The central Mediterranean Sea is the world’s deadliest migration route, where the racist border policies of the European Union are more evident: more than 25,000 lives have been lost since 2014. Instead of sea rescue, the European Union decides to spend its money on border control, detention centers in North Africa, and to obstruct the efforts of NGO ships. The strategy is paying off: the state has expanded its control over this border area, constraining solidarity under a tight operational framework that almost always ends up with either detention or the assignment of a faraway port for disembarkation. Worse even: this is the new norm, and state violence is becoming invisible.
f.Lotta
f.Lotta is a scream of protest from civil society, a call to reject this situation and the world that has normalized it. f.Lotta will stage a sea protest south of Lampedusa, bringing together as many boats as possible, to recontest what is now an open graveyard, occupy it with our collective solidarity and resistance, and reclaim it from the state border regime.
Ships from many ports in Italy and Europe will converge towards Lampedusa through logistical-political pit-stops in different ports, to spread f.Lotta ideas and cross-pollinate with local realities and solidarity networks.
The sea protest south of Lampedusa will take place over 3 days between the 10th and 20th of September. It will start with an initial concentration close to the island, then a first day of sailing south. During the second day, the ships will assume watchkeeping positions, forming a chain of solidarity and moving along coordinated patrol patterns. On the last day, the flotilla will sail back for a last concentration and commemoractions.
OCOB: One Campaign One Boat
f.Lotta is a campaign of campaigns. The overarching political horizon of f.Lotta is freedom of movement. Here, each boat is the standard bearer, the witness of a specific, connected political campaign. These are developed by already existing political groups and collectives based on land, that join f.Lotta and accept to shape its political platform, enriching it. If f.Lotta was a manifesto, each boat would be a demand to change a specific aspect of the system. Discover them on the f.Lotta website: https://flotta.noblogs.org/campaigns
f.Lottine and land f.Lotta
f.Lotta wants to counter the expanding hegemony of the far right: it does not end with the sea protest south of Lampedusa. f.Lottine and land f.Lotta are further articulations of the initiative, parallel protest actions connecting the central Med space with other cities across Europe and other border areas. They facilitate the participation of faraway boats or groups, create connections with already existing realities and struggles, increase the reach of f.Lotta ideas.
A f.Lottina is a maritime or river occupation other than the one south of Lampedusa, while a land f.Lotta action can take many shapes: a land occupation, a march, a sit-in in front of your local deportation center. Since Europe decided to become a fortress, it accepted the risk of a collective siege against it.
About us
f.Lotta is not an institutionalized organization, but it federates a colorful and diverse group of people united by the belief that a different political horizon is possible.
The sea protest opens the central Med to forms of solidarity and resistance other than professionalized sea rescue, gathering collectives, individuals, groups with or without boats. It calls civil society to reject the border regime everywhere, to its core pillars: colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy.
if you have a boat, and also if you don’t
Join us! This is our call to action, with different ways to support f.Lotta: https://flotta.noblogs.org/call-to-action/
And in case you were wondering: we don’t know how to pronounce the “.” in “f.Lotta”, it’s up to each of us!
