This made my (poor, let's be fair, until now) day:

Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean

Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authorities

The boat, named Louise Michel, features Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life vest. Photograph: Ruben Neugebauer

Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo and Maurice Stierl in Berlin

Thu 27 Aug 2020 17.30 BST

The British street artist Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa, the Guardian can reveal.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where on Thursday it rescued 89 people in distress, including 14 women and four children.

It is now looking for a safe seaport to disembark the passengers or to transfer them to a European coastguard vessel.

The crew, made up of European activists with long experience in search and rescue operations, had already assisted in two other rescue operations involving a total of 105 people, who are now onboard the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 4.

Painted in bright pink and featuring Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy, the Louise Michel sails under a German flag. The 31-metre motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs authorities, is smaller but considerably faster than other NGO rescue vessels.

Banksy’s involvement in the rescue mission goes back to September 2019 when he sent an email to Pia Klemp, the former captain of several NGO boats that have rescued thousands of people over recent years.

The vessel set off in secrecy from the Spanish port of Burriana, near Valencia. Photograph: Ruben Neugebauer

“Hello Pia, I’ve read about your story in the papers. You sound like a badass,” he wrote. “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.”

Klemp, who initially thought it was a joke, believes she was chosen by Banksy due to her political stance. “I don’t see sea rescue as a humanitarian action, but as part of an anti-fascist fight,” she told the Guardian.

She has made clear that Banksy’s involvement in the operations is limited to providing financial support. “Banksy won’t pretend that he knows better than us how to run a ship, and we won’t pretend to be artists.”

With a top speed of 27 knots, the Louise Michel would be able to “hopefully outrun the so-called Libyan coastguard before they get to boats with refugees and migrants and pull them back to the detention camps in Libya”, said Klemp.

Pia Klemp in October 2017. Photograph: Lisa Hoffmann

Non-state sea rescuers have long criticised the mass return of migrants to Libya by the Libyan coastguard in collaboration with EU member states. International organisations have accused the Libyan coastguard of mistreating people at sea or selling them off to militias at Libyan harbours after intercepting them.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 7,600 migrants have been intercepted so far this year and returned to Libya, a war-torn country where different political factions continue to struggle for power. Often confined to informal camps, the situation for migrants in Libya is desperate, with acts of systematic torture and rape long documented by human rights organisations.

The 10 crew members of the Louise Michel have diverse backgrounds, but they all identify as anti-racist and anti-fascist activists advocating for radical political change. As it is a feminist project, only female crew members are allowed to speak in the name of the Louise Michel.

Lea Reisner, a nurse and head of mission for the first rescue operation, said the project was anarchist at its heart, meant to bring together a variety of struggles for social justice, including for women’s and LGBTIQ rights, racial equality, migrants’ rights, environmentalism and animal rights.

The planning of the mission was carried out in secrecy between London, Berlin and Burriana, where the Louise Michel had docked to be equipped for sea rescues. The crew feared that media attention could compromise their goals: if word had circulated that a project financed by Banksy would soon sail toward the central Mediterranean to rescue migrants, the European authorities could have attempted to thwart the mission. For this reason, Banksy’s team and the rescue activists agreed to release the news about the boat only after carrying out the first rescue.

The Louise Michel is the latest intervention by members of civil society seeking to prevent deaths in the Mediterranean. Other NGO rescuers have engaged in rescue activities this year but have been impeded by what they consider to be excessive and politically motivated inspections carried out by Italian authorities. Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions have also affected sea rescue activities, with NGO crews unable to return to the central Mediterranean for the last several weeks.

So far in 2020, more than 500 refugees and migrants are known to have died in the Mediterranean sea, and the real number is estimated to be considerably higher. On Wednesday, 45 people – including five children – died when the engine on their boat exploded off Libya, in the country’s deadliest shipwreck this year, the UN said. More than 19,500 migrants have survived the Mediterranean crossing along the central maritime route this year and reached Italy or Malta.

Claire Faggianelli, an activist who prepared the Louise Michel for its first mission, saw the project as a wake-up call for Europe. “We really want to try to awaken the consciousness of Europe and say: ‘Look, we have been yelling at you for years now. There is something that shouldn’t be happening at the very borders of Europe, and you close your eyes to it. Wake up!’” she said.

NEW BOOK: Narratives from Beyond the UK Reggae Bassline

 Happy to announce that, a bit more than two years ago, I was asked to contribute to this book! 

It will finally be coming out in January 2021:

Narratives from Beyond the UK Reggae Bassline -
The System is Sound

- with Palgrave in Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music

I did the chapter on Bristol, of course, Bristol reggae!  

