Banksy Sponsored Rescue Boat To Help Refugees Crossing The Mediterranean
Banksy, who is an anonymous England-based street artist and political activist, has been touching on the topic of the migrant crisis with his works for quite a while now. Recently, he/she (or they?) went one step further by funding the Louise Michel rescue boat to help refugees make it safely to Europe.
The ship is aimed to help those traversing from North Africa to Europe. Louise Michel is painted in a bright pink color and has Banksy’s artwork on it depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy.
This independent high-speed lifeboat was named after the 19th-century French feminist anarchist Louise Michel
Image credits: mvlouisemichel
Apparently, back in September 2019, Banksy sent a message to the captain of a number of NGO boats, Pia Klemp, because he wanted to help. “Hello Pia, I’ve read about your story in the papers. You sound like a badass,” Banksy’s letter read. “I am an artist from the UK and I’ve made some work about the migrant crisis, obviously I can’t keep the money. Could you use it to buy a new boat or something? Please let me know. Well done. Banksy.”
At first, Klemp thought that this letter was just a joke
Image credits: mvlouisemichel
The artist’s involvement is not hands-on: Banksy’s financially backing everything that the team is doing without being active in the operations, run by a 10-person crew of European activists. “Banksy won’t pretend that he knows better than us how to run a ship, and we won’t pretend to be artists,” Pia Klemp told The Guardian.
“Measuring 30 meters in length and capable of over 28 knots, she was bought with proceeds from the sale of Banksy artwork—who then decorated her with a fire extinguisher”
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“The Louise Michel is a former French Navy boat we’ve customised to perform search and rescue. She is as agile as she is pink. Measuring 30 meters in length and capable of over 28 knots, she was bought with proceeds from the sale of Banksy artwork—who then decorated her with a fire extinguisher. She is captained and crewed by a team of rescue professionals drawn from across Europe. She runs on a flat hierarchy and a vegan diet,” reads the official website of the Louise Michel rescue boat.
The Louise Michel left the Spanish port of Burrinia in secret on August 18th
Image credits: MVLouiseMichel
“To uphold maritime law and rescue anyone in peril without prejudice,” the team describes their mission on the website. “We onboard the Louise Michel believe we are all individuals, nationality should not make a difference to what rights one has and how we treat each other. We answer the SOS call of all those in distress, not just to save their souls—but our own.”
Image credits: seawatch_intl
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 100,000 migrants tried to cross the Mediterranean last year from North Africa with more than 1,200 dying in the attempt
Image credits: MVLouiseMichel
Turns out, the whole planning of the mission happened in secrecy between London, Berlin, and Burriana. The crew didn’t want media attention to compromise their goals because it could have lead to European authorities attempting to thwart the mission. For this reason, the team agreed to release the news about the boat only after carrying out the first rescue.
As of now, the crew has rescued approximately 350 people
Image credits: MVLouiseMichel
Apparently, a few days ago, the Louise Michel sent a distress call saying it was overloaded with migrants. Because of that, several of the most vulnerable ones were picked up by the Italian coast guard and the rest were transferred onto another vessel. “#LouiseMichel no longer has guests onboard, but the struggle of the survivors is not over,” the Louise Michel team wrote on their Twitter.
Image credits: MVLouiseMichel
Some people were praising this idea
While others had quite different opinions
7Kviews
Share on FacebookThey are rescued in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and instead of returning to where they left from (poor countries in Africa, not at war) they are taken to Europe creating a problem because nobody wants to land them... thus encouraging illegal human trafficking...
nobody wants in Europe (except for the left party in Italy, for business of course!!!) in fact they ALL land in Italy, even during this pandemic (also they run away from quarantine). And the others European country bounce them at the border (even those country which are the cause of this immigration)
Load More Replies...99% of those ppl on the boat DONT come from coutry with war, (the ones who comes from war are WELCOME) they come from Tunisia for the most (do you know that they pay 10000+ euros for come here to the trafficants) so not only they dont come from war for the most, but they are not even poor, the real poor ppl cant afford that trip, also our force have ALWAYS rescue all the ppl in the mediterrean even out of our waters, so nobody needs this branded boat (except bansky of course)
Load More Replies...This will put more migrants at risk, as they will attempt crossing and either get into real of feigned distress in the hope of getting picked up by a ship like this and getting preferential treatment with the migration process into a country not already swamped with migrants.
