In this episode, we speak with Denny, a young refugee from Kashmir who was forced to flee his homeland almost 9 years ago.

He is going to tell us about life in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, his journey through Europe, how he was mistreated by the authorities and supported by activists.

We also talk about his time living in a squat in Bosnia, and how looking after a dog helped his mental state.

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social

Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social

Instagram: thecivilfleet

info@civilfleet.com

civilfleet.com

Support:

ko-fi.com/civilfleet

---Show Notes---

For more on the oppression in India-occupied Kashmir, see this 2019 Al Jazeera article: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/8/15/kashmirs-struggle-did-not-start-in-1947-and-will-not-end-today

For more on Britain's partition of India, see this Ted Ed video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrcCTgwbsjc&ab_channel=TED-Ed

For more on Britain's awful colonial rule of India, check out this video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIzQxNZfGM4&ab_channel=OddCompass

Read this BBC news story about the Indian army killing of Kashmiri activists in May: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4n11j4wewxo

Ben mentions Klara in this interview. She was an activist with No Name Kitchen in Bosnia. Check out episodes 58 and 59 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Bosnia and No Name Kitchen

Ben mentions Bihac, but doesn't explain where that is. Whoops. It's a small town in northwest Bosnia on the border with Croatia. Episodes 58 and 59 are there.

Denny mentions Kurdistan. More more on them, check out this episode of Revolution and Ideology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rH-6ojrXv0&ab_channel=RevolutionandIdeology

In this episode, we speak with Lauren Starkey, a campaigner and independent social worker who works with Albanian victims of human trafficking.

Lauren is going to tell us how the British government decided that Albanian men shouldn't be granted asylum in the UK, even if they are victims of human trafficking.

She tells us how this approach punishes victims of human trafficking, forces them to live in destitution, and threatens to send them back to an environment they were trafficked from.

And we also have an addendum at the end of the episode, in which we talk about Labour's reported plans to end asylum seekers to Albania.

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social

Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social

Instagram: thecivilfleet

info@civilfleet.com

civilfleet.com

Support:

ko-fi.com/civilfleet

---Show Notes---

You can follow Lauren Starkey on Twitter here: @LaurenHStarkey

Lauren mentions the defunct (in the UK) charity Love 146. You can check out their US website here: https://love146.org/

For more on the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), see here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-trafficking-victims-referral-and-assessment-forms/guidance-on-the-national-referral-mechanism-for-potential-adult-victims-of-modern-slavery-england-and-wales

Ben mentions a journalist trying to interview people as they cross the Channel. You can watch that here: bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-53722861

For more on the UK, see episodes 61, 57, 49, 44, 42, 40, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21, 17 and 11 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.

Check out Amnesty International's assessment on the Nationality and Borders' Act 2022, see here: amnesty.org.uk/nationality-borders-bill-truth-behind-claims

See here for more on the UK government's legal battle with former Albanian president Berisha: reuters.com/world/europe/albanias-former-pm-berisha-loses-appeal-against-ban-uk-2024-06-17/

Read this Guardian report on the children who went missing from Britain's migrant hotels: theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jul/17/children-missing-from-home-office-hotels-likely-to-have-been-trafficked-report-finds

You can read about the British PM visit Italy's far-right PM Giorgia Meloni here: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-italy-asylum-offhore-meloni-b2613670.html

For more on Israel's Rwanda scheme, see here: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/03/israel-deportation-of-african-asylum-seekers-is-a-cruel-and-misguided-abandonment-of-responsibility

In this episode, we speak with Dan Sohege, director of the human rights advocacy organisation Stand For All.

We've a new government here in the UK. So I thought it'd be a good idea to ask Dan to give us his analysis of the Labour's plans for asylum seekers.

Dan tells us how Labour's plans to increase immigration raids will only make things worse for victims of trafficking.

We also discuss the recent far-right riots happening across Britain and Northern Ireland, and how our media and politicians bear much of the blame for the violence.

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social

Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social

Instagram: thecivilfleet

info@civilfleet.com

civilfleet.com

Support:

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---Show Notes---

Follow Dan Sohege on Twitter: @stand_for_all

For more on Stand for All, visit: standforall.co.uk

Ben mentions a website where you can see a decade's worth of headlines on immigration. You can see that here: stuartleech.com/canto/dehumanising-headlines

Check out episode 44 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Reclaim the Sea for more on the Bibby Stockholm

Ben mentions episode 49 with Paul O'Connor from the Public and Commerical Services (PCS) union in this episode. Check that out.

For more episodes focused on the UK, see episodes 57, 49, 44, 42, 40, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21, 17 and 11.

Check out this story on the UK Border Force carrying out push back training: https://thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/2022/01/14/uk-border-force-may-have-begun-attempts-to-push-refugees-back-across-the-channel-already-evidence-suggests/

Read more about UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's comments on Bangladeshi asylum seekers here: middleeasteye.net/news/uk-labours-keir-starmer-caused-diplomatic-row-over-bangladesh-comments

Corporate Watch have a story here on the state of the hotels housing asylum seekers in the UK: https://corporatewatch.org/refugees-are-being-housed-in-an-infested-hotel-while-the-home-offices-slum-landlords-are-raking-it-in/

For more on the Southport murders and the far-right conspiracies that set off the riots in Britain, see here: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/jul/31/how-false-online-claims-about-southport-knife-attack-spread-so-rapidly

Dan mentions a far right protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Knowsley last year. Read about that here: morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/refugee-hate-and-rabble-rousing-who-are-patriotic-alternative

In today's episode, we speak with Spyros, from the Free Pylos 9 campaign.