This book explores the history of reggae in modern Britain from the time it emerged as a cultural force in the 1970s. As basslines from Jamaica reverberated across the Atlantic, so they were received and transmitted by the UK’s Afro-Caribbean community. 

• From roots to lovers’ rock, from deejays harnessing the dancehall crowd to dub poets reporting back from the socio-economic front line, British reggae soundtracked the inner-city experience of black youth. 
• In time, reggae’s influence permeated the wider culture, informing the sounds and the language of popular music whilst also retaining a connection to the street-level sound systems, clubs and centres that provided space to create, protest and innovate. 
• This book is therefore a testament to struggle and ingenuity, a collection of essays tracing reggae’s importance to both the culture and the politics of late twentieth and early twenty-first century Britain.

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Details here: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030551605

Does diversity exist in the UK folk music scene?

 

Folk Talk Live - Lady Nade & Friends

As part of English Folk Expo's Folk Talk Live event, we hosted this discussion between Lady Nade, Yola, Allison Russell and Kyshona.

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Lady Nade said: 

I recently put together a talk in connection with English Folk Expo conference. In this session with Grammy Nominated Yola, Kyshona and Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago, Our Native Daughters) I asked; “Does diversity exist in the UK folk music scene?”.

My enduring passion and love affair with music began at the tender age of 14, I recognised that creating music was borne from my desire to have a stable support system and an opportunity to honestly express myself and my personal experiences.

Learning that loss and grief isn’t something one can recover from alone with my music and recipes that I often create to pair with songs, I pride myself on creating a communal experience that everyone can enter into on their terms.

With the complicated times we’re living in, the lockdown has given many of us time for deep reflection and in light of the Black Lives Matter movement I have felt I’ve been given more of an opportunity to be heard and seen.

I hadn't always noticed any difference between myself and my musical peers. However, it became apparent as I progressed that my heritage would play a part in my artistry whether I wanted it to or not. 

Throughout my pursuit to sustain a music career I have faced many barriers: being objectified, working-class background and my accent. These have compounded the prejudices I have already faced and have made it harder to be taken seriously as an artist at times.

Encouraged by the more honest debate being sparked by the BLM protests and Blackout Tuesday.

It has opened up a direct dialogue about inequalities and systematic racism faced by black people. 

Some people have been shocked to realise what has gone on right beneath their noses. It has been brilliant to see people actively engaging in healthy debates and reflecting on the pitfalls of the current status quo.

 

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“There is no mistaking the tender, powerful, velveteen vocals of Lady Nade.”  Folk Radio 

"Love her voice - check her out’ "Mark Radcliffe - The Folk Show - BBC Radio2

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Lady Nade's social networks:

www.facebook.com/ladynade

www.instagram.com/ladynadeuk

www.twitter.com/ladynade

www.youtube.com/ladynadevideos 

https://linktr.ee/ladynade 

Brexit et double nationalité : Reportage

My last piece of reporting, in French for the German radio DW about the British exit from the EU and the rise of demands for dual citizenship (link to audio below):

DW - Brexit et double nationalité 

Pour écouter : https://www.dw.com/fr/la-rentrée-des-étudiants-étrangers-compromise-en-allemagne-boom-des-demandes-de-double-nationalité-depuis-le-brexit/av-54623114

 Au Royaume-Uni, en plus d’une gestion désordonnée du Covid-19, la pire crise économique depuis les années 1970 a commencé. Les habitants ont peu de ressources et de plus en plus de personnes diplômées envisagent de s’expatrier… D’autant plus que le phénomène est aggravé par les conséquences du Brexit. Cela pousse des dizaines de milliers de Britanniques à demander une autre nationalité, le plus souvent irlandaise, car il suffit d’avoir un grand-parent originaire de l’île pour avoir droit au passeport. Mais les citoyens européens cherchent aussi à obtenir la nationalité britannique pour s’assurer de poursuivre une vie normale en Grande-Bretagne. Une course aux doubles nationalités qui entraînent aussi de nouveaux mouvements de migration… 

Reportage de Mélissa Chemam en Angleterre. 