People scaping from war and no future will try to cross anyway. Always.
Load More Replies...do Bansky know that they are sponsoring a kind of mafia, see by yourself this video of frontex..........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJl_iLWSmtA and know what frontex discover about this busisness......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7OsRz4Ubeg
Banksy does not care, too busy virtue signalling + not living with the consequences of bringing such large numbers of unskilled economic migrants into our countries after G. Soros' NGOs have coached them how to tell fake refugee sob stories (yes evidence: Ariel Ricker of Advocates Abroad admitted to George Llewellyn in film "Borderless", filmed secretly, that she coaches migrants to lie + act to get past border staff in Europe, FACT).
Load More Replies...Here, Banksy, however, should take them to the United Kingdom instead of landing them in Italy. Maybe he doesn't do it because they would immediately sink his ship?
UK would rather Banksy left the UK completely to live among these lovely people + he pay to keep them, instead of us paying.
Load More Replies...And let's not forget that for the most part they are not "saved" in the middle of the Mediterranean, but just off the coast of Libya, from where they call their "saviors" with satellite phones. Moreover, for the most part they are not refugees but economic migrants who have no title to be welcomed in Europe, so almost all of them remain in Italy to be supported by the state or to work illegally for little money or to commit crimes. Nice, isn't it?
WHAT about spending your huge money for build school, wells, hospital, finance projects to ensure that they can work, and live in their country?? instead of buying a boat and put your BRAND on it to have free advertisment?? wake up people!!!
True. But that's what politics and industry have to do but infact they do, well, nothing. Because it would decrease their sales and the amount of cheap workers and the possibilities to sell cheap goods that ruin the domestic markets in those countries. All we can do is vote, sign petitions and help with what you're able to do. Show some humanity folks!
Load More Replies...Reading all these negative comments makes me wonder if any of you ever talked to a refugee or researched closer on that topic. And I'm not just talking about the people fleeing from war. Just think what you would do if you lived in a country with no perspectives, with no chances to earn money to support your families. Not helping them is not an option because they will flee anyway. Always keep in mind - they flee from economical circumstances our rich countries have often caused. And yes it's sad but true, they will mostly not have the best lives in Europe. But still it offers them a chance to financially support their families. And they don't leave the women and kids behind as some of you wrote. They don't want them to take this immense risk and see it as their duty to be the one leaving. And they know it's not a glorious paradise that awaits them in Europe. Still it's often the only chance to provide the families with money.
Just an example. I often work late when I'm at the office. So I get to meet all the helping hands that clean the rooms in the evening. Most of them came from Africa, Asia or East Europe. So I get to know many people with interesting backgrounds. Albert is one of them. He came from Africa as a refugee four years ago. He is divorced but has five children age 5 to 18 he supports. He wants them to have a better life than he did. Have chances of education. He's always so proud of his eldest daughter who's studying to become a teacher. He often shows me the latest pictures of his kids and tells me how they are. If you asked Albert, he would take this risk again and again because it's his only chance to financially support his kids. So unless our countries don't stop ruining foreign economies and taking advantage of their people as cheap workers, there will always be people fleeing. No matter what risks they have to take. So keeping them from drowning is the least thing we can do.
Load More Replies...My heart breaks for genuine refugees fleeing war ravaged countries and YES we should do all we can to help. But many of these people leaving France (a safe EU country) are young men who are financial migrants. They come to work the black market economy and know nothing will happen to them. The UK is a very small island, we are bursting at the seams with an overstretched infrastructure/nhs/school/housing etc. We have to differentiate and help the needy.
I really don't care what kind of response I get from this comment. Save the women and children. This doesn't mean men don't matter, but look at how many men there are, and how many women and children there are. Send most of the men back.
In Spain at least (and that's Europe) far less of 1% of inmigration come by the mediterranian see. They come by plane from america.
Really? Honestly? So the many that we have seen for years crossing from Ceuta + scaling the fences, throwing bags of excrement at you border police, etc., they make up only ONE PER CENT of the immigration in Spain? Hard to believe when we've seen so much footage. So where do they go? Undocumented in Spain or leave immediately for other EU countries or UK? Genuinely interested to know.
