The mission of the ship "Mare Ionio"

The rescue ship Mare Ionio sailed at dawn on 4 October from Augusta and set off towards the central Mediterranean Sea. It arrived in international waters and headed towards the search and rescue area off the Libyan coast. The crew number 11 and there is room for 100 people on board. The ship was being followed by two other boats with journalists on board and the vessel Astral belonging to the Spanish NGO Open Arms, which will also provide technical support. The founder of the organisation Oscar Camps is on board.

A group of NGOs including Sea-Watch and Open Arms, organisations including Ya Basta and CILD's member Arci Nazionale, and some Italian politicians (Erasmo Palazzotto, Nicola Fratoianni, Nichi Vendola, Rossella Muroni) have decided to launch themission "Mediterranea"to highlight what is happening on one of the most dangerous sea routes in the world: Libya to Italy.

Deaths at sea increase

According to the latest data from ISPI (Institute for International Political Studies), in September along this route, one in five people who set off from the Libyan coast died while more than half were intercepted by Libyan patrol boats and brought back. The Italian Government's policy of total deterrence has led to a reduction in arrivals on the Italian coast, but also to an increase in deaths and missing persons. According to the International Organization for Migration, since 2013 at least 15,000 people have died in this part of the Mediterranean.

Mediterranea will be the only rescue mission, because the vessel Aquarius belonging to SOS Méditerranée and Doctors Without Borders arrived in Marseilles and will have to stop operating after Panama withdrew its flag. At the same time, two other humanitarian ships have been blocked for months by Maltese authorities in the port of Valletta on the island. Meanwhile the Spanish ship Open Arms has moved to the Western Mediterranean on the route between Morocco and Spain.

Italian policies fuel xenophobia and racism

"Since June almost a thousand people have died in the central Mediterranean, after the Italian government closed ports to ships belonging to NGOs. This has combined with a growing climate of xenophobia and racism fuelled by increasingly inhumane policies, which is why some of us have decided to launch a ship that flies the Italian flag and gives the sense that in this country there are still some people who want to fight to save lives," said the Liberi e Uguali MP, Erasmo Palazzotto, who is on board the ship.

"In a situation that on one hand sees an endless drama in the Mediterranean Sea a few kilometres from our coasts" write the organisers of Mediterranea in a statement "and on the other hand the mystification of reality with the aggressive advance of nationalism and racism, our choice is to activate, engage concretely and act. To be where those who face enormous dangers at sea and risk their life are: for us this is the right choice today. It is the only choice for those who do not resign themselves to an Italy and a Europe made up of closed ports, intolerance and complicit indifference. For this reason we have chosen to board and follow the course of civilization.”

Moral disobedience, civil obedience

To finance the mission, some parliamentarians have asked for a loan of 465,000 euros from Banca Etica, another 140,000 euros have been collected through crowdfunding. "Mediterranea is a non-governmental action of moral disobedience and civil obedience, made up of various organisations, starting from the a core including individuals and associations such as Arci and Ya Basta Bologna, NGOs such as Sea-Watch, the online magazine I Diavoli and social enterprises such as Moltivolti of Palermo. The guarantors of the operation are Nicola Fratoianni, Rossella Muroni, Erasmo Palazzotto and Nichi Vendola", concludes the press release. "The idea was born in July, when the ports started to be closed. Then it was strengthened with the Diciotti case in August. The Italian flag should allow us to enter the Italian ports, is a legal trick to reopen the Italian ports," concludes Palazzotto.