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Damien McManus est bibliothécaire. Il vient de Birmingham, a vécu en France, sa sœur vit en Allemagne et leurs parents sont irlandais. Il s’est donc toujours senti Européen. Nous nous retrouvons dans un café très europhile, dans une galerie d’art internationale… Selon lui, le Brexit est une punition que les Britanniques s’infligent à eux-mêmes… Et il était important pour lui de conserver un lien avec l’UE. Sa première réaction après le référendum a donc été la double nationalité…

Damien McManus : « J’ai immédiatement contacté l’ambassade irlandaise, oui, et demander un formulaire pour avoir un passeport irlandais. Mes deux parents sont irlandais, mon père est décédé alors j’ai dû apporté les documents de ma mère : certificat de naissance, de mariage, ainsi que mon certificat de naissance, un relevé de compte bancaire, une preuve d’adresse, 80 euros, et j’ai envoyé ce dossier par la poste. Deux jours avant que le Royaume-Uni ne quitte l’UE, je recevais mon passeport par courrier. C’était rassurant de savoir que j’avais une nationalité qui me permet de faire partie de l’Union européenne… Et je l’ai fait aussi pour passer ma nationalité à mes enfants. Il faut pour cela que je leur obtienne un passeport avant qu’ils aient eux-mêmes des enfants. Mais c’est aussi une question de solidarité, pour moi c’est évident… » 

D’autres, s’inquiètent surtout de la crise économique infligée par le Brexit et renforcée par la pandémie actuelle… Ils envisagent de s’installer dans un pays européen malgré le Brexit, pour s’assurer un meilleur avenir professionnel. Les procédures côté UE sont en effet bien plus accueillantes… 

Les départs ont déjà augmenté de 30% depuis 2016, passant de 56 000 par an à 74 000. Certains parlent de “brain drain”, véritable fuite des cerveaux. 

Pour Helen Oxenham, physiothérapeute britannique mariée à un Français, prendre la nationalité française était donc vital ; leurs deux filles sont sûres de devenir bi-nationales. Elles souhaite aussi pouvoir envisager un avenir en Europe si besoin. 

Helen Oxenham : « Le Brexit m’a poussé à le faire ? Je me suis rendue compte que si je voulais vivre dans un autre pays européen comme la Suède par exemple je ne pourrai plus. J’ai vécu en France pendant plusieurs années, en Martinique pendant 9 mois et à Aix-en-Provence pendant 2 ans, donc je parle français. Mais ce qui m’a vraiment décidé c’est de ne plus avoir le choix de vivre dans l’UE. Car financièrement je n’avais pas assez d’argent avant pour payer pour le passeport, donc jusque là cela m’avait retenue. J’ai fait les démarches petit à petit ? J’ai dû aller à Londres passer un test de langue, payer pour cela, et attendre car cela prend deux ans pour avoir confirmation ; et j’ai eu la réponse positive en septembre 2018. Le temps commençait à manquer… Ensuite il m’a fallu faire traduire mon certificat de naissance, payer pour cela, et rassembler d’autres papiers ; tout cela coûte aussi. Mais avec le Brexit qui arrivait fin janvier, je voulais régler cela avant. « 

Pour les Européens souhaitant rester au Royaume-Uni, la situation est souvent pire. S’ils vivent dans le pays depuis plus de 5 ans, ils peuvent demander leur « settled status », pour avoir le droit de rester, mais les conditions sont précaires. 

Joanna Booth est Grecque et Australienne ; elle vit en Angleterre depuis 24 ans ; son mari et ses enfants sont Britanniques mais elle n’a pas l’intention de prendre une 3e nationalité. Surtout que le coup est très élevé : au moins 2000 livres, plus si frais d’avocat... Cependant elle pense que le statut post-Brexit pour les Européens n’offre aucune stabilité et trouve que l’ambiance a déjà changé négativement…

Joanna Booth : « Je n’ai pas de raison de devenir britannique et je ne le ferai pas. Mais j’ai dû demandé le ‘settled status’ et je l’ai eu finalement, après deux mois. J’ai dû envoyer ma carte d’identité, les informations sur mes impôts, etc. Mais le plus ennuyeux ce sont les attitudes des gens qui ont changé, dès le lendemain du Brexit. Par exemple, des gens me regardent de travers quand je parle grec à mes enfants en public. J’ai donc arrêté de le faire pendant un temps mais quand j’ai repris les gens n’arrêtaient pas de me demander ‘d’où êtes-vous ?’ ou ‘d’où vient cette langue ?’ Et c’est vraiment ennuyeux. »

Par sécurité, sa famille envisage-t-elle de prendre sa nationalité grecque ?