Load More Replies...They will all end up in England as refugees wanting the big handouts they do not get in Europe. Refugees? not funny any more.
Why bother looking for safe places? They are only interested in Britain with it's Free Bank
very dissapointed from people in this site. we are all immigrants. no borders, no nations. western world, we, are responsible for wars and poverty in their home.
Yeah, we are all so wicked. We are all slave owners, our grandparents + parents never worked their ars*s off to build our nations so we should just hand our heritage away from our kids + over to illiterate, freebie demanding people who are 95% ECONOMIC MIGRANTS! No borders allowed terrorists into Europe + the Bataclan mass murderer to escape from France to Belgium + hide in his vast community for months (Abdeslam). No nations? What the hell is wrong with you? Don't tell anyone there are no nations, that's an insult! I have two nations' blood coursing through my veins, love my country, love my language, our heritage of literature, art, our laws though sadly, living in London, our safety has been vastly eroded but that is true of much of the UK. I wonder why...?
Load More Replies...Many comments make me sick. It doesn't matter if they are war refugees or migrants, or what's their nationality; they're HUMAN BEINGS, ffs! FIRST you rescue them, THEN you evaluate the situation and decide who can stay in Europe and who instead can, should or must be repatriated.
you CANT repatriated cause, and this is the paradox, they DONT want their ppl back. you must to negatiate with their country (whit billion of euros, for example EU give to turkey 6 billion euros for stop immigration, they did only cause turkey ppl want to go in germany for the most, so germany stop them whit money of ALL european country) but in fact, once they land, they stay here FOREVER, they just say, im underage with no paper... or i am gay... et voila. they will stay forever, even if they are 30 yo straight man, also is with this "immigration" is the first incoming for terrorist, cause they must to pay up to 10000 for cross mediterrean, so no refugee, no poor...
Load More Replies...Well done to everybody involved in the rescue missions. Having volunteered with refugees i can tell you there is nothing more heartbreaking than having young children tell you how their lives were, of the inconsolable saddness they have witnessed, the loss of their innocence or even having to leave their pets behind. It may just be numbers on the news to some of you but these are human beings. Still at least the weapons manufacturers and politicians can console their rotting souls safely in the knowledge they wont ever have to look them in the face and say sorry. No human is illegal
Thank you Banksy for being a truly decent human being in all of your endeavours.
Yes... Thank you banksy!! i´m shocked at how ppl can believe to his pure heart!! its marketing folks!! why he put his brand all over? meanwhile people like Bill Gates for ex. that invest his money in really useful projects (like purify water for who dont have clear water there) and help african continent with a lot of projects is always covered with s**t.. weeeird world
Load More Replies...How the f**k are people so cruel? I bet many of your ancestors came from war torn lands, or lands with ruined governments and economic conditions. I love Bansky because he has a heart.
Aubrie, I don't know why you are getting downvoted for trying to show compassion. There are a lot of trolls on this site lately that can't fathom what is like to walk in another person's shoes. I feel that many people are scared of "otherness" and believed that accepting refugees will ruin their way of living and create social and political upheaval. I understand that the refugee problem is not a simple one to resolve and that there are so many multifaceted issues that need to be taken into account. However, I just wish that some people would be more open-minded before they say that refugees are nothing but a burden and a plight. Many of these people are fleeing unspeakable trauma and have witnessed things that I can't even imagine like seeing their families killed in bombings. Many of them only wish for a better life for their families and children.
Load More Replies...No one came to help for days. Burning sun, no shelter, no water, one man died because of the circumstances. Just cruel and disgusting to just refuse the simplest amounts of help.
