's ship the Ocean Viking .  Patrick is going to tell us about the Libyan Coastguard's attack on the Ocean Viking in August this year.  The tells us how the EU-funded Libyan Coastguards circled the ship and peppered it with bullets at head and chest height. There were 80 rescued people on the ship, including unac...

In this episode, we speak with human rights campaigner and Refugees in Libya co-founder David Yambio .    He gives us an update on Refugees in Libya's Unfair campaign, which demands the UNHCR change the way it treats people in need of its protection.    He tells us about the Book of Shame — which he and his fellow Refugees in Libya campaigners co-wrote with members of Refugees in Tunisia and Refug...

In this episode we speak with Aleksandra from Grupa Granica , a refugee support coalition working at the Poland-Belarus border, and Ola , a member Szpila , an anti-repression feminist collective based in Warsaw.    They are going to tell us about the trial of a man called  Bartek , who, in October 2024, provided humanitarian assistance to a young Somali man who wanted to apply for asylum in Poland...

We speak with Manon and Camille, two activists with F.Lotta - a horizon network organising protests across Europe this weekend and the central Mediterranean, demanding free movement for all and an end to fortress Europe's murderous policies.    Camille and Manon tell us how and why F.Lotta was formed, about all the different campaigns taking part in the continent-wide protests, and how they hope t...

In this episode, we speak with Jeff Crisp , formerly of the UN refugee agency ( UNHCR ) and now part of the campaign group United Against Inhumanity (UAI).    He tells us how and why UAI was set up, how it is trying to get European governments to treat people-on-the-move humanely, and about the organisation's recently published manifesto: Stop the Inhumanity at Europe's Borders .    We also discus...

In this episode, we speak with Lucille , operation communications manager for SOS Mediterranee .    She tells us how the Ocean Viking's crew found 25 people adrift in the Mediterranean Sea by chance in March 2024. The survivors told Lucille that they had left Libya five or six days ago with around 60 people. Most of them didn't survive.    A serious incident report published quietly by Frontex in...

We speak with Silvia from the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants , or PICUM .   She tells us about a report she wrote for PICUM on the criminalisation and non-judicial harassment of people-on-the-move and activists working in solidarity with them in Europe last year.    ---Get in touch---   Twitter: @ FleetCivil   Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social   Bluesky: @thec...

In this episode, migrants rights campaigner Zoe Gardner tells us why the UK Home Office should be dismantled.    In a report she recently wrote for the Green Party, Zoe says the controversial department should be split up into two new ministries.    We talk about the Home Office's acts of cruelty to migrants, refugees and people on the move, and how government policy of housing asylum seekers in u...

In this episode, we speak with academic Cetta and foreign policy analyst Daniel about the Malta Migration Archive .    We discuss the Maltese government's refusal to save refugee lives in its own search-and-rescue zone, how it ignores civilian rescue ships, pressurises commercial ships to not rescue refugees, and how it organises pushbacks with the so-called Libyan coastguards.    Cetta and Daniel...

In this episode, we speak with medical doctors Hannah and James about their latest missions on the Nadir , a sailing boat operated by ResQship .   Hannah tells us about a rescue in May, when the crew found a boat carrying over 60 people, including two dead children. The people they rescued had been at sea for four days with no water.    James tells us about the Nadir's last rescue in June. After b...

In this episode, Sea-Watch 's search-and-rescue coordinator Hendrik tells us about the rescue of 32 people stranded on a gas rig in central Mediterranean in March.   ---Get in touch---   Twitter: @ FleetCivil   Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social   Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social   Instagram: thecivilfleet   info@civilfleet.com   civilfleet.com --- Show notes ---   For more on Sea-Watch, vi...

In this episode, we speak with Arturo , captain of the refugee rescue ship Seapunk I.    He's going to tell us all about the  Seapunks activist group and its connection with punk rock music. He also tells us about a dramatic rescue mission in the Mediterranean Sea in January, in which several people died.    We also discuss how the Italian authorities force NGO ships to take the refugees to distan...

In this episode, we speak with Yasha Maccanico a researcher and journalist at StateWatch , a UK-based charity focused on civil liberties, human rights and democracy in Europe.    We talk about a proposed EU law that could make it easier for states to criminalise acts of solidarity with people on the move.   Yasha also talks to us about abuses of state power in Europe under the guise of lowering im...

In this episode, we speak with Michaël Neuman from Doctors' Without Borders ( MSF ).   He tells us about the charity's work in Syria, and how the fall of Bashar Assad's regime could affect this.    We also discuss MSF's work in Gaza, Israel's ongoing genocide against the Palestinians and the fact that, unlike most conflicts, the people there have no escape.   Michaël also tells us why MSF decided...

In this episode, we speak with  Katja and Matthias , co-founders of the refugee rescue group CompassCollective .      They tell us how they operate their rescue ship, the Trotamar III, to document human rights violations and save lives in the central Mediterranean.      They also tell us about the recent rescue of an 11-year-old-girl they found by chance floating alone at sea for 2 or 3 days.     ...

In this episode, we speak with Paul Wagner, the media officer for Sea-Watch 's airborne operations.    He tells us about the rescue organisation's reconnaissance missions over the central Mediterranean, the push and pullbacks they have witnessed at sea, and how the EU has refugee blood on its hands.    He also tell us about the various ways the Italian government has tried to stop them from carryi...