● Migration und Menschenrechte 1

Hello to all of you,

As promised, here are the posters that were hung a week ago in Marseille at Coco Velten.
There are 106 questions, most of which are being worked on by research groups, but many of which have yet to be answered.
Some of us have not yet taken a position, and can therefore work on one of these questions (or of course create others); you can of course also spread the word to fellow researchers to take up these unworked subjects.

We will come back to you about the next phase which will end up at the Mucem, finally on 8 and 9 April. Many questions remain open at this stage about the content of this manifesto exhibition, and we have to work on it, notably with the Museum. However, the challenge remains twofold:
to create an archive of all the studies and make it available, in open source, to those who will continue the work of designing ships for the Mediterranean tomorrow;
to initiate the design process of this first ship, named the Avenir, based on some of these studies in particular and to create the conditions in terms of mobilisation and means for this colossal project.

(MA) Visual Stratigies and Stories [Information Design]
Project Exposé WS21, Seifeldeen Elfouly

PROJECT TITLE:
Multi-cultural Narratives in Humanitarian Operations in the Mediterranean:
Rescue vehicles as a Place of Ideological Acceptance and Identity Expressions.

DESCRIPTION:
The project is a visualization of the exchange of thoughts, ideologies, and Human needs that occurs in rescue operations in the Mediterranean sea. A conceptualization of the
interpersonal sides of migration as a forgotten aspect among Smugglers, EU Policies,
National Coast Guards, NGOs, and Civillence Rescuers.
The Conceptualization will be presented in abstract and fluid forms, presenting a suggested atmospheric theme of rescue vehicles: “Pérou Navire Avenir” project as a case study.

Research questions circulating the project:

• How Alternative Diplomacies could manifest a humanitarian narrative?
• How Ideological acceptance could be performed in rescue operations?
• How Multi-linguality applies in means of communication?
• What forms of communication could exist onboard between rescue crews and refugees?
• What messages, hopes, and insights would the refugees communicate onboard?
• How communication materials from immigrants could be received by non-immigrants?
• How far Eurocentrism exists in rescue operations?
• How the terms “Refugee” and “Migrant” are being interpreted as a state of mind, and an Identification category for the identityless?

Comparable projects :

• Out.of.the.blue.map:
  An itinerant curatorial research program exploring permanent liminality within mediterranean (fluid and solid) territories. Anchored between Morocco, France and the Netherlands, the program operates a collective and critical re-thinking of governance systems shaping these borderscapes.

• On Drifting:
  A participatory lexicon imagined and produced by the collective Calypso36°21 from 2018 to 2021, an alternative cartography of the [fluid+solid] border landscapes of the Mediterranean, On drifting aims to disrupt the spatial regimes, often derived from (post)colonial narratives, that now freeze the understanding of this territory. The lexicon is read from shore to shore.

• InfoMigrants:
  News and information site for migrants to counter misinformation at every point of their
  journey: in their country of origin, along the route, or in the places where they hope to start a new life. with an archive of recorded migrants’ testemonies and naratives in several
  languages.

Expected Outcome / Used methods:
A publication, that demonstrates the rescue process, in terms of:

• Conceptualization of the vehicle facilities and it’s spatial aspects.
• Presenting it as a limitless space for self-expression and Identity explorations.
• Formulating a visual manifestation of the project from a Humanitarian point of view.

This is the now almost traditional email from the beginning of the week to send you some new informations !

As you know, we organised a workshop at the Centre chorégraphique de Montpellier at the beginning of November on resting on board, with architects, designers, graphic designers, choreographers and artists. The report in pictures can be downloaded here : https://we.tl/t-87kWHeDAHe
On this occasion, we conducted an interview with Stéphane, a sailor from SOS Méditerranée, focusing on living conditions on board, privacy and rest. The transcript of this interview is attached.

