carola rackete

Myths and heroes

First of all, let's have a look at the definition of a hero : a person who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great.

In my opinion, Carola Rackete is truly a hero.

Carola Rackete is a 31 years old German ship captain, working for the organization “Sea Watch” since 2016. This German organization struggles for the rescue of refugees in the Mediterranean.

During summer 2019, on board the ship Sea Watch 3, she rescued at least 42 people off the Libyan coast, who were drifting on a weak rubber dinghy. She intended berth the Libyan port, but the government refused her permission request. She also asked France to berth in the port of Marseille, but she still had no answer from the country. Then, she decided to force the way and berth without permission the Italian island of Lampedusa. Her ship has been finally stuck for more than two weeks offshore, and Sea Watch’s doctors said that they couldn’t more safeguarded refugee's heath.

Carola Rackete was arrested immediately after their arrival at Lampedusa, but she had been released two days after. The Italian Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini accused Carola of “taking advantage of the migrant’s suffering to lead a politic battle”, and he affirmed publicly on social networks that Sea Watch couldn’t care less about saving human’s lives.

After learning of all this incident, I wonder how humans could be so crual, so selfish and so inhuman. Indeed, they refused to help people in difficulty, between life and death. They refused to help them, because of their individual politic, they just don’t think about how can refugees can feel : they go through horrible life experiences that we can’t only imagine, they lost their country, their family, having a hope of get a better life, a safe life, without risking the death crossing the street. They saw the death many times, they come to Europe for having a refuge, and that is how we welcome them, us Europeans ? Europe isn’t the land of union, share and tolerance ?

All this to say that this woman is an example of bravery and boldness, and she showed us that sometimes, we have to go against the law to do good.