Joanna Booth : « Je ne sais pas si l’on sait vraiment quelles vont être toutes les conséquences du Brexit. S’il nous faut le faire, nous le ferons. Car le Brexit m’a vraiment beaucoup stressée et j’étais prête à partir si je n’avais pas le statut. Cependant j’ai rencontré beaucoup d’Européens, des Lithuaniens, des Français, qui ne voyaient pas le danger. J’ai rencontré un Italien qui vivait ici depuis moins de 5 ans et qui ne s’inquiétait pas. Ils ne voulaient pas croire qu’on leur demanderait de partir… Mais moi je m’y suis préparée parce que même avec ce statut plus personne n’a de sécurité quant à un avenir ici. Beaucoup d’Européens qui vivent ici sont une nouvelle génération d’immigrants, ce ne sont pas de travailleurs agricoles comme mes parents, ou des balayeurs comme mon grand-père, ou des travailleurs à l’usine ; ils ont des diplômes, parfois des thèses et enseignent à l’université. Ils pensent avoir une stabilité et sécurité dans ce pays. Mais depuis le Brexit, il n’ya plus de stabilité. Mais ces travailleurs pourraient être exclus. »   

L’un des inconvénients de ce statut est qu’il ne permet plus aux Européens de passer du temps en Europe et de rentrer en GB. Pour Christophe Fricker, traducteur allemand travaillant entre plusieurs pays, il était donc urgent de devenir britannique. 

Christophe Fricker : « Ma décision a été provoquée par le Brexit, oui. Absolument. Avant je n’y pensais même pas parce qu’en tant que citoyens européens, nous avions tous les droits nécessaires. Nous n’avions pas besoin de dépenser ces sommes énormes pour avoir une autre nationalité. Mais le ‘settled status’ est une nouvelle catégorie d’immigration introduite sans raison réelle et c’est un ghetto administratif qui enferme 3 millions d’Européens vivant ici! Ils seront ensuite à la merci des gouvernements suivants pour connaître leurs droits. Je ne voulais pas être coincé ainsi et je n’aime pas la façon dont ce statut a été mis pensé. »  

Plus de 3 millions d’Européens ont déjà demandé ou obtenu ce statut mais l’avenir étant chaque mois plus incertains, des centaines de milliers d’autres pourraient se retrouver obligés de quitter le pays, s’ils ne sont pas éligibles à la précieuse double nationalité. 

Mélissa Chemam en Angleterre pour la DW. 

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Pour écouter : https://www.dw.com/fr/la-rentrée-des-étudiants-étrangers-compromise-en-allemagne-boom-des-demandes-de-double-nationalité-depuis-le-brexit/av-54623114

New podcast's episode: With Pr Guy Standing on Universal Basic Income

 

This one means a lot to me... 

This week in The Quarantini Podcast, we talk to Pr Guy Standing from ⁦SOAS University (London, UK)  about Universal Basic Income.  

He has devoted much of his career to the subject and talks about how UBI could help us all in this Covid-19 crisis. Check his platform, BIEN: Basic Income Earth Network!

Episode 18

A Quarantini with Guy Standing and Universal Basic Income

This week we interview another Professor - this time Guy Standing from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) about Universal Basic Income. Guy has devoted much of his career to the subject and talks in this podcast about what it is and why it would work well post Covid. 

We are spending this season highlighting some of the up-and-coming artists, musicians and bands that have suffered during lockdown with no live performances. This week, courtesy again of Funnel Music, it's the turn of Make Friends.

As usual, we also bring you a brief round up of ingenious responses to the virus from Bristol, UK and around the world.

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Music: 

Knowing Makes It Worse, Make Friends

Opening music: Hot Flu, The Old Bones Collective

Hosts: 

Melissa Chemam and Pommy Harmar

Producer: Pommy Harmar

SUMMER PRINT AND BOOK FESTIVAL

Also out this week: As the Arnolfini's Writer in Residence, I reflected "on creative escapism" through UWE Bristol’s Centre for Fine Print Research Summer Print and Book Festival.

Have a read and explore those links!

https://arnolfini.org.uk/cfpr-summerfestival/

UWE CENTRE FOR FINE PRINT RESEARCH | SUMMER PRINT AND BOOK FESTIVAL

Posted Thursday, 13th August 2020

Arnolfini’s Writer in Residence, Melissa Chemam reflects on creative escapism through UWE’s Centre for Fine Print Research Summer Print and Book Festival.

In these times of changes and challenges, I personally find the greatest comfort in nature, beauty, and creativity, and through kind, collective, positive endeavours.

And what is more generous than a programme to encourage artists to keep on creating while sharing their skills and knowledge with others? This is what this year’s Summer School, organised by UWE’s Centre for Fine Print Research offered us. And because of the ongoing lockdown restrictions, it was all online, meaning anybody can take part, from anywhere in the world.

