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Activists Around the World: Amal Azzudin · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha. I'm loking to stuff
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  Speaker 1: I ever told you your prediction of iHeart.
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  Speaker 2: Radio And for today's activists around the world, we are
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  Speaker 2: highlighting the works of Egyptian Scottish activists. Amal Azudin so
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  Speaker 2: Azudd was born in Somalia and due to the persecutions
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  Speaker 2: and hardships and wars that were happening at that time,
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  Speaker 2: she and her family moved to the UK when she
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  Speaker 2: was at the age of ten. So as a refugee,
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  Speaker 2: she and her family were placed in Glasgow, Scotland. They
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  Speaker 2: didn't know they just kind of got dropped off there,
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  Speaker 2: but she had stated that this was one of the
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  Speaker 2: best things that have ever happened to her. So there
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  Speaker 2: she was able to continue her life and her education
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  Speaker 2: with our family, and this included growing into her activistsm
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  Speaker 2: SO at the age of fifteen, when one of her
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  Speaker 2: friends and their family were detained by the government, she
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  Speaker 2: and a group of friends came together to advocate for her.
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  Speaker 2: Their activism grew and soon their group would be known
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  Speaker 2: as the Glasgow Girls. So here's a bit from the
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  Speaker 2: article in Seleid club dot com. A Zudin gay national
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  Speaker 2: recognition in two thousand and five as one of the
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  Speaker 2: Glasgow Girls, a group of schoolgirls who fought against the
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  Speaker 2: detention and deportation of their friend, a felow asylum seeker.
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  Speaker 2: Their activism sparked a national conversation about immigration policies in
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  Speaker 2: the UK and demonstrated the power of youth LB campaigns.
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  Speaker 2: And it was a powerful campaign. And here's a bit
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  Speaker 2: more from The Guardian in which she is being interviewed,
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  Speaker 2: and this is what she said. A friend who lived
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  Speaker 2: at the top of one of the high rise blocks nearby,
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  Speaker 2: saw the home of a girl I was in school
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  Speaker 2: with Aroma from Kosovo being don rated by the UK
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  Speaker 2: Board of Forces. She says. Fourteen officers in bulletproof fests
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  Speaker 2: stormed the family's home. Her friend called immediately to say
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  Speaker 2: that the family, who had lived in Glasgow for five
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  Speaker 2: years had been carted away in a black doubt van.
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  Speaker 2: The father in hancof Even though I had my leave
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  Speaker 2: to remain, I couldn't just sit there. I had to
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  Speaker 2: do something that could have been my family, Azudna says.
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  Speaker 2: So she also had said this was in the interview
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  Speaker 2: in like twenty seventeen. So this was Trump's first administration,
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  Speaker 2: and she talks about how that was such a big
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  Speaker 2: deal and when she saw it which happened. I believe
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  Speaker 2: in much earlier years she knew something was wrong and
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  Speaker 2: this was a human rights violation Amen Hello, and for her.
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  Speaker 2: As the weeks went by, Azudin continued to advocate for
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  Speaker 2: our friend and their family. Back to that Guardian article,
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  Speaker 2: they say a group of seven school girls, including Azudin,
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  Speaker 2: took matters into their own hands. They called themselves the
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  Speaker 2: Glasgow Girls. Encouraged by Iwan Gervin, a supply teacher at
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  Speaker 2: their school who had become a role model of Zuden's,
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  Speaker 2: the girls formed their strategy online petitions to the Home
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  Speaker 2: Office went viral and media got hold of the story. Finally,
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  Speaker 2: Scotland's then First Minister, Jack McConnell agreed to a formal
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  Speaker 2: meeting with them. How could he not now that the
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  Speaker 2: story was being talked about throughout Scotland. So they made
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  Speaker 2: a huge difference, and they were still in high school
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  Speaker 2: like they were young young. So this movement brought international
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  Speaker 2: attention and even it grew into being a musical, y'all,
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  Speaker 2: a musical which was an award winning musical. BT dug
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  Speaker 2: and soon after a show. From a BBC article featuring
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  Speaker 2: a Zudin and the Glasgow Girls, they write, she says,
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  Speaker 2: our story was originally captured in a BBC documentary and
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  Speaker 2: was made into a stage musical directed by Cora Bassett.
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  Speaker 2: Even though we already had actresses portraying us on stage,
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  Speaker 2: it was still a bit surreal having other people portraying
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  Speaker 2: us again. Once we spoke to the executive producer, Colin
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  Speaker 2: Barr about what he had envisaged for the drama, we
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  Speaker 2: felt reassured. The girls and I, along with our original
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  Speaker 2: teacher mister Gervaughan, could see how much he cared about
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  Speaker 2: the story. The production team were very patient with us
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  Speaker 2: and always made sure that we were happy with how
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  Speaker 2: things were going. One of the things I particularly liked
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  Speaker 2: about the drama is that it shows the resistance we
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  Speaker 2: came across and Bet Doves the girl at the time.
