00:00:00.160Hi, I'm Clare Mitchell, QC. Welcome to the Witches of Scotland podcast.
00:00:05.220I'm a lawyer who specialises in miscarriage of justice cases,
00:00:08.740and we're bringing you this podcast because we want to tell you0.61
00:00:11.560about the women who were accused, prosecuted, convicted,
00:00:15.800and ultimately executed as witches in Scotland.
00:00:18.800I'm Zoe Vendetotsi, and I'm a writer who's always had an interest in the witches,
00:00:23.040and I feel that this dark mark against Scotland needs a reckoning.
00:00:26.720The campaign Witches of Scotland wants three things.
00:00:29.580Firstly, a pardon for all those convicted of witchcraft.
00:00:33.120Secondly, an apology for all those who were accused as witches.
00:00:37.420And finally, a national monument in recognition of all those who were affected by this terrible miscarriage of justice.
00:00:44.420Over the forthcoming weeks, we'll be talking to a whole host of experts about the history and the modern day connections to the witches of Scotland.
00:00:53.640Hello and welcome to the Witches of Scotland podcast.
00:21:36.240And this is described as being a neighbour dispute.
00:21:39.080And that's one of the things that we said as well,
00:21:41.240is that people could just fall out with the people in their town or their village or their street or whatever.
00:21:45.080and she was accused after falling out and having what's described as a grudge towards her neighbor
00:21:52.120and she was accused on the 23rd of July 1649 so a little bit earlier 10 years before
00:21:58.180and the end of her court date was the 23rd of November 1649 so a group including Bert were
00:22:06.380investigated by the Kirk session another two were identified by the witch pricker but there are a few
00:22:11.880details about it and in this case the witch pricker was called Thomas Crawford. He was an
00:22:16.380elder in the parish and the survey says that he was involved in six other recorded cases as a
00:22:21.120witch pricker. She was accused, John at birth, of having made a child ill after a dispute and0.67
00:22:26.040requested to restore the child's health by its mother. She was searched and the witch's mark
00:22:31.020seems to have been found but again we don't know what happened after her trial. So the trial took
00:22:36.260four months but we don't know what the end result was. The final person today that we're going to
00:22:42.860speak about is William McGilvery and he was involved in what they call a property accusation
00:22:49.560i.e the reason behind the accusation of witchcraft was something to do with money or someone benefited
00:22:56.860by accusing someone of witchcraft and of William McGilvery it said that he was part of a large
00:23:02.600group of what was described as known witches to Lady Foulis and it was said that she had a supposed
00:23:10.240plot to destroy members of her family and he was one of the people that worked for Lady Foulis.
00:23:16.520What's said in the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft is this is a very standard type of early case
00:23:21.060where accusations of witchcraft were used to alter inheritance of land, titles and property.
00:23:27.960it's not recorded what happened to him in his own papers but it said that he's mentioned in
00:23:35.160another trial and in the other trial it said that William McGillivray had been burnt so we assume
00:23:40.860that he was convicted strangled and then weren't to get rid of his ashes so we remember today
00:23:48.400three people who were not witches who were just people Margaret Alexander, John at Burt and William
00:23:56.460mcgillivary so today's guest well it's guests in actual fact today isn't it clear we've got
00:24:09.840two people on today and that's because of things that are just recently happened and are just about
00:24:15.260to happen so our first guest today is actually it's quite exciting we managed to arrange a little
00:24:22.360chat with Katerina Ubeda who is from Catalonia and she's here to talk to us about their successful
00:24:30.020campaign in Catalonia as a way forward for us. Thank you so much Katerina for joining us today
00:24:40.960on the podcast. We're really excited to talk to you about your campaign because we're with each
00:24:46.640other's opposite numbers so it's nice to know how somebody else's campaign is progressing and
00:24:51.420because you've been successful maybe we can get some top tips from you so we've got a bunch of
00:24:56.340questions and the first thing I'd like to ask you is why did you start the campaign? We thought it
00:25:02.080was necessary to repair the memory of all those women accused and executed for witchcraft in
00:25:08.280Catalonia and because we believe that witch hunt is a clear example of the attacks and discrimination
00:25:13.480that women have been subjected to throughout history. That's why we launched the campaign
00:25:18.140They weren't witches, they were women, that was inspired by initiatives like yours,
00:25:23.900a campaign that wanted to dignify and vindicate the memory of those women who were tortured and put to death.
00:25:29.940And what did you have as your aims at the beginning?
00:25:33.200We wanted to reach as many people as possible.
00:25:36.020On the one hand, we wanted to spread the historical research conducted by Pau Castell
00:25:40.360that was published in our magazine and on our website.
00:25:44.140And on the other hand, we also wanted to spread the historical reparation campaign and to get the support of the local councils and of the parliament.
00:25:52.400And you mentioned there the parliament. How did you bring your petition to them?
00:25:56.820We spoke to a member of the parliament of Catalonia.
00:25:59.740And after several months, the motion was brought by the governing parties, Esquerra Republicana and Jules per Catalunya, along with Far Left Group and Anti-Austerity and Comun Podem.
