No Land in Sight: Ten Years of Civil Sea Rescue in the Mediterranean

Ten years ago, a small, 100-year-old fishing boat chugged along the Southern Europe coast, heading south-southeast. The MS Sea-Watch was supposed to come to the aid of shipwrecked people fleeing across the central Mediterranean and thus force the EU to prevent them from dying en masse. Many considered the undertaking crazy.

A decade later, Sea-Watch e.V. is the largest civilian sea rescue organization, with two ships, two aircraft, and an impressive track record of well over 40,000 people rescued. A whole armada of other ships and organizations complements the “No Borders Navy”. Nevertheless, the mass deaths continue, and European governments are bending their norms and values beyond recognition in order to intercept refugees before they reach their shores and prevent rescue operations.

Time for a look back and some reflection. The new book Kein Land in Sicht – 10 Jahre zivile Seenotrettung im Mittelmeer (“No Land in Sight: Ten Years of Civil Sea Rescue in the Mediterranean”) writes history and stories of flight and escape to Europe, of highly symbolic rescue ships, their missions, and their criminalization. Author Chris Grodotzki, himself a long-time sea rescue activist, discusses questions about the politics and philosophy of sea rescue with shipmates, reflects on moments of resistance, and concludes by letting some of the movement’s leading figures ponder its future prospects.

The evening is intended to be more than a book launch — it is an evening to come together and look back on a decade of ideological piracy at the epicentre of the European border regime.

Moderator: Luna Ali, German-Syrian writer

There will be interpretation into English.

Kein Land in Sicht – 10 Jahre zivile Seenotrettung im Mittelmeer is published by Mandelbaum Verlag.