Though it has come as a shocking surprise, it was probably inevitable that hate-filled racist bigots would try to muscle in on the tragedy of the Mediterranean migrants. A movement calling itself “Identitarian” has announced that it has chartered a 40-meter-long vessel in which it intends to sail up and down off Libyan territorial waters. Their purpose is to expose what they allege is cooperation between the nine non-governmental organizations that are rescuing migrants and the people-smugglers who launch them to sea in flimsy rubber rafts.
These unpleasant individuals managed to raise the money to hire this vessel by an online crowd-funding campaign. When it found out what was happening, an attempt was made by Paypal to stop the donations. But the money was gathered in anyway by other means. Identitarian says it has so far raised $91,000. Depending on the quality of the vessel they have chartered, the C-Star, that may not be enough money for them to keep their race-hate afloat for more than a week or two, not least because the ship was picked up by its racist crew in Djibouti at the start of this month.
Now there may indeed be collusion between the human-traffickers and one or more of the NGOs. The public prosecutor in Catania in Sicily has opened an investigation into what he says is strong evidence of Libyan smugglers being in radio contact with charity-funded rescue vessels. But if there is a case to answer, it is the business of the authorities in Europe to take action against the culprits not some piratical white supremacists.
Identitarian insist that they are merely going to assist European prosecutors in making their case. This is specious nonsense. They are sailing into the waters off the Libyan coast, in which more than 2,000 migrants have died so far this year, in order to provoke an incident. It does not take too much imagination to see that they will attempt to interfere with rescues. They may even, if they find a migrant-filled inflatable alone, take it in tow and pull it back to Libyan waters.
The opportunities for confrontation, with the Libyan Coastguard, with the people-smugglers themselves or with one of the NGO rescue boats are considerable. These loathsome individuals are out to portray themselves as heroic white knights charging into an unequal fight. They expect to raise cheers from the Islamophobic politicians and their supporters in the likes of France, Holland and Germany.
But this is more than just a sick publicity stunt. It is a direct challenge to the values of justice and decency on which Europe prides itself. Whatever legal defense Identitarian may choose to hide behind to justify their unhindered presence on the high seas, there can be no defense of their intent to disrupt and hinder one on the largest humanitarian operations of recent years.
They want to cause an international incident. They want to be detained in the commission of some act of evil that will bring worldwide publicity. In open court they will be able to trot out their sick racist arguments. The answer is clearly that the C-Star should be intercepted before it reaches Libyan waters and its racist crew quietly sent back to their hate-filled homes.
