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Forbes
7 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Banksy, AKA Robin Gunningham, Puts A Fine New Lighthouse In Marseilles
TOPSHOT - This photograph shows a newly released artwork by street artist Banksy on the facade of a building in Marseille, southeastern France, on May 30, 2025. (Photo by Viken KANTARCI / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION (Photo by VIKEN KANTARCI/AFP via Getty Images) When Britain's ebullient graffitist/prankster/political gadfly Banksy drops a move, the best art sleuths throughout the kingdom drop whatever they are doing and rush to verify the what-where-when-who-how. As happened on Thursday, May 29, rather late in the news cycle, the hunt is ordinarily triggered by the reclusive artist himself and/or his assigns in the form of 'Pest Control,' his personal verification/art agency. In the case of the witty, tiny, 'extended shadow' of the lighthouse mural in Marseilles, pictured above, the post of a shot of the stark black, rather foreshortened lighthouse, fully in the Banksy style, went up on Banksy's own Instagram account (of all places). That threw the kennel gates opened for the predictable flood of the finest coursing hounds in the British press last night. By lunchtime Friday in London, some four hours ago at this writing, no less a pack of art sleuths than the BBC had confirmed the chosen — now quite elite — streetscape as the Rue Félix Fregier, just south of the city's legendary port. As with everything Banksy, siting and context are chief among the avenues of investigation into the man's intent and into his his hilariously ruthless nocturnal execution of his art. And so we have now, per Banksy's choice, the port of Marseilles: Forever a magnet for European organized crime, it the 20th century it grew to become the infamous sluice for much of Europe's heroin trafficking (cf. The French Connection). That revenue stream is still in spirited play in Marseilles and in other, smaller, less-well-policed ports of call on the Continent, but over the last decade a new, politically fraught focus of all coast guard and/or national police forces in the northern Mediterannean — be that the forces of Spain, Italy, Malta, France, or Greece — has shifted to the combat of trafficking in people. Significantly, both for this ongoing paradigm shift as well as for Banksy's choice of Marseilles as a site for the 2025 placing of the lighthouse grafitto, the charity/humanitarian group SOS Mediterannee operates its massive and very capable rescue ship, Ocean Viking, out of Marseilles. Further toward decoding that Banksy has slipped into Marseilles to start production in Summer 2025, this week the Ocean Viking has been particularly busy with the rescue of 116 refugees whose wooden boat had departed Libya but which had given up the ghost and began to capsize in the central Mediterranean between May 24-26. The situation was dire. The rescue had to be executed in stages, mostly at night, hampered by bad weather and lack of coordination among the responsible coast guard forces, Italian and Libyan, according to the documentation of SOS Mediterannee in Marseilles. The first two attempts by civilian vessels managed to get some of the refugees off. Called in late, the Ocean Viking got the remaining majority, some 52 people, including women and children. Three refugees drowned. Occasionally, the point of a Banksy stencil is the siting, sometimes amplified by a title. But in the case of this most recent Marseilles graffitto, as pictured top and below, there's an actual stencilled legend, Jenny Holzer-style, across the lighthouse, reading: 'I WANT TO BE WHAT YOU SAW IN ME.' In fairness, and since the man is so innately, thoroughly political, it's difficult to say precisely what Banksy has buzzing in the behive of his mind, but nothing — repeat, nothing — the man writes can be taken at face value. More safely, with this artist, we can attempt to nail down what the man is saying by assuming that a few thousand metric tons of irony is being poured over us within whatever it is that he actually, physically states. Thus, this week in Europe, on the cusp of the summer solstice and with it, the 'migrant season' kickoff for the police forces on the Med, neither those forces nor the lighthouses of Europe have exactly been welcoming beacons, as SOS Mediterannee has richly documented. The rest of the tumultous, deadly migrant season lies before us. Unclear, also, is whether this lone grafitto, ominous as it is, portends what we might call a Banksy 'residency,' as he has performed repeatedly in Palestine, for instance, stencilling various fraught locations as well as the vast Israeli wall. There, in Palestine, portentously, irony was in rich supply.
Arab News
09-03-2025
- General
- Arab News
Migrant rescue NGO saves 25 people off Libyan coast
MARSEILLE: French migrant rescue group SOS Mediterranee brought 25 people stranded off the Libyan coast aboard its Ocean Viking vessel on Sunday, the NGO said. Those rescued, including three women and seven minors, are 'currently being cared for by the Red Cross and SOS Mediterranee teams' aboard the Ocean Viking, the Marseille-based group said in a statement. Five of the minors are unaccompanied while two of the children are aged under four, the statement added. The boat in distress was spotted thanks to an alert issued by Alarm Phone, a number used by migrants who run into trouble while attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing in hope of a better life in Europe. Since the beginning of 2025, 247 people have disappeared or died in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to reach Europe, according to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). That toll follows the 2,360 people who died across the whole of 2024. The vast majority of the victims died in the central Mediterranean, one of the world's deadliest migration routes.
Euronews
27-02-2025
- General
- Euronews
Around 112 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya reach Tuscany in Central Italy
Around 112 migrants rescued off the coast of Libya have arrived in Tuscany, in Central Italy. The Ocean Viking ship, operated by the SOS Méditerranée, docked in the port of Livorno on Wednesday morning, local media reported. According to the NGO, the migrants, mostly from Bangladesh, Egypt, Somalia, and Syria, were rescued in two operations over the weekend. The group said its crew members stepped in to help a fibreglass boat on Saturday and Sunday night, saving 25 migrants, including three pregnant women. On Sunday morning, an additional 87 migrants were rescued on a wooden boat in cooperation with the Italian police. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 129 people trying to reach Europe have gone missing or died in the Mediterranean so far this year. Last year, illegal migration into Europe decreased by 38% overall but increased by 18% on the Atlantic route between West Africa and the Canary Islands, according to Frontex, the European Union's border agency. Frontex attributed the rise in part to more migrants leaving from Mauritania, which has become a primary point of departure for people attempting to reach Europe. Since it started keeping records in 2014, the IOM has documented at least 5,000 migrants who have perished or disappeared while travelling by ships on the Atlantic route. However, one NGO group, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders), claimed the true death toll is much higher and that 2024 alone saw over 10,000 migrants die or go missing while attempting the illegal sea trips to Europe. The staggering death toll was gathered from data from rescue statistics and migrant families, Caminando Fronteras said.
