The Citizens Now Podcast

Today’s conversation is with Mia Pobloth, who is currently doing a gap year teaching English at a school in Madrid, but when we spoke, she was a final year pupil at Shimna Integrated College in Newcastle, Co. Down in the North of Ireland/Northern Ireland. Mia was a long-time member of the school’s Amnesty International group and as you may already be aware Amnesty International is a global NGO which campaigns for human rights with over 10 million members and supporters worldwide. Its work particularly highlights prisoners of conscience as well as miscarriages of justice.
In the interview Mia tells us about the kinds of projects her Amnesty group gets involved in, what she’s learned about being an activist, what she’s striving for, and what fuels her to keep going.

My thanks to Shirley Anne McMillan, a former teacher and Alternative Chaplain at Shimna Integrated College who connected me with Mia.

Show links:
Shimna Integrated College 

Amnesty International

Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) – Shimna Integrated College was the first school in Northern Ireland to form a Gay-Straight Alliance which was set up by gay and straight pupils at the college to tackle homophobic bullying.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe story

Mia briefly describes the kind of school she attends as an ‘integrated’ school which is a term specific to Northern Ireland. Integrated education is a response to deep divisions in Northern Ireland/the North of Ireland and intentionally brings children and staff from Catholic and Protestant traditions, as well as those of other beliefs, cultures, and communities together in one school. You can find out more from the NI Council for Integrated Education

Mia also mentions how the voting age was lowered to 16 in Scotland and there’s some interesting research on the outcomes from that. 

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Credits:

Created, produced, and hosted by: Debs Erwin

Music: GlowCity

Artwork: Rachel Brady

Sound Editing & Mixing: Stu Reid, Stunt Double Music