There was so much in these events… Every morning, like most people, I turn to social media to feel connected. But increasingly, all I find is anger, finger pointing and disputes. Instead, in this programme all I found was generosity and talent.

The #printandbookfest festival was a huge team effort, by over thirty artists, speakers, presenters, and authors, organised by Sarah Bodman, Angie Butler, Carinna Parraman and Lizzie Field of UWE’s CFPR, with support from the Arnolfini.

The generous collaborators recorded and broadcast insightful and entertaining talks, activities, workshops and displayed a ‘food for thought’ ethos, encouraging us to better ourselves, share experiences or simply to start learning a new skill.

All the talks are archived on the CFPR website, meaning there is still chance to join in.

CFPR Print and Book Festival #printandbookfest
Monday 20th July – Monday 3rd August 2020
Programme: cfpr.uwe.ac.uk/book-and-print-summer-festival-2020/

 

Among the series were free talks, readings, Q&A sessions and conversations on printmaking, artists’ books, poetry, publishing, academic writing, wellbeing and more. Presenters and contributors include Beneficial Shock (Phil Wrigglesworth and Gabriel Solomons in discussion); The One Poem Artists’ Books Library is OPEN (Jeremy Dixon reads Hazard Press, with a live Q&A); Jason Urban & Leslie Mutchler In Conversation with Angie Butler; LCBA Collage Challenge summer holidays postcard Wish I Was Where; talks by Cecilia Mandrile, Corinne Welch on artists’ books from the archives; Lucy May Schofield and Hilary Judd Typewriter talks…  Plus ‘Shed Talks’ by Gen Harrison, John Bently, Ian Chamberlain, Catherine Cartwright, Abigail Trujillo, Print Van Go, Pat Randle and many more.

Some of the talks discussed settings more typically associated with artists books than this sort of online context display art books’ archives, like Sarah Bodman’s Artists’ Books from the Archives talk. Sarah is Senior Research Fellow for Artists’ Books & Programme Leader for MA Multidisciplinary Printmaking at the CFPR. In her talk, she introduces three collections holding artists’ books in Bristol: Arnolfini’s archive at Bristol Archives, the Bower Ashton Library Special Collections, and the CFPR’s own collection. She shows some examples of artists’ books stored in these archives and explains the ‘Collage Challenge’ – an invitation from UWE in collaboration with the London Centre for Book Arts to participate in ‘Wish I Was Where…’.
See here for more: bookarts.uwe.ac.uk 

One of my favourite talks was about art and wellbeing by Bristol based artist Emma Gregory. Here she talks about her experience of being an artist in relation to wellbeing, especially in our time of global pandemic. Like myself, and most of the creative people I know, Emma works freelance, (as do 77% of artists in the UK). She’s a printmaker, and also teaches, and has been focusing on building “small communities working together through time”.

In the talk, she explains very sincerely how she suffered from depression, a head injury and psychosis, which she said turned her into a very empathetic person. With the lockdown, she lost money, and exhibition opportunities… as “most artists have,” she reminds us. Many have felt isolation, some have lost people…

What she teaches us here is that we are more connected that we believe, and we must look to build resilience. Her husband is a psychologist and directed her to two websites of two organisations: Mind, and the American Medical Association.
They offer 5 ways to build resilience:

• by reaching out to your connections, your relationships, and people you know,
• by fostering your own wellness, in body and mind,
• by finding purpose, learn new things,
• by embracing healthy thoughts,
• and, when necessary, by seeking professional help.

To get over the current crisis, Emma for instance participates in family weekly quizzes to find comfort and connection, to artists groups’ weekly meetings switched to Zoom, uses resources from TAPS: The Artists Project Space, practises pilates with her mum via Zoom, and has found purpose in volunteering. “Self-expression,” she concludes, “is exposing, it leaves you vulnerable” but it’s also liberating and a courageous act of creativity.

Listen to Emma Gregory’s talk on Artists and Wellbeing here 

Another talk I loved was by Professor Carinna Parraman about ‘Choosing the Right Colour’ in ‘The Complex World of Colour and Texture’. Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by the complexity of colours and how our human eyes perceive them, their links with art and the notion of colour-blindness, which challenges the idea that colours exist by themselves, instead of through the eyes of their beholders…

The talk discusses how artists are attracted to specific colours and colour harmonies in their work, sometimes returning to the same shades over and over again, and how designers create colour palettes for different media and materials, accurately specifying tones and shades.

Have a deeper look at this programme and plunge into this series of events and reflections. Dig into a world of prints, books and creativity!

cfpr.uwe.ac.uk/book-and-print-summer-festival-2020/