We are preparing a meeting in Marseille on 9 December and we would have liked to receive from each of the teams an image (reference or project) and a question (problematic) in relation to each of the research topics worked on. We will make a print of the images in A3 format and display them in Coco Velten's space. It would be great to get these elements before Wednesday.

Hello to all of you,

This word to send you some elements about our common project, hoping that everything goes as you wish from Warsaw to Santiago de Chile!
We have translated into English the video presentation of the project by Marc Van Peteghem and Marc Ferrand, it can be seen here : vimeo.com/manage/videos/648800568
You will also find attached the updated plans of the ship, this after the workshop conducted from 8 to 12 November at the Centre chorégraphique de Montpellier where we worked on the place-bridge and the refuge-bridge.
Finally, you will also find attached a document listing all the teams involved in the project as well as initial information on the research projects of each of them. Do not hesitate to send us the necessary modifications, the elements of information about your institutions, your teams, the work you are developing, so that we can update this document: this vision of the geography of the subjects is important for all of us.

We remind you that we will organise a small public presentation of the project on 9 December at Coco Velten (www.cocovelten.org) in Marseille. On this occasion we would like to make our assembly visible by hanging in the space an image and a question per research topic. Could you please send us this image and question before 1 December?
We will also quickly send you a report on the Montpellier workshop and an interview with Stéphane Broc'h, maritim manager of SOS Méditerranée, on various aspects of life on board the ship. Some members of the team will be visiting the Ocean Viking on Friday 26 November, so please let us know if you would like us to document any particular aspect of the ship.

See you soon,
Sébastien for the Avenir team

PS: Impossible to send an email to the 300 people who are on this list, I am obliged to cut up the mailing; I will circulate the answers and information to all.

1. About the landing of the survivors.
   One of these questions concerns the "aftermath": where do people disembark, and what happens once they set foot on the shore? Before answering, I would like to underline that the ship we are building is also intended to be a renewed narrative on action at sea, on hospitality in Europe, on the relationship between land and sea, on the articulation between the shore collectives and the survivors. So the situation today may not (should not) be the situation tomorrow.
   Then, to answer more precisely, all the NGOs in action today are in contact with the state authorities at the time of disembarkation: access to ports is authorised by the administrations that manage the disembarkation. We are especially familiar with the situation in Italy, since the SOS Méditerranée ships often disembark in Italian ports. Here, the survivors are received by the administrative services, which take their names and fingerprints, as well as by associations involved in disembarkation and care (Red Cross, etc). People are often placed in quarantine, sometimes in ships at the quayside. Finally, they are put on the « normal » route: asylum application, detention centre, procedure. NGOs are not involved in this phase at all, and their work stops on the shore. Often, the survivors are refused asylum and end up with an "obligation to leave the territory" which they themselves must ensure, which is obviously unthinkable. So people end up on the pavements of our cities.
   The situation is obviously not acceptable today. But this "Avenir" ship must allow new relationships to be established with those who provide hospitality on earth, it must allow us to orientate, inform, connect, establish and build relationships across borders. These are some of the issues at stake in the research projects included in the chapter "Relating and arriving".

I am attaching some images of the last landing organised by SOS Méditerranée in Augusta, Sicily.

2. About the progress of the architectural project.

We have just had a week's workshop at the Centre Chorégraphique de Montpellier where we worked on the rest (Refuge, Bridge, etc). We will very soon send you images and informations on what we have been working on.

For the moment, I am sending you a short video shot on the spot with Marc Van Peteghem and Marc Ferrand who describe the project: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/645811754/analytics

3. About the collective of 50 research teams.

We have learned that the meeting in Venice has been cancelled for budgetary reasons. But we would still like to gather all the information that will allow us to see what subjects each of them is working on.
Could you please send us some information on this subject?

• the city where you work ;
• the institution or name of your research group
• the disciplinary field
• the subject(s) worked on
• one image per subject
• one question per subject
• possibly a short text

We will soon organise a new meeting with Civic City with all the teams so that information can circulate as well as possible.
We will also talk about the deadlines, and in particular the meeting at the Mucem in Marseille where we hope to see you all.

