10 years Summer of Migration - Transnational Chain of Actions - Alarm Phone participating in f.Lotta

On 4th of September 2025 the transnational chain of actions will start with a kick-off online conference with all actors involved. The chain of action should remember 2015’s summer of migration and connect this anniversary not only with our fundamental critique of the deadly European border regime but also with our continuity of struggles for freedom of movement.

Various calls and an updated, detailed calendar with links to all the events and actions can be found on the trans-border.net.

F.Lotta

One element of the chain of action is f.Lotta, a protest-regatta around Lampedusa between 10th and 20th of September:

„In the central Mediterranean Sea, fortress Europe has successfully managed to discipline rescue associations into a tight operational framework and to normalize the presence of preventable deaths. Day in and day out, rescue associations live under the constant scrutiny of an authority that, instead of supporting their rescue efforts, blackmails them with far away ports of disembarkation, fines, detentions and more. The efforts of fortress Europe to remove from the central Med witnesses and rescue assets have been coupled with filling the sea with Lybian militias chasing people on the move. …

We fight for freedom of movement for all and without conditions.

Fortress Europe: a racist, capitalist and neo-colonial project.

We refuse the policies of hatred and division, we refuse normalisation. We know that a different present is possible. We are preparing a massive sea occupation mid-September 2025, south of Lampedusa….“

For more information see f.Lotta.

Ferries not Frontex

Alarm Phone is participating in f.Lotta with the campaign „Ferries not Frontex“. One boat is dedicated to this slogan and its context: The Mediterranean Sea is one of the deadliest border areas of the entire world. Literally tomorrow this mass dying at the southern borders of EU could become history! It’s a mere political decision to entitle everybody to access commercial ferries and to suspend the cruel EU-visa regime. Nobody would be forced to take a rubber boat anymore and to risk their lives to reach Europe.

The slogan “Ferries not Frontex” emerged the first time in the days following the 18th of April 2015. More than 800 men, women and children drowned that day in the Central Mediterranean Sea. One week earlier, about 400 people had lost their lives in a similar ‘tragedy’. Tragedies? No! The mass dying was and is a direct and foreseeable consequence of the EU border regime. Killing people on the move continues until today. And Frontex is one of the main symbols of this policy.

While non-assistance as well as push- and pullbacks are a permanent practice against refugees and migrants at sea, tourists or any person with the accepted documents can easily travel often at the same routes without any problems on cheap prices. For example: A ferry-ticket from Ayvalik (Turkey) to Mytiline (Lesvos/Greece) costs about 40 Euros, a ticket from Tanger (Morocco) to Tarifa (Spain) also about 40 Euros, and from Tunis (Tunisia) to Palermo (Italy) only about 30 Euros. Again: nobody would go on boats, which are not seaworthy, nobody would pay smugglers, if they can buy a ticket and enter an ordinary ferry. Its a racist visa system, which forces people on the move to do so.

Towards an open Mediterranean space!

We know that if there would be the political will, the sea would no longer be a deadly barrier but a bridge, connecting both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. It seems far away, if we look at recent political developments with increasing racism and extreme right wing and authoritarian governments. As Alarm Phone we will follow the tenacity of people on the move as a transnational nodal point of a network that undermines and overcomes a racist and exploitative system of global segregation. We will continue with our solidarity on the routes and build and extend infrastructures for freedom of movement.

More information on our campaign can be found here.

And here you can see the newspaper of Alarm Phone on Ferries not Frontex from 2016.