Sea Watch, Carola: 'I don't feel like a heroine, but I would do it all again'

“I didn’t make a mistake in entering the port and territorial waters. The only mistake was the collision, which was caused by fatigue. However, I would do everything I did again, because it was my duty. “We broke down a wall. The one erected in the sea by the second security decree. We were forced to do it. Sometimes it takes civil disobedience to assert human rights and bring wrong laws before a judge. In Germany, we know well that there were dark periods in which the Germans followed laws and prohibitions that were not good: just because something is law does not mean it is a good law” Carola Rackete, the captain of the Sea Watch 3, states this in an interview with 'la Repubblica'. She speaks for the first time after the arrest was not validated and recalls the moments of the landing in this way. Carola Rackete emphasizes that she did not expect the physical opposition of the patrol boat “because it was very risky. When I turned the Sea-Watch to get closer to the dock I thought the finance police would move. I tried to avoid them with a maneuver, but from the bridge I couldn’t see the patrol boat well. It was an error of judgment, the impact could have been avoided: it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been so tired. I hadn’t slept for days, I was woken up every hour, because there was always something to decide”. On the fact that according to the Agrigento prosecutors, there was no real state of necessity, because the serious medical cases had been sent ashore, the captain added: “They never spoke to the shipwrecked people, nor to our doctors. They didn’t have psychiatrists who could assess the mental state of the group”. Asked if she is aware of having become a symbol, Carola said she is feeling it: “I have seen my photos everywhere, the graffiti, the banner at Notre Dame. But – she stressed – I don’t feel like a heroine. I hope that what I have done will be an example for my generation: we don't have to sit around waiting, we don't have to accept everything in silence and indifference. We can stand up, we can do something, use our brains and courage. If there are problems, let's do something concrete to solve them". Carola finally explained that she is "a convinced environmentalist, atheist and European citizen. I have been traveling the world since I was 23. I don't feel particularly German, I am in Germany for just one month a year. We grew up with the idea of ​​the European Union, and too often we forget how important this institution is. It should be - she concluded - even more integrated, so that the States would be forced to accept the redistribution of asylum seekers, instead of doing those ridiculous dances. In the last European elections I voted for Yanis Varoufakis".