00:26:12.000You started it with a petition, didn't you? Was it a petition that you ran through the magazine?
00:26:18.600It was a manifesto that we published on our website, and we asked people to sign it.
00:26:25.000We collected nearly 13,000 signatures, 12,672 signatures among anonymous people and institutions,
00:26:35.280including nearly 80 councils and associations from various fields,
00:26:40.740not only women, but press, culture, history.
00:26:44.380And besides that, 137 historians had also signed the manifesto.
00:26:50.020Parliament approved the proposal on 26 January with 114 votes in favour
00:26:55.800from pro-independence and left-wing groups.
00:26:58.880We had 14 votes against and six abstentions.
00:27:08.72084%, around 84-85% is the percentage of women that were killed as witches in Scotland
00:27:14.980That's a recurring percentage for us, we find
00:27:18.260Because also 85% of our listeners are women to this podcast
00:27:22.580So that's funny that that's around the same amount
00:27:25.200Did you have the support as well as the politicians?
00:27:28.160Was there general public support for the campaign?
00:27:31.160We did have it, but not just now. We had the support of the general public from the very day we launched the campaign in March last year.
00:27:39.920The reaction on the social networks was immediate. Tweets joining and undergoing the campaign, people searching for the women condemned in their towns, in the digital atlas of the witch hunt, personalities making campaign support videos.
00:27:53.140We were on the media. Now, after the revolution, we have been again on the media, but not only in Catalonia and Spain, also in European media like The Guardian, BBC, Le Mans, The Irish Times, New York Globe, France 24. Amazing.
00:28:09.280And the magazine issue on witchcraft has been sold out even in our online store. There are no copies left.
00:28:15.260we got sent copies that was very very kind of you to send us across copies of it and it's such
00:28:21.340a beautiful magazine if anyone thank you is it still in print at all can people get it if they
00:28:26.960order it from you not now oh not now there are no copies left not even on the online store
00:28:33.900there is one one more thing that tells you the importance of the initiative on january 24th we
00:28:40.600organized a closing ceremony of the campaign in which we presented a docufiction on which hand
00:28:46.900produced by us, by Sapiens, and the public television of Catalonia, TV3, which was attended
00:29:00.800He described witchcraft as, I think, institutionalized femicide. Is that right?0.73
00:29:05.240Yes, yes, that's right. The decoficient is titled Bruises La Gran Mentida, which in English is witches, the big lie.
00:29:13.100And it has been directed by Joanna Pardos. You can watch it on TV3's website.
00:29:18.160Did you find that there was any criticism at all of the campaign?
00:29:21.900Not really. If there was any, it was trivial, minimum.
00:29:26.720There has only been some criticism from some politicians, criticizing the resolution of the parliament.
00:29:32.280But it is anecdotal. His argument is that parliamentary debate should be about problems affecting the citizenry, real and current problems, not issues of the past.
00:29:45.980Yeah, I think if people don't understand that these are still modern day issues, if people don't understand that, I don't know how we can help them.
00:29:54.380I mean, it's so relevant to modern day issues for women that it flags up, as you said at the start, Katerina,
00:30:01.220it flags up that this is about the history of women and the treatment of women.
00:30:05.460And it's as important for the modern day as it ever could be.0.64
00:30:09.180Yes, this is just another example of how women have been treated and are still treated.0.68
00:30:16.280But as I said, it's minimal. Only maybe two, three politicians just saying this.
00:30:22.860when did parliament pass the resolution then last january 26 literally just so so recently it's
00:30:29.380amazing isn't it and you're yes you seem to have really just got straight out and got the support
00:30:35.000and got the job done really quickly well do you think one year is really quickly yeah i think so
00:30:40.480yeah we're on two years and it's still good time yeah so one year seems tremendously quick to me
00:30:48.460what has happened now legally what's the legal effect of the resolution
00:30:52.600The text aims to promote academic studies with gender perspective and include them in the academic curriculum.
00:31:01.920And the proposal also calls for outreach actions, like to raise awareness of this episode from history and its causes.
00:31:09.580Local councils in Catalonia are asked to revise the street names and include the names of women convicted of witchcraft.
00:31:16.280But I wanted to say these two things had already been happening in some cities and villages since we launched the campaign.
00:31:24.400For instance, two children's playgrounds in the Catalan village of Palau Solita and Plegamans have been named in honour of condemned witches.
00:31:32.060Wow, that's amazing. A playground as well. That's fantastic. That's really cool.
00:31:38.140I love that. I love the idea that when children get that bit older and grow up, they can find out the name of why their playground was called that and remember these women.
00:31:58.340What now for the campaign? Is there any more to do?
00:32:01.700We can always do more. We will still participate in acts of reparation, in debates.
00:32:07.080We have already been asked to attend several presentations of Witches the Big Lie and Pau is being invited to numerous talks.
00:32:15.900Well, we really look forward to speaking to Pau Castell, Professor Pau Castell, and talking about his work,
00:32:22.540because I understand he contacted you and said, I have 10 years of research on the witch hunts and was able to help the campaign by giving you that information.