Ruben Neugebauer on Sea Rescue and the Crisis on the Mediterranean Sea

Civil sea rescue by organizations such as Sea-Watch saves lives, but the fundamental problem that Europe is sealed off to many who seek refuge remains, argues Ruben Neugebauer. Neugebauer is a co-founder of Sea-Watch, a non-profit organization committed to doing search and rescue missions on the Mediterranean Sea as well as advocating safe passage for refugees. In this episode, he talks with Aida Baghernejad about ways to reform European migration policies and how the situation on the Mediterranean Sea is affected by economic circumstances. Neugebauer is a photojournalist, geochemist and activist.

 



 

¤

 

Tom Zoellner (host) is the New York Times bestselling author of eight nonfiction books, including Island on Fire, Uranium Train, and The Heartless Stone. He teaches at Chapman University and Dartmouth College. A former reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, he is the politics editor at the Los Angeles Review of Books.

 

Aida Baghernejad (co-host) is an award-winning journalist and culture critic based in Berlin. Her work appears in national and international media outlets, among them the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Tagesspiegel, Zeit Online and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, as well as the German podcast series Pasta & Politik, featuring leading female politicians and thinkers in Germany. In 2021, she received the International Music Journalism Award as Music Journalist of the Year. She has previously taught at King’s College London and the Humboldt University Berlin.

 

Lisa Bartfai (producer) is an award-winning independent radio journalist, podcast producer, and translator. She is the producer and editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books podcast 55 Voices for Democracy, and the producer, editor, and host of Bowdoin Presents, a podcast by Bowdoin College. Bartfai’s own reporting was included in the Columbia Review of Journalism’s “Best journalism of 2020: Covering racial justice,” and has been awarded second place in the Society for Features Journalism 2021 Excellence-in-Features, in the Best Podcast category. Bartfai is a mentor with Report for America, and a proud alumni of the KALW Audio Academy.

 

¤