Load More Replies...They are rescued in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and instead of returning to where they left from (poor countries in Africa, not at war) they are taken to Europe creating a problem because nobody wants to land them... thus encouraging illegal human trafficking...
nobody wants in Europe (except for the left party in Italy, for business of course!!!) in fact they ALL land in Italy, even during this pandemic (also they run away from quarantine). And the others European country bounce them at the border (even those country which are the cause of this immigration)
Load More Replies...99% of those ppl on the boat DONT come from coutry with war, (the ones who comes from war are WELCOME) they come from Tunisia for the most (do you know that they pay 10000+ euros for come here to the trafficants) so not only they dont come from war for the most, but they are not even poor, the real poor ppl cant afford that trip, also our force have ALWAYS rescue all the ppl in the mediterrean even out of our waters, so nobody needs this branded boat (except bansky of course)
Load More Replies...This will put more migrants at risk, as they will attempt crossing and either get into real of feigned distress in the hope of getting picked up by a ship like this and getting preferential treatment with the migration process into a country not already swamped with migrants.
People scaping from war and no future will try to cross anyway. Always.
Load More Replies...do Bansky know that they are sponsoring a kind of mafia, see by yourself this video of frontex..........https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJl_iLWSmtA and know what frontex discover about this busisness......https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7OsRz4Ubeg
Banksy does not care, too busy virtue signalling + not living with the consequences of bringing such large numbers of unskilled economic migrants into our countries after G. Soros' NGOs have coached them how to tell fake refugee sob stories (yes evidence: Ariel Ricker of Advocates Abroad admitted to George Llewellyn in film "Borderless", filmed secretly, that she coaches migrants to lie + act to get past border staff in Europe, FACT).
Load More Replies...Here, Banksy, however, should take them to the United Kingdom instead of landing them in Italy. Maybe he doesn't do it because they would immediately sink his ship?
UK would rather Banksy left the UK completely to live among these lovely people + he pay to keep them, instead of us paying.
Load More Replies...And let's not forget that for the most part they are not "saved" in the middle of the Mediterranean, but just off the coast of Libya, from where they call their "saviors" with satellite phones. Moreover, for the most part they are not refugees but economic migrants who have no title to be welcomed in Europe, so almost all of them remain in Italy to be supported by the state or to work illegally for little money or to commit crimes. Nice, isn't it?
WHAT about spending your huge money for build school, wells, hospital, finance projects to ensure that they can work, and live in their country?? instead of buying a boat and put your BRAND on it to have free advertisment?? wake up people!!!
True. But that's what politics and industry have to do but infact they do, well, nothing. Because it would decrease their sales and the amount of cheap workers and the possibilities to sell cheap goods that ruin the domestic markets in those countries. All we can do is vote, sign petitions and help with what you're able to do. Show some humanity folks!
Load More Replies...Reading all these negative comments makes me wonder if any of you ever talked to a refugee or researched closer on that topic. And I'm not just talking about the people fleeing from war. Just think what you would do if you lived in a country with no perspectives, with no chances to earn money to support your families. Not helping them is not an option because they will flee anyway. Always keep in mind - they flee from economical circumstances our rich countries have often caused. And yes it's sad but true, they will mostly not have the best lives in Europe. But still it offers them a chance to financially support their families. And they don't leave the women and kids behind as some of you wrote. They don't want them to take this immense risk and see it as their duty to be the one leaving. And they know it's not a glorious paradise that awaits them in Europe. Still it's often the only chance to provide the families with money.
Just an example. I often work late when I'm at the office. So I get to meet all the helping hands that clean the rooms in the evening. Most of them came from Africa, Asia or East Europe. So I get to know many people with interesting backgrounds. Albert is one of them. He came from Africa as a refugee four years ago. He is divorced but has five children age 5 to 18 he supports. He wants them to have a better life than he did. Have chances of education. He's always so proud of his eldest daughter who's studying to become a teacher. He often shows me the latest pictures of his kids and tells me how they are. If you asked Albert, he would take this risk again and again because it's his only chance to financially support his kids. So unless our countries don't stop ruining foreign economies and taking advantage of their people as cheap workers, there will always be people fleeing. No matter what risks they have to take. So keeping them from drowning is the least thing we can do.
Load More Replies...My heart breaks for genuine refugees fleeing war ravaged countries and YES we should do all we can to help. But many of these people leaving France (a safe EU country) are young men who are financial migrants. They come to work the black market economy and know nothing will happen to them. The UK is a very small island, we are bursting at the seams with an overstretched infrastructure/nhs/school/housing etc. We have to differentiate and help the needy.