Best,
Sébastien

Note that I can't send this email to everyone at once (about 200 people), so this email is sent to subgroups. I hope we will find a way to do this better soon !

11 November 2021, Centre chorégraphique national de Montpellier

• About the different scenarios of life and intervention according to the time spent on board and the number of people on board
• About the projects that can be developed on accompaniment, signage, narrative, space.
  What is the desire of the survivors to express themselves, how do we apprehend it?
  What prevails on arrival is shock. Life on board systematically begins with a long period of silence.
  The desire to express oneself and the desire for dialogue therefore depend on the time spent on board. Little by little, if time permits, the possibility of being present to oneself and to others re-emerges.
  What are the group dynamics on board?
  A dynamic is created according to various factors, but rarely on the scale of the whole ship. This dynamic exists and develops according to the stories that have taken place on board the boats before joining the Ocean Viking, or even in the territories before the crossing.
  Micro-societies are re-created on board quite quickly, automatically, according to the history of each person, their origin.
  What possibility of communication with the territories on board.
  SOS Méditerranée cannot provide Internet access to the survivors, firstly for economic reasons: it costs 30,000 euros per month to obtain a wifi network for 300 people; currently on the Ocean Viking, there is a connection capacity for 50 people, which is therefore reserved for the crew.
  A second point is crucial: we do not authorise a link with the destination territory to avoid a single individual on board being an intermediary before the crew decides to connect to the territory to transmit information.
  We cannot therefore imagine providing survivors with a network and telephones.
  How do you see the idea of increasing the number of blankets for the survivors?
  It is important to have a very large stock of blankets, so that blankets are no longer an object of tension. Today this is the case, and robbery or loss is very common.
  But this implies a substantial operational budget, and it raises the question of the presence of a laundry and the hygiene certifications that go with it, especially at the time of the pandemic.
  It is undoubtedly important to think about a possible extension of this object (a day blanket; a night blanket; a sling; a baby carrier - currently mothers use towels). But we must be careful that this object, like many others, is not diverted from its function to harm itself or others (hanging, strangulation, tying, etc.).
  Finally, we must manage to think about these issues while avoiding labelling, rules, identification of people for the distribution of objects, etc. On board, we try to impose as few rules as possible, and we must maintain this global vision.
  What is the link to objects, what are the emotional attachments to objects on board?
  The most important link is to the telephone: they prefer to have a telephone than papers. People especially need to be connected with someone close to them, with someone in the family, and the migration is a time of detachment from objects. It is also a time of loss of objects: in prison, in the detention centre, then on the boats, objects are seized, lost, broken. This is how it is, until they are dressed: they are thrown on board, they are given new clothes. There is no more attachment except to one’s skin: one must save one’s skin.
  Sometimes small notebooks or means of paper expression are given on board, which allows some to write or draw, to testify to their experience. But all this is generally left on board, and not brought by the people. There seems to be no need to carry the experience of what has just taken place on board. But we try to archive this.
  It is undoubtedly very interesting to continue and increase the provision of paper, pencils, blackboards, notebooks and games. And without doubt we need to deploy the means to preserve these gestures and these expressions of lived history, to cultivate this memory.
  What are the games on board?
  On board the Ocean Viking, a checkerboard is laid out on the floor, and the survivors play checkers by making tokens out of water bottle caps.
  Card games are also played, but it is always necessary to have crew members involved to play with them, and to manage conflicts, tensions, the fair distribution of games, etc.
  This readiness to play and the desire to form groups to play always depends on the time spent on board. First comes the rest, and the feeling of being safe. Then there is presence to oneself, a possible quietude. Then presence with others, a thinkable relationship.
  What are the signage elements and the use of languages on board?
  There are some necessary, crucial invariants: indicating the way to the hospital on board; indicating the assembly point where one must meet in an emergency in case of abandonment of the ship; indicating a telephone line for psychological care on land (today it is the telephone number of the Red Cross in Italy)
  On the Ocean Viking there are also laminated files on the walls in several areas to provide information, but this is very partial information. The most important communication on board is gestural communication.
  The crew is able to speak and translate in French, Arabic and English. Sometimes we manage to find translators from these languages into other languages spoken by the survivors.
