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Activists Around the World: Ailbhe Smyth · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told your production of iHeartRadio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Okay, I am on the mend.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: If you've been listening in real time, it is March
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: twenty fourth, twenty twenty six, the season of allergies.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: And yes, my voice is.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Still pretty creepy and squeaky, so adorable. But the show
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: must go on. We did try to take a pause,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: but we're continuing on and and it seems I am
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: on an Irish cook It is like around Saint Patrick's day,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: so it feels appropriate. There are clovers everywhere. I've not
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: found a four leaf clover though, that's really looking. Yes
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: I have, have you I don't think so you've never
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: found one.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: I don't think I have. I'm my cursed.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: That makes me sad for you. Oh no, we'll have
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: to figure it out.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: We'll have a party because I have several patches of
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: clovers in my backyard, so we'll bring you over here
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: and we'll look. But anyway, with all of that, yes,
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: I am on an Irish content kick, because we've got
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: two Irish related episodes within this week. Again, I know
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: not everybody listens within this time, but just saying if
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: you spout stumble upon this one. No. Within the same way,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: we recorded a second content with Irish related subject matter. Yeah,
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: I really need to go to there. I would really
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: like to go.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: To there, to be honest, it's beautiful. I want to
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: see some puffins. I know you can see.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: I know there's puffins everywhere else as well at other places,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: but there are islands with puffins that people like.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Help to fly. I want to go to there.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: Maybe one day, one day, somebody somebody sent me to
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: see the puffins in Ireland please, But anyway, yes, and
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: for today we are talking about the works and activism
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: of the feminist icon in Ireland.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Alba Smith.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: So, yes, her name is spelt very Gaelic, I believe,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: and so it took me a minute to figure out
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: how to say it.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: It's not smithe Smith. I did figure that out, just
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: everybody knows.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: So she is a known writer, academic, queer and feminist
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: activist who's still advocating for the marginalized community today.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: And she has talked about.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: Her journey in feminism and how she began to get
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: take interest in the women's movements when she started college.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: But honestly, she also talks about the back of that
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: you know as a woman naturally, which you would think
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: it's naturally, but that's what you've talked about before, it's not,
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: which made me very sad. But she's always had some
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: interest in women's rights and women's equality and understood the
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: depth of needed in that type of movement. I do
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: find her very interesting because she is if there is
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: a rating system for radicalists, she is probably pretty radical
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: in most people's books, because she really comes out swinging
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: and talking about how capitalism is also a part of
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: the downfall of equality, and if you've listened to our show,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: we also have understood that concept as well.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Love everything about this.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: But anyway back to she has referenced the women's liberation
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: movement in the seventies and how seeing all of this
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: has kind of made her into this activist seeing the
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: need and also ident'ty finding her own identity has led
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: her to this point as well. Again, she saw the
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: need for change not only for women but for the
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: LGBTQIA plus community and has been something that she has
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: been very vocal about in her activism. She identifies as
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: a lesbian and has done so a belief since the
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: nineties eighties, so not necessarily later in life. I want
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: to say midlife is when she kind of like, oh,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: this is who I am.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: This makes sense to me.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: Her own life has been a whorldwind of activism, continue
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: to grow again in her advocacy, but something that she
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: talks about that has been somewhat lonely and painful. I
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: couldn't imagine, because the seventies eighties, being a radical feminist
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: could probably be very isolating for a very Catholic, old school,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: traditional area. So in an article written about her by
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: The Cut quotes her saying this, when I started this work,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: it created what I called a Siberian wind which would
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: blow between me and certain family members, certain friends. Also
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: in the late nineteen nineties, I came out as a
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: lesbian in Ireland, at least at the time, being a feminist,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: pro choice lesbian really did not win you a lot
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: of friends. I felt quite isolated, like I've been branded
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: as a radical, which I don't have a problem with really.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: I just happened to have always thought abortion is not
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: a particularly radical thing to be asking for, because every
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: single day there is something between ten to twelve women
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: that have to go to England for an abortion, which
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: is a terrible thing to have to do, and there
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: are two or three more women every day who take
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: the abortion pill without having the safety net of medical
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: care or medical supervision if something goes wrong. It was
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: often quite difficult dealing with friends and family members who
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: didn't understand I have some painful memories, which even now
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: I don't particularly want to talk about, is still painful.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: And I hate that we're coming back into the same conversation.
