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Rebecca Smyth, PhD

@resmyth.bsky.social

1.2K followers 850 following 50 posts

Soon-to-be Senior Lecturer in Law at Exeter. Decolonial transnational feminism, abortion rights in El Salvador, refugee law, disability rights, LGBTQ rights. Usual disclaimers.

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 20

🚨Feminist judgments in refugee law project is GOOOO! 🚨call for abstracts for a special issue proposal 🚨 Read more and submit here:

docs.google.com

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jul 14

V excited to be omw to the Roccella Summer School organised by my brilliant friend Emma Scali (#ElenaFerranteReference) of @milcmanchester.bsky.social and Raffaella Nigro. Making ZINES. Drinking GRANITA. Finally learning about INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY.
www.roccellasummerschool.org/programme

Programme | Join the Summer Law Program — Roccella Summer School

Explore the Roccella Summer School Programme featuring workshops and keynotes on international law, human rights, and technology in scenic Roccella Jonica, Italy.

www.roccellasummerschool.org

Reposted by Rebecca Smyth, PhD

BCU UCU @bcu-ucu.bsky.social · Jul 10

🚨 Lobby the BCU governors! 🚨

On Wed 16th BCU governors are meeting for an update on the current review, which has put 342 staff at risk of redundancy & cuts student support in multiple ways.

Join our lobby: 1pm outside Parkside Building

Bring your solidarity and your sun cream! #SaveBCU

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jul 9

I read this in Baby Billy Freeman from the Righteous Gemstones' voice - "c'mawn nah!"

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jul 5

It's true! Such a good piece 👏

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jul 3

Me every time I read an article written by @jtheilen.bsky.social

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jul 2

There just might be another source of a few billion that might go some way to cover the £4.8 billion deficit 👀

Screenshot of an article in The Guardian with the headline "King Charles to receive £132m next year after crown estate makes £1.1bn profit." Picture of smiling King Charles in a navy pinstripe suit, white shirt and light blue tie above it.

Screenshot of body of same newspaper article detailing how crown estate has a portfolio of London properties and rural real estate worth FIFTEEN BILLION. Tragically this is down 0.5 billion from last year

Reposted by Rebecca Smyth, PhD

Michael Jay McClure @mjmimages.bsky.social · Jul 2

Andry’s story, if you’re unfamiliar.

www.cnn.com/2025/05/28/a...

He left Venezuela for the US, dreaming of a career in cosmetics. He was deported to a Salvadoran prison | CNN

A year ago, Andry José Hernández Romero left Venezuela to seek a better future in the United States.

www.cnn.com

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

And if you're in the UK, email your MP to ask them to oppose the Bill. takingthepip.co.uk/write-to-you...

Write To Your MP - Taking The PIP #TakingThePIP

Use our simple tool to contact your MP about the UK Government’s proposed cuts to disability benefits. Stand up for disabled people’s rights.

takingthepip.co.uk

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

but really I think you'd be better off engaging with the above-mentioned groups, reading amazing work by disability scholars (The Disability Archive at the Centre for Disability Studies in Leeds is a good starting point, ditto International Journal of Disability and Social Justice, ijdsj.online).

The Disability Archive | Centre for Disability Studies

disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

I did an LLM and PhD in human rights because I felt otherwise I didn't have anything to offer human rights activism. As time goes on, I realise that my empathy and anger were and always have been more than enough. If you want the in-depth legal/socio-legal analysis, I can provide that no bother;

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

Instead you should talk and listen to disabled people. You should engage with resources by @crips-against-cuts.bsky.social @dis-ppl-protest.bsky.social @disrightsuk.bsky.social @nsunnews.bsky.social Scope and many others. Scope's Disability Price Tag report is a helpful starting point.

Disability Price Tag | Disability charity Scope UK

Life costs more if you’re disabled. This report by Scope uses data from the Family Resources Survey to calculate the extra costs faced by disabled households. We call this the ‘Disability Price Tag.

www.scope.org.uk

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

You shouldn't need legal and economic arguments to convince you of the sheer wrongness of the current Government's approach to disability, welfare, and addressing the profound health crises gripping England (largely driven by spiralling poverty largely driven by 40+ years of neoliberalism).

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

Think about how rubbish it made you feel when at your lowest someone said to you, "Have you just tried thinking positively?" or otherwise implied that it was your fault that things were the way they were, that you were inherently wrong and broken and the problem.

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

Punishing people for being disabled is wrong. Framing it as getting people into the workforce is wrong. Thinking that people who have been hospitalised due to mental health conditions should get job coach visits is warped.

Mental health patients could get job coach visits, says minister

Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall says trials of the idea have produced

www.bbc.co.uk

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

They should be free to use their brilliant mind and big heart to do all the other things they want and need to do day to day. So should everybody, disabled and non-disabled alike.

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

A dear friend has spent weeks pushing their body and mind to the limit doing this work. PIP assessors would see this as them proving their ability to work without supports. Anyone with a modicum of human decency would see it for the cruel waste of their brilliant mind that it actually is.

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

I could develop a big long thread about all the human rights, legal, economic, and policy arguments against the Bill and Paper, but honestly it doesn't deserve the energy. I'm so angry that disabled people, activists, policymakers et al are having to waste time, energy, and heartache doing so.

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

It has been one culture shock among many to see just how deep the hate for disabled people runs in politics and discourse here in England. The Green Paper and "Welfare" "Reform" Bill typify it.

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

I'm not saying it's much better in Ireland. But I think there's more of a positive attitude to human rights there. And for the most part we've embraced the radical idea that disabled people, trans people, and the other groups of people so often vilified here are in fact human and deserve respect.

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

I am in the near-constant horrors at the profound hatred for disabled people in this country.

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

I'm posting this as part of the online protest against the Universal Credit & Personal Independence Payments Bill. TLDR: This Bill needs to die so that disabled people don't. #DisabilitySky #TakingThePIP #WelfareNotWarfare #DisabilityRebellion #CripsAgainstCuts

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 30

Calling all abortion nerds! @whiterxbbit.bsky.social would love your submissions by 1st September! call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/06/...

cfp | call for papers

call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 28

www.theguardian.com/society/2025... this and Budapest Pride and the impending failure (🤞🤞🤞) of the "welfare" bill made me feel quite emotional and hopeful this morning.

Transgender campaigners call for European rights body to report on UK

Alliance of groups wants Council of Europe to investigate implementation of supreme court ruling on biological sex

www.theguardian.com

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 26

Feminist judgments project (FJP) call for proposals (CFP)! Because it's fun to chant "FJP CFP FJP CFP FJP CFP", and even more fun to challenge traditional disciplinary boundaries ✨

Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 20

🚨Feminist judgments in refugee law project is GOOOO! 🚨call for abstracts for a special issue proposal 🚨 Read more and submit here:

docs.google.com

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Rebecca Smyth, PhD @resmyth.bsky.social · Jun 25

The hope and hilarity here on Bluesky this morning, mm mm mm

Malice Walker @humblecore.bsky.social · Jun 25

Kendrick Lamar “Say Drake” smiling meme from the Super Bowl halftime show