  Mini Italian courses are offered when possible, and especially when we are sure that an Italian port is open on the horizon. These courses are carried out in a very precarious way, they are improvised on a blackboard, with a very succinct list of typical words and phrases in Italian.
  What are the possible and desirable extensions in terms of signage?
  We should probably avoid too much signage so as not to saturate the space. We need to find a way of illustrating so that the messages are easily understood, without having to be read or deciphered. We must therefore certainly work on pictograms.
  We could have an on-board translation tool in the form, for example, of a tablet available to everyone, with the possibility of using one’s mother tongue, the language of the country of arrival, etc.
  We could develop the mapping tool: it is a very interesting interactive interface, allowing survivors to find their bearings at sea. It can be a simple way of orientating oneself, looking in which direction we’re going, understanding which point of the coast we are approaching.
  What is the relationship that the ship can establish with the territory of arrival?
  To prepare for disembarkation would be to prepare for police violence. We know that on land, people will be confronted with fingerprinting, photographs, interrogations (about the identity of the smugglers in particular). We have evidence of inhumane practices in detention centres, but we cannot let these elements appear without creating unmanageable tensions on board. And we are rescuers who place ourselves under maritime law, and our mission at sea cannot have any continuity on the shore: we must repatriate people to the nearest ports, and stick to this mission, otherwise we would be illegal.
  What is the possibility on board for ritual practices?
  There was more space on the Aquarius, the previous ship, than on the Viking Ocean. It allowed for more movement, circulation, mobility, views.
  The crew often points in the direction of «the East», thus indicating the right direction to pray. Recollection, prayer, is more about orientation and temporality (when to pray?) than about space, than about the need for a place to do it. Orientation is enough to choose a place to isolate oneself.
  The link to worship is very strong: the moment of prayer can become collective and unite everyone in belief without religious distinction. There is no gender separation at the time of prayer either. Groups are formed more around activities: singing for women; dancing for men and women; music for men. Often these activities lead to a party.
  Meals are more of a resource than a time for socialising.
  What is the role of care on board?
  There are three teams on board: the rescue team, the care team and the daily care team. The reality of the ship is that it provides care all the time: on arrival, people drop off, they often fall ill at that moment, something finally gives way.
  There is a medical emergency area: a doctor, two nurses and a midwife make up the team in charge of this area.
  There is no place dedicated to listening and talking. This is taken care of by the crew itself. There is a great need for this, but there is no space to do this properly.
  The teams on board are in constant contact with the shore teams, who thus have support, obtain advice, etc. Moreover, systematic psychological support has been set up for the rescuers after their missions, and we realised that there was a great need for care for the rescuers themselves.
  What are the necessary extensions of this?
  We could perhaps imagine a link between the survivors who have arrived and those on board: support, feedback, advice, information, a link that can be created between those who have passed and those who are arriving.
  We also need new somatic practices on board, we know this, we name it, but we don’t have the space available for this, to welcome other carers, for other forms of support. This is a real need.
  We also need to develop care for carers, it’s essential, and on board no doubt, to enable people to intervene better, to help better, to save better.
  We should therefore perhaps increase the number of help and listening links between the ship and the territory.
  What is the place of privacy on board?
  The blanket is the main restraint and protection system, for adults and children. It is a crucial, vital element.
  It is necessary to ensure the separation of women and men in the dormitories, even if there is a father, he must remain separate from the family, as the man has become a threat, a potential danger,
  preventing the women from finding the necessary tranquillity to rest.
  The question of privacy also arises for the crew members. Sometimes there are 2 or 3 of them per cabin, there is no privacy, and it is very difficult for the daily life.
  What are the possible extensions?
  In the space of sleep, people could find signs, words, songs from the countries of origin, and find there, in the intimacy, the link with what is dear, precious, and which they have left.
  But we must always find a form of neutrality in the messages, in the information on board. We have to be careful not to saturate the space, not to give too much space to our own beliefs. We may project a lot of ideas, but the spaces must remain empty, silent, so that people are not overwhelmed.
  This neutrality, this restraint, are also the conditions for the possibility of expression. Making the people on board capable is a great challenge.

