The Mission of the MV Louise Michel

SAR for us does not mean “Search and Rescue", but “Solidarity and Resistance”. We will talk about the mission of the rescue vessel Louise Michel and why smashing borders won´t work without smashing the patriarchy - and the other way round.

This summer, a pink ship popped up on the central mediterranean sea and made headlines by rescuing hundreds out of maritime distress. We will talk about the power structures behind this situation and about the values of our mission as we understand doing sea rescue not as an humanitarian act but as field that might conquer powerful relations.

Borders are imaginary lines with a pronounced vulnerability, otherwise they would not need so many (technical) measures to protect them. But borders are more than 'only' borders of states/countries. Borders are also boundaries between humans, bodies, gender, ... or differently: they are supposed lines of distinction. Fighting these borders means we have to struggle them together and understand all of them as contested territories, contested bodies, contested spaces.

But what could that mean? And (how) do we reflect what we’re doing and how we’re acting? How aware are we ourselves about white supremacy and neo-colonialism in our work? How can we challenge our internalized sexism and racism while working in the field under constant pressure of opressing systems?