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  Speaker 2: The girl now a woman who played a mall Leticia
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  Speaker 2: Wright Wow. Yes, from a Black panther fame. Yeah, she
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  Speaker 2: obviously grew into like an amazing actress and a Mall
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  Speaker 2: does address that in another interview about like seeing her
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  Speaker 2: go from portraying her in the show to like this
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  Speaker 2: award winning actress. She's like, what, hey, I know her?
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  Speaker 2: Why do we I mean, that's just bragging rights right there? Yeah, right,
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  Speaker 2: Like I was her inspiration for this role, like col
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  Speaker 2: On Now I love that. So she has talked about
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  Speaker 2: her experience and she has stated that this has impacted
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  Speaker 2: her thought and understanding and so much, especially when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to how amazing communities can be. And she talked
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  Speaker 2: about how it was a realization that this was her home,
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  Speaker 2: a place where her family grew beyond just with her
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  Speaker 2: relations such as her families, like it went beyond blood,
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  Speaker 2: and how her heart was really at Glasgow and it
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  Speaker 2: was good to see them standing behind her and how
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  Speaker 2: big it was to have that kind of support. So
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  Speaker 2: since then, Azudin has been working to advocate for refugees
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  Speaker 2: and immigration rights. Azudan went on to get her degree
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  Speaker 2: at the University of Glasgow for her bachelor's in Community
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  Speaker 2: Development and Masters and Human Rights in International Politics. She's
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  Speaker 2: been featured in her own TED talk where she talked
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  Speaker 2: about the power of community, understanding about who is a
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  Speaker 2: refugee and understanding the need to fight for those who
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  Speaker 2: are seeking safety and happiness as well as everybody else
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  Speaker 2: and how important that is for so many. So in
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  Speaker 2: an interview with El Service GCC, she was asked what
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  Speaker 2: young people can learn when it comes to activism and
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  Speaker 2: taking a stand, and the first thing a Zudin mentions
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  Speaker 2: is to grow in confidence. She talks about her own
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  Speaker 2: shyness and anxiety, and she talks about that a lot,
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  Speaker 2: like she was a shy girl, but she knew she
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  Speaker 2: couldn't just sit back and about stepping up and speaking
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  Speaker 2: out even if it's difficult. I understand that we know
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  Speaker 2: that feeling right. And she's been busy with her activism
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  Speaker 2: and advocacy and she's made sure to use any awareness
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  Speaker 2: that her advocacy has brought to stay focused on these
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  Speaker 2: important issues about refugees and immigration and asylum seekers. And
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  Speaker 2: back to that Guardian article, she says, I strongly believe
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  Speaker 2: that it's a character that defines us, not where we
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  Speaker 2: were born, whether we are refugees, or whether we follow
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  Speaker 2: a religion or not, says a Zudent, who speaks about
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  Speaker 2: human rights in a school as an ambassador for the
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  Speaker 2: Scottish Refugee Council. She's also an equality and human rights
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  Speaker 2: officer at the Mental Health Foundation Clarity, where she runs
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  Speaker 2: the Amon Project supporting asylum seeking and refugee women in Glasgow,
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  Speaker 2: and of course she has been awarded a few accolades
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  Speaker 2: as she deserves and deserves so much more. In twenty
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  Speaker 2: sixteen Saltaira Society's Young Outstanding Women of Scotland, she was
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  Speaker 2: a winner of the special Awards to commemorate their eightieth anniversary,
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  Speaker 2: and then Aget in twenty sixteen Nate was named one
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  Speaker 2: of the Young Women's We've been Outstanding Women of Scotland.
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  Speaker 2: So this is just a few of the things. Obviously
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  Speaker 2: she's grown growing in her activism. I hope to hear
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  Speaker 2: more from her because obviously as we are in the
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  Speaker 2: second term of Trump and seeing those tactics that she
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  Speaker 2: had mentioned that she saw with her friend, we definitely
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  Speaker 2: definitely have to continue to grow and it is our
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  Speaker 2: young people who have done a lot in this movement,
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  Speaker 2: so amazing to see. I also want to go back
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  Speaker 2: to see the Glasgow Girls musical.
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  Speaker 1: I love a good musical. Yes, I think that'd be
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  Speaker 1: really fun, So if we can find it somewhere we should. Yeah, totally. Well, listeners,
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  Speaker 1: as always, if you have any suggestions for future people
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  Speaker 1: we should highlight or suggestions at all, Please let us know.
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