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: And I will say, and I'm going to mention it
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: again later. Some of the articles that I'm mentioning are
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: like are old articles, like eight to ten years old.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: But I thought it fascinating once again because you can
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: see kind of the cyclical looks of where we were
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: and where we are today, and I'm like, oh, could
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: we not go back to that? But anyway, her intersectional
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: advocacy work is fast. She's been feed by different organizations
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: for her work. Again, one specific issue that's always been
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: very vocal about has been reproductive rights, and in the
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: seventies eighties she worked with organizations to post things like
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: the eighth Amendment in the Irish Constitution, which was the
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: all right abortion ban placed on the Irish people. They
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: call it the Catholic It was a Catholic law slash
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: pro life law.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: So obviously, again.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: From that cut article, they quote her saying I've campaigned
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: for Irish women's rights, including abortion rights, since I was
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: quite a young woman in the nineteen seventies. I'm seventy
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: two now again an older article, and I had the
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: coalition to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: The eighth Amendment is the.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Clause to our constitution that prohibits abortion, and we're looking
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: at a referendum at the end of this week when
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: we hope to repeal it.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: So this was.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: Again I believe, done in twenty eighteen when they were
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: first talking about repealing that amendment, and they did so
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: while there's still pretty strict regulations placed on reproductive rights,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: less strict than.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Than hours in Georgia. So you know, congrats.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: With the help of activists like Smith and the organization
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: she chaired at the time, together for Yes, they were
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: able to replace some of the language of the Eighth Amendment,
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: giving more broader care for the irishwomen. So this is
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: a bit from wave dash Network dot org. Since nineteen
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: eighty three, when the Eighth Amendment was inserted into the
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Constitution after a referendum. Smith has fought against the amendment,
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: effectively prohibits abortion, placing the rights of the unborn and
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: the mother on equal footing. Since then, about one hundred
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: and seventy thousand irishwomen have traveled to other countries, especially
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: to the UK, to obtain abortions. Five years ago, Smith
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: formed the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment to strengthen
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: the public debates on the issue and pushed for referendum
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: and finally in twenty eighteen, this long fight ended with
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: a victory. So they really did some amazing work. In
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: this conversation that's specific look at what had happened was
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: not about Smith specifically, but it featured her as in
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: her organization that she chaired, as being the head of
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: the reason of why it actually worked.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: So I thought it was very significant.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: Another organization she chaired, National LGBT Federation, also helped to
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: work for the rights of the LGBT community in Ireland.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: Here's a bit from an interview that was done with
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: her in the Marxist dot Org. It's time now for
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: that to be resolved. So she was specifically talking at
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: the time about how equal marriage or equal rights of marriage,
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: same sex marriage was happening and there was finally getting
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: headway and like, okay, not that it was solved, but
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: it was addressed for a bit. And then she goes
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: on to say, in this country, recognition for trans people
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: in appropriate ways education, health, birth certificate documents and so
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: on is absolutely crucial and very urgent because trans people
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: are living in dreadfully difficult situations now due to the
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: failure to legislate appropriately. So just to note, this is
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: from a twenty fourteen article, so pretty old. This is
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: why I'm like, oh my god. Which it seemed like
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: things were going okay, Like think about our own twenty fourteen.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: We were celebrating victories. The thing thought things were changing
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: like this was like hope. We were in the midst
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: of hope, meaning we were seeing things become again equal
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: and we uh. But it is interesting because she also
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: talks about the need for protecting trans rights then in
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Ireland and about what it looks like when your rights
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: are oppressed. So I wanted this bit because she was like,
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: at this point, we got it. People don't understand oppression.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: And it was twenty fourteen, you were seeing change. If
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: you were younger in that moment, you didn't know what happened.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: Maybe you didn't know what happened with Stonewall, maybe you
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: didn't understand the AIDS epidemic and all the language that happened,
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: and true oppressive oppression and impressiveness that was occurring. So
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: she was talking about the fact that you know, they
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: don't understand. So this is an interesting part. Well, I
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: think there's been a de radicalization of social movements. Generally,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: social movement politics went into abeyance. I think that's true
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: of feminism and women's rights, and I think that is
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: undoubtedly true of the lesbian gay movement. But first, I
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: think there are still pockets of radicalism which are extremely
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: important because there's still a need for struggle, there is
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: a need to achieve that liberation, which is still quite
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: distant in many ways. But also I think it's quite
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: understandable what happened and what happens in identity politics that
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: once your particular issue, that part of your identity seems
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: to be more accepted and seems to occupy more spacious
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: zone in society. Once that becomes more acceptable, you then
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: begin to live your life in those terms. And the
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: need for struggle in relation to your sexual identity becomes
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: less smart, less urgent, It becomes less your primary concern.
