Navigating with my own map.

I am here again.

(Seen earlier here, or was it here?)

In this UK election, let’s talk about emergency services.

Cross-posted from Syria Solidarity UK.


Rescued in in the Aegean Sea, September 6, 2014. Photo: Coast Guard Aegean Sea Region Command.

With a death toll close to that of the Titanic sinking, a week of disasters in the Mediterranean has forced UK and EU leaders to pay attention to the failure of their brutal policy of withdrawing rescue services.

• The UK must join with other EU members to restore an effective Mediterranean rescue mission.
  

The UK Government can and should also act immediately to fund initiatives such as the joint MSF/MOAS rescue mission.

These disasters have made clear what is necessary. Still there are attempts by UK and EU leaders to displace responsibility, to distract from the primary causes and thus avoid effective action.

This exodus is not caused by “human traffickers”, it’s caused primarily by war. The term “human traffickers” is misleading, conflating people-smuggling with enslavement. Those fleeing across the Mediterranean, while they may be exploited by boat owners, are not enslaved by them. They have not been kidnapped and sold into bondage, but have for the most part made a rational choice between trying to survive war, and trying to survive the sea.

Attacking smugglers is no more a good answer than withdrawing rescue services was.

It’s not that long ago that some Europeans were charging other Europeans who were fleeing genocide enormous sums of money to make an escape by sea. For example Denmark proudly remembers 1943, when almost all of Denmark’s Jews escaped the Holocaust with the help of their fellow citizens. Less emphasis is placed on the fact that many were charged amounts equivalent of up to £5,500 for places on boats making the relatively short crossing to safety in Sweden.

Where there is desperation there will be exploitation, so tackle the reasons for the desperation to stop the exploitation.

• Resettle more of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees.
• Create safe routes as an alternative to dangerous sea crossings.
• Act to end the worst of the violence: Stop Assad’s barrel bombs.

Another diversion in some responses to the Mediterranean crisis has been to blame the deaths on NATO’s intervention in Libya.

But note that Libyans themselves are barely represented amongst those fleeing. Syrians make up over a third of those entering the EU irregularly according to figures from Frontex, the EU’s border agency. The next largest national group are people from Eritrea. 67,000 Syrians sought asylum in Europe last year, most arriving by sea.

In contrast UNHCR figures show the current total of Libyan refugees and asylum seekers at under 6,000 worldwide—though the number seeking refuge abroad may yet rise significantly as UNHCR believe up to 400,000 Libyans are internally displaced.

The true role of Libya in the Mediterranean crisis is as a place of transit, though it is far from being the only one. Sailing from Libya has become easier since the fall of the Gaddafi dictatorship. Previously a deal between Italy and Libya resulted in the regime acting as Europe’s outsourced border guards, locking up people trying to flee on boats. Here’s a description from a 2010 report by PRI’s The World, describing the experiences of Daoud from Somalia:

Daoud tried to make the trip north aboard a smuggling vessel, but he was arrested as he tried to board, and sent to a prison in Tripoli, where he became seriously ill.

“I believe it used to be a chemical plant because all of us had skin rashes and the Libyan prison guards used to beat us at least twice a day,” Daoud said. “And that’s what created and forced us to break out of jail. My intention was just to get out of Libya and head to the seas and to see where my luck takes me.”

Daoud alleges that his dark skin color had a lot to do with how he was treated in Libya: “They directly called me a slave. So, it was horrible. They will tell you in your face.”

Jean-Philippe Chauzy is director of communications for the International Organization for Migration in Geneva. He’s traveled frequently to Libya, and said Daoud’s story is shared by many migrants there.

Daoud’s experience shows why this policy was morally unsustainable. The collapse of Gaddafi’s regime showed it was also practically unsustainable. Had NATO not intervened to protect civilians there, the likely result would not have been a more stable Libya, but a longer and more bloody revolution as we’ve seen in Syria, with many more desperate people fleeing to Europe’s shores.

Links:

The 900 refugees drowned in the Mediterranean were killed by British government policy, by Dan Hodges, The Telegraph, 20 April 2015.

Mediterranean migrant deaths: where British parties stand, Channel 4 News, 15 April 2015.

UK Election Notes: Foreign Policy Opportunities – Resettling Syrian Refugees, by Dr Neil Quilliam, Chatham House, 10 April 2015.