The non-profit organisation ROSA was founded in March, 2021. It describes itself as a political organisation with an intersectional view of society; working with a queer-feminist and anti-racist consensus.

As founding members of ROSA, we find ourselves solely of white origin and without a migration history. It is important to us that we reflect upon racism, critically examining the potential connection between our work and post-colonial hierarchies. We would like to use our privilege of growing up as white Europeans to bring the Rolling Safespace into being and therefore, to provide help where it is urgently needed.

ROSA explicitly advocates for a solidarity-based Europe that respects human rights, calls for institutional action against humanitarian catastrophes at the European external borders and promotes gender empowering aid strategies!

Our vision – why are we doing this?
In 2019, 1% of the world’s population was on the run.
Almost half of them were female (48%) (see UNHCR Global Trends 2019).
The situation of women* fleeing is unlike that of men, characterised by additional, gender-specific burdens and challenges (see Sexual and gender-based violence against refugee women: a hidden aspect of the refugee ”crisis“).

The small number of non-governmental organisations and offers of help available to refugees at the European borders are rarely adapted to the needs of women.
ROSA is currently being established as a non-profit organisation who’s aim is to be a mobile base for female refugees in crisis. ROSA’s ambition is to provide guidance in the maintenance of psychological and physical wellbeing, offering culturally sensitive medical advice in conjunction with a safe, adaptive, networking and meeting space for women.
We want to build sustainable policies to support women* and children on the move. To do this, we want to collaborate with existing projects in line with local situations.

Coop Pad:

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1l47y8-y-LQdfP0YkkqPhdGesQLowi40Dedw3NcoxXsA/edit

https://www.rolling-safespace.org/en/about-rosa-e-v/#Vision_en

https://www.madamasr.com/
https://www.rolling-safespace.org/en/https-www-rolling-safespace-org-en-landingpage/

BUILDING THE FUTURE
invitation to schools and research & creation institutes in art, design, architecture, performing arts and multiple writings to take part in the design of a ship for the Mediterranean Sea.
VPLPdesign, Civic City, Atelier Marc Ferrand, Charlotte Cauwer, Marielle Macé, PEROU / May 2021.
We declare that the gestures of the lifeguards as well as all the gestures of hospitality, care, benevolence, friendship, joy that are deployed on the path of migrants, are of a priceless beauty and significance. This is why we are conducting a request to UNESCO aiming to inscribe them on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. As part of this process, we are developing several projects aimed at supporting, amplifying and transmitting these
gestures to future generations. Building a European fleet of vessels and making them available to organizations working in the Mediterranean Sea is one of the axes of this preservation plan. Today we gather an assembly of designers determined to build the first ship of this fleet. Its provisional name: NAVIRE AVENIR [VESSEL FUTURE].
In collaboration with operators and lifeguards, we have developed in recent months the first sketches of this ship. It has four characteristics: it is a pioneering tool for intervention at sea; it is a place designed for the reception and care of the survivors; it is a place of collective life shaping itself as a Mediterranean public place; and it is a laboratory offering the conditions on board for a research placement allowing the creation of nine more ships.
We need to complete the technical, financial and legal documents for the project in the spring of 2022 and thus answer the many questions that arise in order to give this ship the dimension of a common and civic endeavor. We therefore call to schools and research and creation institutes to take up, from September 2021 and for one semester, the creative challenges that arise