The boat Samy

We are on our way to Barcelona's harbour, walking among derelict boats and debris, some boats are now squatters, one of them is owned by the legendary theater group La Fura dels Baus
Samy and Quomar, two sailors living in terrible conditions in a huge cargo boat, the Samy, invite us to eat with them, we collect some money and buy wine, rice and lentils. Quomar lower the broken stair to allow us to climb onboard, I tell him I feel as the queen Elizabeth 1, when sir Walter Raleigh put his cloak on the mud, Samy and Quomar laugh, they kiss my hand...



Indymedia and other independent media wrote about them several times:

"A crew of 13 people are currently trapped on a cargo boat docked in Barcelona.
The crew were employed to facilitate repairs on the boat registered in Liberia, "SAMY" or "Freetown" and were contracted by the ship's owner between april and august of 2005 in Mumbay India.
The boat now repaired is shipworthy and may soon receive orders to clear the port. The crew have not been paid their wages, but the Barcelona Port Authority has been paid its daily charges. The owner of the boat dealing through multiple agencies and sheltered by the lack of proper attention to international martime workers' rights, has not paid them, and only sent a insuficient sum of money to cover food, water and other essential living costs.

These men have been brought here on a one way plane ticket by the owner.

The ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation) has long campaigned to bring attention to the plight of workers globally who are effectively in endentured labour, near slavery, on floating prisons.

The crew welcome ( & need )Support and Solidarity and Visits. It gets pretty boring with no food and no money in one of the richest yachting ports in the world."