Restart the Rescue: Help stop children drowning in the Mediterranean, campaign by Save the Children.


Read more: A manifesto for Syria

Join us in London on the 26th of April to answer the call from Syria.

In this UK election, let’s talk about our shared future.

Cross-posted from Syria Solidarity UK.


Rescue in the Mediterranean. Photo: Amnesty International.

A British general election is about deciding how Britain is governed, about Britain’s future. But our future here, and the future of our children, doesn’t only depend on what happens within the borders of the UK, it depends on events in the wider world.

We can’t have a safe country in an unsafe world. We can’t build a caring home for our children if we care nothing for others. We can’t expect a prosperous future on these islands if we turn away from the rest of humanity.

Read more: A manifesto for Syria

Join us in London on the 26th of April to answer the call from Syria.

Planet Syria: Signal received

The family were in Dorset earlier this week, so on Planet Syria’s day of global solidarity we sent our response from the Jurassic Coast via Twitter.

Planet Syria is a joint campaign by non-violent activist groups in Syria calling for an end to Assad’s air attacks in order to enable meaningful peace talks, even if that requires a no-fly zone. Read more at planetsyria.org or on their Facebook page.

Before we left London for the sea, I helped prepare Syria Solidarity UK’s response.

The neighbours are drowning

At least 3,419 people died last year trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

Most were fleeing Syria and Eritrea.

The UK Government has withdrawn support for Mediterranean search and rescue.

Protest in London on Saturday.
31 January, 2-5pm, at the Home Office, 2 Marsham St, London SW1P 4DF.

Read more: Three ways to save Syrian refugees.

I’ll be talking at the Liverpool Irish Festival, Friday 24th October

As part of the Liverpool Irish Festival I’ll be at Liverpool School of Art & Design on Friday the 24th of October at 2pm, talking about illustration and sea monsters. Ireland’s part in the development of submarine warfare is also likely to get a mention.

Image from Worse Things Happen at Sea, published by Nobrow.

A pair of Danish sea serpents

Here’s a painting just finished for Danish publisher Arvids, a cover for an upcoming book. It was my first acrylic painting after a very long break from the medium – over three years I think. I found it an uncomfortable struggle to begin with, but by the end I was enjoying painting again, and sea monsters are always a pleasure!

Porto scrapbook

‘Worse Things’ on sale and on film

Worse Things Happen at Sea, my Leporello book, went on sale this week in fine bookshops and via publisher Nobrow’s fine website. To kick things off I had the pleasure of spending time with the Great Eastern Street crew as I signed the first fifty to go on sale in London.

On Nobrow’s blog you’ll find a little film about the making of the book, made by Eddie Frost of Proudfoot. It was a pleasure to have him and his team visit.

In print

And available shortly from fine bookshops, or directly from Nobrow Press.

Inside, waves of paper, covered with inky sea monsters.

The original Leporello recorded a list of lovers, but this leporello is a litany of death and disaster.

The cover is a separate piece of paper, and doubles as a ballad sheet.

Thanks to wonderful Nobrow, seeing this in print has been the most satisfying revelation!

Launching my Leporello: sailing from Dublin Bay to the Swiss Alps

Worse Things Happen at Sea is the title of my forthcoming Leporello book from Nobrow Press. It’s a concertina book of ships and sea monsters, a series of disasters in both its subject matter and in the history of its making. During the drawing of it I’ve been losing my mind, losing my eyesight, and lost a couple of months’ work in a burglary. Now the art is all delivered, so barring a flood at the printers, it should be on sale in the next few weeks.

To launch the book, I’ll be travelling to a couple of events in Ireland and Switzerland with fellow Nobrow artists. Next week, illustrator Bjørn Rune Lie, Nobrow partner Sam Arthur, and myself, will be going to Offset, a graphic design festival in Dublin that runs from the 21st to the 23rd of March. Sam will be telling the story of Nobrow on Friday at 12 noon on the Magenta Stage, while Bjørn and I will be talking about our latest books on Sunday at 12 noon, again on the Magenta Stage.

Then in April, Luke Pearson, Andrew Rae, and myself, will all be exhibiting work at the Fumetto comics festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. As well as original drawings for Worse Things Happen at Sea, I’ll also be showing paintings from Het Zeemans-ABC (A Sailor’s ABC) the Dutch Little Golden Book by Nienke Denekamp that I illustrated a while back. Fumetto runs from the 5th to the 13th of April, and I will be there myself ’til the 9th.

