On 9 October, the Kate, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessel, encountered a person’s body in the Mediterranean Sea. This was the second such encounter in less than two weeks. In each case, our crew notified the appropriate authorities and provided the necessary assistance to ensure that the bodies were promptly retrieved and treated with dignity and respect.

We do not know these individuals’ names or the circumstances of their journey. We know that human lives have been lost; people who deserved safety, dignity, and a future. We mourn these deaths and the lives of all those who have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean. We refuse to accept these deaths as an ordinary part of our world.

The plight of migrants cannot be separated from the conditions that force people to leave their homes, or the policies that close safe routes to them. Colonialism and its enduring impact of imperialism, war, dispossession, and economic exploitation shape an unequal world order in which safety, freedom of movement and dignity are distributed and conditional upon nationality, wealth and power.

Some people cross borders with ease, while others must risk their lives to seek protection or the possibility of a livable future. This inequality reflects a hierarchy of whose lives are protected, whose suffering is recognized, and whose deaths are allowed to become background noise.
Our solidarity with Palestinians is rooted in the same conviction that guides our solidarity with migrants and refugees. Every human being has an equal right to freedom, dignity, and safety. This extends to everyone whose life is made precarious by displacement, exclusion, and violence.

We call on governments to protect people at sea, ensure safe and accessible routes to seek protection, uphold the right to asylum, and end policies that expose people to death or return them to danger. Rescue and humanitarian assistance must be supported and provided.
We bear witness because silence allows these deaths to become normal. We speak because the persons we encountered deserve to be mourned, even when their names are unknown. We see that these people are being subjected to the same racism that dehumanises as the Palestinian people.

No one’s life is disposable.

The Mediterranean must not be a graveyard.

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