I really don't care what kind of response I get from this comment. Save the women and children. This doesn't mean men don't matter, but look at how many men there are, and how many women and children there are. Send most of the men back.
In Spain at least (and that's Europe) far less of 1% of inmigration come by the mediterranian see. They come by plane from america.
Really? Honestly? So the many that we have seen for years crossing from Ceuta + scaling the fences, throwing bags of excrement at you border police, etc., they make up only ONE PER CENT of the immigration in Spain? Hard to believe when we've seen so much footage. So where do they go? Undocumented in Spain or leave immediately for other EU countries or UK? Genuinely interested to know.
Load More Replies...They will all end up in England as refugees wanting the big handouts they do not get in Europe. Refugees? not funny any more.
Why bother looking for safe places? They are only interested in Britain with it's Free Bank
very dissapointed from people in this site. we are all immigrants. no borders, no nations. western world, we, are responsible for wars and poverty in their home.
Yeah, we are all so wicked. We are all slave owners, our grandparents + parents never worked their ars*s off to build our nations so we should just hand our heritage away from our kids + over to illiterate, freebie demanding people who are 95% ECONOMIC MIGRANTS! No borders allowed terrorists into Europe + the Bataclan mass murderer to escape from France to Belgium + hide in his vast community for months (Abdeslam). No nations? What the hell is wrong with you? Don't tell anyone there are no nations, that's an insult! I have two nations' blood coursing through my veins, love my country, love my language, our heritage of literature, art, our laws though sadly, living in London, our safety has been vastly eroded but that is true of much of the UK. I wonder why...?
Load More Replies...Many comments make me sick. It doesn't matter if they are war refugees or migrants, or what's their nationality; they're HUMAN BEINGS, ffs! FIRST you rescue them, THEN you evaluate the situation and decide who can stay in Europe and who instead can, should or must be repatriated.
you CANT repatriated cause, and this is the paradox, they DONT want their ppl back. you must to negatiate with their country (whit billion of euros, for example EU give to turkey 6 billion euros for stop immigration, they did only cause turkey ppl want to go in germany for the most, so germany stop them whit money of ALL european country) but in fact, once they land, they stay here FOREVER, they just say, im underage with no paper... or i am gay... et voila. they will stay forever, even if they are 30 yo straight man, also is with this "immigration" is the first incoming for terrorist, cause they must to pay up to 10000 for cross mediterrean, so no refugee, no poor...
Load More Replies...Well done to everybody involved in the rescue missions. Having volunteered with refugees i can tell you there is nothing more heartbreaking than having young children tell you how their lives were, of the inconsolable saddness they have witnessed, the loss of their innocence or even having to leave their pets behind. It may just be numbers on the news to some of you but these are human beings. Still at least the weapons manufacturers and politicians can console their rotting souls safely in the knowledge they wont ever have to look them in the face and say sorry. No human is illegal
Thank you Banksy for being a truly decent human being in all of your endeavours.
Yes... Thank you banksy!! i´m shocked at how ppl can believe to his pure heart!! its marketing folks!! why he put his brand all over? meanwhile people like Bill Gates for ex. that invest his money in really useful projects (like purify water for who dont have clear water there) and help african continent with a lot of projects is always covered with s**t.. weeeird world
Load More Replies...How the f**k are people so cruel? I bet many of your ancestors came from war torn lands, or lands with ruined governments and economic conditions. I love Bansky because he has a heart.
Aubrie, I don't know why you are getting downvoted for trying to show compassion. There are a lot of trolls on this site lately that can't fathom what is like to walk in another person's shoes. I feel that many people are scared of "otherness" and believed that accepting refugees will ruin their way of living and create social and political upheaval. I understand that the refugee problem is not a simple one to resolve and that there are so many multifaceted issues that need to be taken into account. However, I just wish that some people would be more open-minded before they say that refugees are nothing but a burden and a plight. Many of these people are fleeing unspeakable trauma and have witnessed things that I can't even imagine like seeing their families killed in bombings. Many of them only wish for a better life for their families and children.
Load More Replies...No one came to help for days. Burning sun, no shelter, no water, one man died because of the circumstances. Just cruel and disgusting to just refuse the simplest amounts of help.
Load More Replies...
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