Rolling for the revolution

Thursday next week in Oxford, historian (and friend of this blog) Evan Daniel is going to be talking about the shifting politics of 19th Century Cuban emigré communities of New York and Florida, a story of anarchism, nationalism, and the craft of cigar rolling.

Having heard him talk on the subject last year (at The Coal Hole, The Strand, London) I think it promises to be a very interesting tale.

Annexation, Autonomy, or Independence? The Politics of Cuban Identity in the Émigré Communities of New York and Florida, 1840s-1890s

Thursday 18th April 2013, 2 pm – 3.30 pm

Seminar Room, Pauling Centre, 58a Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6QS

Hosted by the ESRC Centre on Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS)

More details at Poumista. Read some of Evan Daniel’s work on the subject here.

Top image from Firecured: All things Tobacco. Another image of the Kerbs & Spiess Mermaid cigar brand here.

Below, from the State Archives of Florida’s Florida Memory website, Cuban volunteers in the barracks, 1898. According to the website, “Many of these were cigar makers at Tampa. The ‘Army of the Cuban Republic’ was made up from 40 Cubans from Jacksonville, 200 from New York, and 150 from Key West. They set sail on the ‘Florida’ to join the rebels on May 21st.”

See more images at Florida Memory of cigar making, the Spanish-American War, and Cuban independence.

Looking for Parrot’s long lost mother

Following on from an earlier post, here’s a Brockhampton Press semi-strip book featuring Bruin, or as he’s known in the original Danish, Rasmus Klump. This little book is in the same small horizontal two-colour format as the Peter Pan book seen recently on Michael Sporn’s Splog.

Published in 1959, Bruin the Deep Sea Diver was the third Bruin book in this format. The back cover lists two other titles, Bruin Sets Sail and Bruin is Shipwrecked.

The book begins by concluding the previous volume’s shipwreck story. In Bruin is Shipwrecked, he and his crew were washed off the deck of the good ship Mary in a storm and came ashore on an island populated by turtles. Thinking the Mary was lost, they decided to make a new ship, a paddle boat fashioned out of a hollow log. Now, setting off to circumnavigate the island they find the Mary safe and sound, but with a stranger aboard.

In the Danish book series, all this is included in the shipwreck book, Rasmus Klump på Skilpaddeøen, rather than the diving book, Rasmus Klump som dykker.

These stories were originally published as a daily comic strip, and all he book collections are abridged, leaving out some panels. This little book skips quite a few, but even so I won’t reproduce the whole thing here.

I’ve scanned the following pages in higher resolution: one, two and three, four and five, six and seven, eight and nine, ten and eleven, twelve and thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. This brings us up to the proper end of the shipwreck story, and to the point where the Danish version of the diving story begins.

But wait, on page fourteen something very exciting occurs! Despite the book leaving out so many panels, it manages to include an event missing from the Danish books, namely the first appearance of Parrot as an egg, and the only appearance of Parrot’s mother!

But who is this parrot, you ask? Well, throughout their adventures, Bruin (Rasmus), Pingo, Percy the pelican (Pelle), and the old salt Wilmot (Skæg), are accompanied by the little ones (de små), a little turtle (Pilskadden) who only speaks its own turtle language, and the turtle’s little friend. In the first few stories the turtle’s friend is a frog (Frømand), and then in Rasmus Klump som dykker the turtle and frog suddenly produce a small pram, out of which eventually comes a baby parrot (Gøjen). Shortly afterwards the frog, a male like most characters in the strip, meets a female frog and leaves the crew, so for the later books the little ones are the turtle and the parrot.

All the stories feel like an imaginative play session between three children, Bruin, Pingo, and Percy, with the little ones being a pair of lively toddlers sometimes playing in parallel and sometimes joining in the main action, and Wilmot as an indulgent adult who sometimes plays along, but is quite distracted and would just as soon have a nap while the game continues.

So, for readers of the Danish books, it’s long seemed quite mysterious the way Parrot appeared out of the pram. But having seen two drawings of Parrot’s mother, I wondered were there any more? Google have recently put online scans of several years worth of back issues of the Glasgow Evening Times, and in its pages, starting with the issue of February 8th 1954, we can find the complete early newspaper strips in translation.

