The Civil Fleet Podcast

About The Civil Fleet Podcast

Saving lives at sea is not a crime But for the past few years, European states have treated those brave enough to save refugees from drowning in the Mediterranean as if they were breaking the law. Welcome to The Civil Fleet, a podcast by civilfleet.com that focuses on the NGO refugee rescuers in the central Mediterranean and beyond.

Publisher

Ben Cowles

Category

news · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Mar 2021

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

93 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   Episode 93: Biking Against Borders

   In this episode we speak with Seb, a 26-year-old bus driver cycling from Amsterdam to Japan, raising money for No Name Kitchen and MiGrate, and raising awareness of brutalities of the global border regime. ---Support The Civil Fleet Podcast--- ko-fi.com/civilfleet ---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social Instagram: thecivilfleet YouTube: youtube.com/@thecivilfleet info@civilfleet.com civilfleet.com ---Show notes--- For more from Seb, see his website here: sebbiebikes.org And follow him on Instagram: sebbiebikes For more on No Name Kitchen, see: nonamekitchen.org And check out episodes 87, 63, 59, 58, 51, 41, and 6 of The Civil Fleet Podcast For more on MiGreat, check out migreat.org/en Seb and Ben mention a bunch of books in the episode. Here they are: The Divide by Jason Hickle Humanitarian borders by Polly Pallister-Wilkins Whites, Jews and Us by Houria Bouteldja After We Kill You, We Will Welcome You Back As Honoured Guests by Ted Rall Base Nation by David Vine The Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevans Border and Rule by Harsha Walia [Please don't buy them from Amazon. Jeff Bezos has enough money already. He can fuck off to Mars] See here for more on Dutch war crimes during the  Battle of Chora in Afganistan, see here: https://www.courthousenews.com/dutch-court-finds-2007-bombing-of-afghan-village-unlawful/ Here's the video Ben mentioned of Afghanis clinging to a US plane retreating from the country in 2021 as the Taliban returned to power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUkObNlWjsI Core Countries – what is Ben talking about? If you want to know more about World Systems Analysis, then check out this great introduction on the theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EtOm0N_NVM&t=209s For more on the arms firm Lockheed Martin, see his article by Campaign Against the Arms Trade: https://caat.org.uk/data/companies/lockheed-martin/ Read The Lancet's study on the number of people killed by economic sanctions since the 1970s here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(25)00278-5/fulltext

2. 

   4 Oct 2026

   Episode 92: Humanity blocked

   In this episode, Barbara from SOS Humanity tells us about the rescue organisation's new ship, the Humanity 2, how its crew saved over 70 lives on its first mission in the Mediterranean, and how the Italian authorities then seized it. ---Support The Civil Fleet Podcast--- ko-fi.com/civilfleet ---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social Instagram: thecivilfleet YouTube: youtube.com/@thecivilfleet info@civilfleet.com civilfleet.com ---Show notes--- For more on SOS Humanity, check out their website, here: sos-humanity.org/en/sos-humanity You can donate to them here: sos-humanity.org/en/donate-now Follow SOS Humanity Bluesky: @sos-humanity.bsky.social And Instagram: soshumanity_de Check out episode 55 of The Civil Fleet Podcast for more on SOS Humanity Ben mentions the Missing Migrants Project. Check that out here: missingmigrants.iom.int/ For more on the Piantedosi Decree, listen to episodes 90, 84, 71 and 66 For more on the Justice Fleet alliance, see here: justice-fleet.org The Sea Punk I was the 11th detention of Justice Fleet ships this year. Read more here: sos-humanity.org/en/press/11th-detention-of-justice-fleet-ship-by-italian-authorities/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

3. 

   30 Jul 2026

   Episode 91: Titanic profits from Britain's performative cruelty

   In this episode we speak with Toni from Corporate Watch about Titan Airways, a charter airline company making millions from Britain's deportation regime. She tells us how the firm is generating wealth by tearing families apart, making a killing from every juncture in the cycle of war, and using sport to wash its image. ---Support The Civil Fleet Podcast--- ko-fi.com/civilfleet ---Get in touch--- Twitter: @FleetCivil Mastodon: @civilfleet@kolektiva.social Bluesky: @thecivilfleet.bsky.social Instagram: thecivilfleet YouTube: youtube.com/@thecivilfleet info@civilfleet.com civilfleet.com ---Show notes--- Check out Corporate Watch here: corporatewatch.org/ Follow Corporate Watch on BlueSky: @corporatewatch.bsky.social And on Instagram: corporatewatchuk Read Toni's co-authored article on Titan Airways here: https://corporatewatch.org/titan-airways-the-charter-airline-quietly-making-millions-from-deportations/ Read the UN document Ben and Toni mention in the episode: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=30524 For more on Corporate Watch, Air Partner and CarlsonWagonlit, check out episode 40 of The Civil Fleet Podcast. Here's an article about former British Prime Minister praising Italy's return hub deal with Albania: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cvgddpq44qjt. And here's another: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-asylum-seekers-albania-meloni-italy-b2612898.html For more on Deportation Watch, see here: https://uk.deportationwatch.net/en For more on Britain, listen to episodes: 83, 82, 73, 67, 63, 62, 61, 57, 39, 38, 32, 25, 21 and 11. You can sign JCWI's petition calling for an end to the UK and France's 1-in-1-out deal here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-racist-and-cruel-one-in-one-out-deportations/ Toni mentions Gary Stevenson and his YouTube channel, Gary's Economics. If you've somehow not heard of him, check him out here: youtube.com/@garyseconomics Toni references former England footballer and pundit Gary Lineker and the Patriotic Millionaires group calling on the British government to tax them more. Check them out here: https://patrioticmillionaires.org/ According to Flightradar24, July 23, 2026 had the most commercial flights in a single day than any other in history: https://www.newsweek.com/global-air-travel-had-busiest-day-on-record-12245968 Ben mentions No Name Kitchen and Sea-Watch. For more on the former, see episodes 87, 63, 59, 58, 51, 41, and 6, and listen to episodes 90, 70, 65, 43, 22, 7 and 1 for the latter.

Who has been a guest on The Civil Fleet Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Cetta
• Daniel
• Hannah
• James

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

1.0 / 5

1 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

19 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 59 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

86

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

82

Contact The Civil Fleet Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.