Episode 64: Pingpong pushbacks at the Poland-Belarus border
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode we speak with Ola, an activist from the Grupa Granica coalition in Poland about the situation for refugees, migrants and people-on-the-move at the country's border with Belarus. She tells us how border guards on both sides are mistreating people-on-the-move there, about the ping-pong pushbacks across the border, and how the country's Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, plans to "temporarily" ban the human right to claim asylum. Ola also tells us about Grupa Granica's work supporting people-on-the-move with food, clothes and first aid, and how the authorities have...
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Episode 63: ‘You feel like the most wanted criminal in the world’
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Denny, a young refugee from Kashmir who was forced to flee his homeland almost 9 years ago. He is going to tell us about life in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, his journey through Europe, how he was mistreated by the authorities and supported by activists. We also talk about his time living in a squat in Bosnia, and how looking after a dog helped his mental state. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: [email protected] Support: ...
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Epsode 62: The UK's mistreatment of Albanian asylum seekers and victims of human trafficking
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Lauren Starkey, a campaigner and independent social worker who works with Albanian victims of human trafficking. Lauren is going to tell us how the British government decided that Albanian men shouldn't be granted asylum in the UK, even if they are victims of human trafficking. She tells us how this approach punishes victims of human trafficking, forces them to live in destitution, and threatens to send them back to an environment they were trafficked from. And we also have an addendum at the end of the episode, in which we...
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Episode 61: Labour, immigration raids, and far-right riots
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Dan Sohege, director of the human rights advocacy organisation Stand For All. We've a new government here in the UK. So I thought it'd be a good idea to ask Dan to give us his analysis of the Labour's plans for asylum seekers. Dan tells us how Labour's plans to increase immigration raids will only make things worse for victims of trafficking. We also discuss the recent far-right riots happening across Britain and Northern Ireland, and how our media and politicians bear much of the blame for the violence. ---Get in touch--- ...
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Episode 60: Pylos Shipwreck – The Greek coastguards watched them drown
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In today's episode, we speak with Spyros, from the Free Pylos 9 campaign. He's going to tell us more about the Pylos Shipwreck, how the authorities refused to help the 750 people on the small fishing boat, and how it sank on June 14, 2023, when the Greek coastguards tried to tow it. Only 104 of the 750 people survived. Spyros also tells us about the nine survivors who were used as scapegoats for the disaster and jailed, about the campaign to free them, and how they were treated once they were acquitted. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: ...
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Episode 59: Solidarity in Bosnia (Part 2)
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we go back to the border town of Bihac, in Bosnia, to see how the solidarity network No Name Kitchen (NNK) supports People on the Move there. In Part 2 of this miniseries on Bosnia, we'll near more from NNK's volunteers in Bosnia, and also from the refugees/migrants/People on the Move who are trapped in the Balkan country. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: [email protected] Support: ---Show Notes--- For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: ...
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Episode 58: Solidarity in Bosnia (Part 1)
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In April, I went to Bihac, a small town in Bosnia near the border with Croatia, to see how the solidarity network No Name Kitchen (NNK) supports People on the Move there. In this episode, NNK's volunteers in Bihac will tell us how they provide first aid, food and clothing to the People on the Move there, and how they document border violence. We'll also talk with a few of the people trapped in Bosnia, who'll tell us about their journeys to the Balkan country, and the abuses they have faced from border guards at the edge of Fortress Europe. ---Get in touch--- ...
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Episode 57: People power vs the UK's Rwanda scheme
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode we speak with Agustina Oliveri, campaigns manager at the UK-based human rights organisation, Free from Torture. Agustina talks to us about Freedom from Tortures' brilliant campaigns against the British government's plans to exile asylum-seekers to Rwanda by targeting the airlines that are willing to do the government's dirty work. ---Get in touch--- Twitter: Mastodon: Bluesky: Instagram: [email protected] Support: ---Show Notes--- For more on Freedom from Torture, see: Check them...
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Episode 56: Free Homayoun
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode we speak with Kiana, Anne, Mahtab and Hannah from the Free Homayoun campaign. Homayoun Sabetara, a widower and father of two, fled Iran to reunite with his daughters in Germany in 2021. Mahtab is one of his daughters. Along the way, Homayoun was forced to drive a car carrying several others across the Greece-Turkey border. He was arrested in Greece, charged with human smuggling, and sentenced to 18 years behind bars at a trial conducted without interpreters. Kiana, Anne, Mahtab and Hannah tell us more about Homayoun's case, his upcoming...
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Episode 55: The Libyan Coastguards shot at us
The Civil Fleet Podcast
In this episode, we speak with Camilla from the refugee rescue organisation SOS Humanity. She tells us about the time the so-called Libyan Coastguard shot at them, disrupting a rescue operation in the central Mediterranean, and causing the death of at least one person in early March 2024. She also tells us how, after that ordeal, the Italian authorities then ordered the Humanity 1 rescue ship to sail for a port, thousands of miles away. And how, when they finally reached land, the authorities tried to detain the ship because they apparently disobeyed the...
info_outlineIn this episode we speak with Tigs Louis-Puttick, the founder of Reclaim the Sea, a UK-based organisation helping refugee women reclaim the seaside as a place of joy.
Tigs tells us about teaching refugees to swim and surf, about the UK government placing asylum seekers on a floating barge – the Bibby Stockholm – and the company which owns the barge's links to the trans-atlantic slave trade.
She also tells us how she was arrested in July 2023 during a protest outside the UK Home Office against the Illegal Migration Bill.
---Get in touch---
Twitter: @FleetCivil
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Instagram: thecivilfleet
Support:
ko-fi.com/civilfleet
---Show Notes---
Follow Reclaim the Sea on Twitter: @Reclaim_The_Sea
You can read Reclaim the Sea's report on the financial and moral cost of the Bibby Stockholm here: reclaimthesea.org.uk/atwhatcost
Read Reclaim the Sea's open letter to UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman here: bit.ly/3DTusoT
Two days before this podcast was released, the people who were being held on the Bibby Stockholm were taken off the prison barge because legionella was found in its water supply. Read about that here: bit.ly/45r3wss
For more on the Bibby Stockholm's links to the transatlantic slave trade, see this article by Corporate Watch: bit.ly/3KDwQnI
For more on Corporate Watch, check out episode 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast
This short article on the Liverpool Museum's website also looks at Bibby Marine's links to the slave trade: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/bibby-line-shipowners
For more on Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye, see episodes 1, 7, 10, 22, 23 and 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.
Check out this trailer for The Swimmers, a film Ben mentions in the podcast: bit.ly/4578xqd
For more on the UK's Police Crime and Sentencing Act, see this explanation by the human rights organisation Liberty: bit.ly/3KzJgwL
For more on the UK's Illegal Migration Bill, see episodes 38, 39 and 42 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.