Here then is the complete appearance of Parrot’s mother, three panels published in the Evening Times on Saturday August 13th, 1955, and below a further view of the egg before it’s tucked in by turtle, from the following monday’s issue.

Finally, a quick look at my very battered old copy of Rasmus Klump som dykker, with the pram first appearing on page two, and Parrot popping out much later in the book.

One day perhaps we’ll see these stories reprinted unabridged. The easy pace of the original stories are still perfect for young children, and for older readers who like sharing some of their adventures before having forty winks.

Rasmus Klump copyright © Egmont Serieforlaget.

Twit Archive 1-15 October 2011

Above, detail of De zeeslag bij Livorno, 14 maart 1653, a pen painting by Willem van de Velde I of the Battle of Livorno. The painting, in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, is over one metre high by over a metre and a half wide, and is entirely rendered in pen and ink lines too fine to see even in the high resolution view available on their website.

More art and war in the tweets below the fold.

Twit Archive 16-30 September 2011

Above, Turner’s The Shipwreck, from 1805, via the Google Art Project selection of paintings from Tate Britain.

Below, more art tweets, animation, comics, books and music tweets, Danish elections, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Niger, and sewers in London and New York.

Twit Archive 1-12 July 2011

Above, from the Calkin Family website, Harry Roy and his Band on the Alcantara, April 1938, with bass player Arthur Calkin on the right. Hear them play Mama Don’t Want No Rice an’ Peas or Coconut Oil.

Below the fold, tweets on phone hacking, Wikileaks, Libya, Syria, film, music, comics, and ships.

Twit Archive 11-20 May 2011

Below the fold, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan tweets.

Also concrete ships, yesterday and today.

Louis Oppenheim’s First World War German propaganda posters, and typefaces.

Pre James Bond, WW1 U-boat salvage and repair ship SMS Vulkan.

Above, art by Frank R Paul, from Golden Age Comic Book Stories.

Artblogging: animation designers

One1more2time3’s Weblog: Hans Bacher’s blog features not just his own art from several decades as a production designer for animation, but also art by many of the artists he worked with, and even more by many others he admires. There’s too much great stuff there for me to single out one or two things, so if you’re unfamiliar with the site, take the time to work back through the archives. Above, pre-production art for an unrealised film of Cats.

A Sketchy Past, The Art of Peter de Sève: A mix of his book and magazine work along with animation design, There are a few nice posts on other artists as well, on Daumier, Norman Rockwell’s feet, fellow animation designer Nicolas Marlet, and fellow fine print cartoonist Edward Sorel.

Paul Lasaine: His blog has lots of colour digital paintings for animated features and live action effects films. Above, a sample from his work for Surf’s Up. The earliest post on the blog is particularly interesting, showing some of his early work as a matte painter working in oils on glass.

Extra - added 7 July 2012

Old Men With Kazoos and Beating Drums: Work by Kali Fontecchio when she’s not at work.

The Art of Kevin Nelson

John Nevarez

Unofficial Paul Felix

Jake Parker

Character Design: Artist interviews.

Artblogging: three pretty scrapbooks

Form is Void is a picture blog that I’m not sure how better to describe. Above, from a post of Richard Oelze images. Another post that stood out for me was on Robert John Thornton’s Temple of Flora botanical prints.

Similar picture-heavy and word-light is But Does it Float, where this and other engravings by Albin Brunovsky can be found.

Chaudron is likewise an eye blog. Here’s someting from a post collecting photographs of wind instruments.

Extra - added 7 July 2012:

Ampere’s And: Books and bits.

All My Eyes: Some words as well as pictures, of tennis in Zanzibar, and gunpowder labels, and submarine insignia, and ahh, ugly tomatoes.

Gibbon: A selection of daubers, scratchers, and snappers, snipped and stuck by Limbolo.

Tigerloaf: A very lovely blog by one Dylan Thomas Hayden.

Twit Archive - 10-30 April 2011

Lots more on Libya, plus a couple of links to the Weimar Art blog to posts Ride a Bike and With Love From Russia. The above image comes from that Russia post, a photo by Dmitry Debabov, The “Krasin” ice-breaker in the Arctic, 1936.

Tweets below the fold.