Episode 16: Criminalising compassion and empathy

In today's episode we speak with Madi Williamson and Sean Binder, activists that have been targeted by the Greek authorities for their involvement with civilian-led refugee rescues. Sean — and several others who worked with Emergency Response Centre International on the island of Lesbos — was detained for months on charges of money laundering, people smuggling, and espionage. He could face years in jail for saving lives. Madi, a qualified nurse, has also been accused of spying. She was detained and strip searched by Greek police due to her work documenting refugee pushbacks in the Aegean Sea (see episodes 3,4, 9 and 12 for more on this subject). Both speak about their cases and discuss the dystopian knock on consequences of criminalising humanitarian work. --- Show notes --- For more on Free Humanitarians, visit their website here: freehumanitarians.org Here is a link to a Guardian story that Madi mentions about the European Union spending millions on military-grade tech to deter refugees: bit.ly/3qWqogU At one point in the interview, Sean mentions the SOLAS Convention. If you'd like to know more about that, then go here: bit.ly/3qSfg4w The group Ben (embarrassingly) refers to as The Good Lords were in fact called The Young Lords. Check out this Democracy Now video to find out more about them: bit.ly/330EaH5 Madi mentions the RSA (Refugee Support Aegean) at one point in the interview and the fact that the Greek government denied its registration as a non-profit civil society organisation in December 2021. You can read more about RSA here: rsaegean.org/en, and a joint statement by 19 organisations condemning the Greek government's move, here: bit.ly/3JOCgdk For more on In-Sight Collaborative, visit: in-sightcollaborative.org Follow Free Humanitarians on Twitter: @FrHumanitarians Get in touch: @FleetCivil [email protected] Support: patreon.com/civilfleet