from the seato the city! - 5 Years of Alarm Phone

Aug 27, 2026

Five Years of Alarm Phone documents the WatchTheMed network’s five-year work supporting people in distress at sea across Mediterranean routes, describing 60 months of 24/7 standby, engagement with around 2,800 boats, and growth to about 200 members in Europe and North Africa. It frames alarm phone activity as infrastructure for freedom of movement, linking migration experience with the EU border regime’s militarisation and externalisation. The text highlights milestones, regional case histories, and reflections on transnational solidarity through actions, interviews, and practical responses beyond borders.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages77

Reading Time3 h 14 min

AccessFree to download

celebrating 5 Years of transnational solidarity

Introduction

five Years of alarm Phone

struggling in the different regions of the Med

Particulary Memorable Alarm Phone Cases

5 Years Alarm Phone in the Western Mediterranean

solidaritY on the Move

Rest in Peace

connection beYond borders

Channel crossings to the UK

A practical response to externalising the European border regime

Thanks. Glossary. Network. Donations. Imprint

from the seato the city! 5 Years of Alarm Phone Action of the Seebrücke movement to protest the mass dying in the Mediterranean in Berlin, 17 May 2019. Photo: SEEBRÜCKE 2 3 Welcome to Europe! The Open Arms with around 120 migrants on board off Lampedusa, August 2019. Photo: Friedrich Bungert / Sea-Watch e.V. 4 Blockade of the Main river during a Seebrücke demonstration Frankfurt, Germany in August 2019. Photo: Hagen Kopp The Welcome United ‘Parade-Power-Block’at the unteilbar demonstration in Dresden/Germany, August 2019. Photo: MazlumDemir Photo: Lisa Groß from the seato the city! 5 Years of Alarm Phone Banner saying We’re here The drowned missing” Photo exhibition in Oujda/Morocco, October 2018. Photo: Amélie Janda 12 14 18 23 27 30 36 38 46 53 60 72 74 76 81 82 86 90 95 199 102 108 115 120 123 127 132 141 148 table of contents 1 celebrating 5 Years of transnational solidaritY Introduction Hello my friend, I am from the Alarm Phone Messages from Those on the Move Women on the move ‘Milestones’ in the Mediterranean 2 struggling in the different regions of the Med Particularly Memorable Alarm Phone Cases 5 Years Alarm Phone in the Western Mediterranean The Alarm Phone in the Central Med “No one can stop the rain”, but Europe tries hard 3 solidaritY on the Move Rest in Peace How Europe externalises its borders: The case of Morocco Albatros Interview with S. Intercepted at Sea and Returned to Libya: Voices from Detention Migration: between law and crime EU-Egypt cooperation in the field of migration control and borders externalization 4 connection beYond borders Alarme Phone Sahara (APS)– a practical response to the policy of externalising the European border regime CommemorAction Channel crossings to the UK Both Sides of the Border “Towards corridors of solidarity!” Successful exchanges and empowering atmospheresat the Transborder Summer Camp in France A network’s self-portrait still loving freedoM of MoveMent Thanks. Glossary. Network. Donations. Imprint celebrating 5 Years of transnational solidarity Fisher boat at La Goulette beach, Tunis. Photo: Amélie Janda 01 5 Years of transnational solidaritY introduction five Years of alarm Phone Marion bayer, hagen Kopp, Kiri santer and Maurice stierl Five years of WatchTheMed Alarm Phone. 60 months during which we came into contact with around 2,800 boats on the various routes in the Mediterranean and accompanied and supported them on their way. 1,800 days during which we were on standby 24/7 for people in distress at sea. Hardly anyone could have imagined this when the project was launched in October 2014 by around 50 activists. Today, the network comprises around 200 members in many cities in Europe and North Africa. We are more deeply rooted than ever in the respective regions and in communities of refugees and migrants. The Alarm Phone has developed into a sort of infrastructure in support of the right to freedom of movement, accompanying the persistence of migration movements in the fight against the EU border regime. “Ferries not Frontex” is and remains our demand and vision to end death at sea immediately. But today, we seem far from achieving safe passage for those on the move, which would – incidentally–make our project superfluous. We experienced the fabulous long summer of migration in 2015 every day and every night. For a short time, the hope arose that the breakthrough on the Balkan route could bring about a new, open Europe. But the roll-back of control and of fortress Europe began that very winter, and the last few years until today have been marked by the dramatic militarisation and externalisation of European borders. Death and suffering are the intended consequences of EU policies of exclusion and deterrence, accompanied by racist agitation and the increased criminalisation of migration. Still: let us not forget

FAQs

What is the Alarm Phone WatchTheMed network, and what did it do over five years?

It is a volunteer-based network that offered 24/7 standby for people in distress at sea and accompanied about 2,800 boats across Mediterranean routes during a 60-month period.

How does the text describe the EU border regime during the last five years?

It links EU policies to the militarisation and externalisation of European borders, presenting death and suffering as intended consequences of exclusion and deterrence.

What future or political goals does the document emphasise?

It calls for “Ferries not Frontex,” bridges not walls, and the building of infrastructures for freedom of movement and equal rights despite continued criminalisation and repression.

Aug 27, 2026

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