He's going to tell us more about the Pylos Shipwreck, how the authorities refused to help the 750 people on the small fishing boat, and how it sank on June 14, 2023, when the Greek coastguards tried to tow it. Only 104 of the 750 people survived.

Spyros also tells us about the nine survivors who were used as scapegoats for the disaster and jailed, about the campaign to free them, and how they were treated once they were acquitted.

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social

Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social

Instagram: thecivilfleet

info@civilfleet.com

civilfleet.com

Support:

ko-fi.com/civilfleet

---Show Notes---

For more on Free Pylos 9, see their website here: freepylos9.info

Follow the Free Pylos 9 campaign on Twitter here: @FreePylos9

Find them on Instagram: freepylos9

For more background on the Pylos shipwreck and the 9 criminalised survivors, read this article by the Human Rights Legal Project: humanrightslp.eu/post/the-lack-of-jurisdiction-in-the-pylos-9-trial-and-the-incoherent-interpretation-of-international-cri

Spyros mentions the Captain Support Network. Check them out here: captainsupport.net

He also mentioned the Justice for Pylos campaign. Check out their website (in Greek) here: justice4pylos.org

For more on The Civil Fleet's coverage of the Pylos Shipwreck, see here: thecivilfleet.wordpress.com/tag/Greece

Check out episodes 3, 4, 9, 16, 25, 26, 28, 35, 52, 53, and 56 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Greece

Ben mention Lighthouse Reports and their investigation into the Pylos Shipwreck. You can read that here: lighthousereports.com/investigation/drowning-in-lies/

Check out Solomon's coverage of the shipwreck here: wearesolomon.com/mag/focus-area/migration/how-the-pylos-tragedy-could-have-been-avoided

For more on Alarm Phone visit: alarmphone.org, and find them on Twitter on @alarm_phone.

You can read Alarm Phone's timeline of the shipwreck here: alarmphone.org/en/2023/06/14/europes-shield/

Oh, and by the way, Hellas is Greece in Greek, and therefore the Greek coastguard are also called the Hellenic Coastguard.

In this episode, we go back to the border town of Bihac, in Bosnia, to see how the solidarity network No Name Kitchen (NNK) supports People on the Move there.

In Part 2 of this miniseries on Bosnia, we'll near more from NNK's volunteers in Bosnia, and also from the refugees/migrants/People on the Move who are trapped in the Balkan country.

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social

Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social

Instagram: thecivilfleet

info@civilfleet.com

civilfleet.com

Support:

ko-fi.com/civilfleet

---Show Notes---

For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: nonamekitchen.org

Follow NNK on Twitter via @NoNameKitchen1

Follow them on Instagram: @no_name_kitchen

And listen to episodes 58 Part 2, 51, 41, and 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.

Want to know where Bihac is exactly? Check out this map: tinyurl.com/34txjd3d

Ben mentions border guards forcing people-on-the-move to stay inside hot cars as a form of punishment. For more on this practice, see this story by Lighthouse Reports: lighthousereports.com/investigation/europes-black-sites/

And check out Episode 34 of The Civil Fleet Podcast with Klaas van Dijken, one of the co-founders of Lighthouse Reports

Check out a film called Shadow Game for more on the term the game: shadowgame.eu/en/film/

In April, I went to Bihac, a small town in Bosnia near the border with Croatia, to see how the solidarity network No Name Kitchen (NNK) supports People on the Move there.

In this episode, NNK's volunteers in Bihac will tell us how they provide first aid, food and clothing to the People on the Move there, and how they document border violence.

We'll also talk with a few of the people trapped in Bosnia, who'll tell us about their journeys to the Balkan country, and the abuses they have faced from border guards at the edge of Fortress Europe.

---Get in touch---

Twitter: @FleetCivil

Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social

Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social

Instagram: thecivilfleet

info@civilfleet.com

civilfleet.com

Support:

ko-fi.com/civilfleet

---Show Notes---

For more on No Name Kitchen, see their website here: nonamekitchen.org

Follow NNK on Twitter via @NoNameKitchen1

Follow them on Instagram: @no_name_kitchen

And listen to episodes 58 Part 2, 51, 41, and 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast.

Want to know where Bihac is exactly? Check out this map: tinyurl.com/34txjd3d

Joe mentions the IWGB union. For more on them, check them out here: iwgb.org.uk

Joe also mentions Sea-Watch, one of the bigger refugee rescue groups operating in the Mediterranean. For more on them, see: sea-watch.org

And check out episodes 54, 43, 22, 7, and 1 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on Sea-Watch, too.

You can read Joe's article on the Chinese person he meet in Bosnia, here: nonamekitchen.org/a-new-friend-in-the-field-people-from-china-in-the-balkans-seeking-for-a-better-life/