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: Whereas when that is oppressed or repressed, that is your
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: primary concern, and you do everything you can on the streets,
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: you do everything you can to achieve its acceptance.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: Is it irony? Any what would what would we call this?
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: No, Samantha, I no joke. I once lost a huge
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: trivia based on the definition of irony. So do not
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: do this to me. It haunts me.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Wow, the triggering that happened was not the type of triggering.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: I saw what happened.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I hear it, and I think, what have you done
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: to me?
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: Apologies back to No, But I do find it interesting
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: in this speech because it kind of is almost like
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: a foreshadowing of things that come. And I I am
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: so sad that we are back here again in knowing
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: that statement that in hearing the statement she talked about,
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: whereas whereas when that is appress or repressed, that it
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: is your primary concern. And that's where we are. That's
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: where we are in the US and in a lot
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: of places. We know that it's not just the US,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: but primarily as we see things happening. It feels like
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: the warning that came eight years ago, because we were
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: kind of not necessarily stagnant, but we really thought we'd
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: hit such a great mark, you know.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, And I remember talking to Bridget about this
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: forever ago, and she was like, I took that backpack off,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and I don't want to put that backpack on again.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: I've got a new backpack, the backpack being whatever issue.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: You were writing for.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it is. It is easy to
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: feel that way, like, oh my god, I was just
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: thinking about it. I remember I was when gay marriage
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: was legalized, and it was like, Okay, this is done,
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: and now it's like, oh, any day it could be undone.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: That's what the backpack comes back, right.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: And exactly like that kind of was an interesting moment
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: of where she's like, Okay, we've done with that now,
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: but like, no, we're not.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: No, we're not. Nope, we're back. We're back to that now.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: We're back to the press oppressed moment.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: In the same way with women's rights and reproductive rights
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: and abortion laws and all these things. It is very
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: sad to say yes, as you and Bridget would say, backpack,
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: but it's also saying like we're back to that oppressed
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: state and in which we are talking about going back
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: into that street. I will say she's been on some
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: podcasts recently, she's been doing some interview, she's been getting accolades,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: still working her work like she is never done, obviously,
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: and it's it's interesting to see her talk even more
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: about it. I will say it was really refreshing because
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: I for all of our feminis around the world or
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: activists around the world, we try to make sure in
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: our best ability that they do align with our own beliefs,
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: including trans rites and understanding trans people, because there is
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: a lot of bad players. It was beautiful to see
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: that all of the articles that I saw were mad
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: at her for not being anti trans, you know, like
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: instead of like, oh she is she said this really
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: silly thing or that were like how could she? And
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh goodness, thank god. Especially when you see
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: old school icons you never know, yeah, you never know.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: So she was also like a breath of fresh air
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: to see. And with that, it's no surprise. She's been
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: awarded with many accolades, and some of them include Lifetime
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Achievement awards. She won Ireland's LGBTQ Awards. In twenty nineteen,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: she was one of the top one hundred most Influential
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: for Time magazine, along with her co directors four Together
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: for Yes. In twenty twenty two, she was ordered the
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: Freedom of Dublin City Award. She's been awarded an honorary doctorate.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: She also was ordered a big French that I can't
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: remember the name of because it's in French. I'm not
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: gonna make you say it, Annie, Okay. Usually I've been
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: trying to do a cutaway to be like, okay, any
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: you pronounce this. But she has done so much for
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: the community. She continues to do so much. She like
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: I think, began the women and Gender studies at the
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: University of Dublin.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Like she is an icon in so many ways.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: So cheers to her and her amazing works and the
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: fact that we are still continuing this fight.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Yes, and thanks to the people who paved the way
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: for these fights and who continue to do them. We
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: really appreciate it. Well, listeners, If you have any thoughts
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: about this, or any suggestions for future topics or people
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: we should spotlight, please.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Let us know.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: You can email us at Hello at stuff Onenever told
• 15:55
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• 15:56
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• 16:05
  Speaker 1: as always to our super Christine, our executive producer, My Ander,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening
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