Please help us keep the mics on at:patreon.com/tortoiseshack In this wide-ranging conversation, Rosie talks with Patrick Bresnihan and Naomi Millner about their wonderful co-authored book ‘All We Want is the Earth - Land, Labour and Movements Beyond Environmentalism’. Published by Bristol University Press in July 2023, the book critiques what its authors describe as ‘modern environmentalism’ and conventional understandings of who does and what counts as environmental politics. In this interview, Naomi and Paddy highlight and re-centre the radical ecological legacies of a diverse array of movements, activists and thinkers from the Global South, and other contexts, over the past 80 years or so. These include Dolores Huerta, César Chávez and United Farm Workers’ who organised on behalf of migrant farmworkers in California during the 1960s; Mexican agronomists such as Edmundo Taboada; and movements associated with Autonomous Marxism, Wages for Housework and Zero Work. Paddy and Naomi recognise the prescience of Amílcar Cabral, Sylvia Wynter and others who forged essential connections between anti/decolonial and ecological struggles. They consider more recent movements too, such as La Vía Campesina, The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, the Zapatistas and how they challenged capitalist globalisation and resource extraction in the name of food-sovereignty, indigenous rights and the commons. And they point us towards vibrant forms of Earth Politics, that centre Indigenous knowledges and the imagery of Madre Tierra (Mother Earth), while also re-imagining human and non-human relationships. The Múscailt on Social Care is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/97892405

In this episode Rosie talks with Emma Dolan, a lecturer in Peace and Development Studies at the University of Limerick. Their conversation centres on Emma’s fascinating book ‘Gender and Political Apology: When the patriarchal state says “sorry”’ which was published by Routledge in 2022. The period since the 1990s has been characterised as the ‘age of apology’, reflecting the frequency and prominence of political apologies internationally. This is something we’ve witnessed in Ireland too through, for example the Taoiseach’s statement on Mother and Baby Homes in 2021 and UK PM David Cameron’s 2010 apology for Bloody Sunday. In the interview, Emma considers the diverse forms that political apologies can take and how complex or controversial they can become. Drawing on the work of Judith Butler and other feminist scholars, she explains how apologies are ‘performative’ ‘excitable’ and ‘gendered’, and why victims of violence or social harms can experience state apologies in contradictory and even troubling ways. This is borne out in two case studies that Emma has researched in detail: the Japanese Government’s apologies for the treatment and sexual abuse of Korean ‘Comfort Women’ during World War 2; and official US responses to the infamous photos of US Military Police’s sexualised violence against detainees in Abu Ghraib prison during the occupation of Iraq. Emma weighs up the political value of state apologies for activists in Ireland and beyond who are seeking redress for injustices. And the interview closes with some reflections on her ongoing research into the politics and practices of commemoration and representation in relation to the British military. Múscailt is a tortoise shack production. Support independent media at patreon.com/tortoiseshack

Tickets for Podcasts for Palestine: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/podcasts-for-palestine-tickets-782538141647 Múscailt is a podcast of interviews with scholars and writers who are raising important questions about Irish society through their research. Committed to critique and hope in equal measure, the show features discussions on a range of issues relating to ecology, criminal justice, politics, sexuality, culture, identity, social policy and more. Join hosts Rosie Meade and Niamh McCrea for in-depth, convivial conversations with guests who want to share their work on Irish society with new audiences. In this the first episode of Season 2, Rosie and Niamh are joined by producer Tony Groves to look back at some of the earlier episodes and give you a taste of what is lined up over the next several weeks. Episode 1 is out now here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-96963425