ON TOPIC: COME SEPTEMBER...ZUBAAN TALKS ABOUT BODY POLICING, MUSLIM WOMEN, LABOUR RIGHTS & MAKING CULTURE

Workers of the world, unite! On labour issues:

Child labour in cottonseed farms – companies are responsible for most of the exploitation, and two-thirds of the labourers are girls.
A beautiful article profiling a day in the life of a delivery worker for online retailers.
NYC nail salon workers speak out after the recent exposé: “This only happened because people organised.”
On the Bharat Bandh: An opinion piece arguing for democratic inclusion of labourers in the drafting of labour laws.
A dubiously titled piece that nevertheless has some awesome pictures of the trade union strike across different states.

Nuancing the narrative about Indian Muslims – especially Indian Muslim women.

The Wire reports: a study on Muslim women and personal laws reveals a desire for reforms.
A social scientist pushes for a more nuanced reading of the recent census results.
Al Jazeera reports on Dalit converts to Islam.
Kindle Mag compares Ismat Chughtai and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
A great article that attends to the policing of Muslim women’s bodies and reproductive choices in the wake of Hindu nationalist fear about the recent census.

Body policing also crops up in other ways across and outside India: #amiotamoghna, real women, and reproductive justice

Kiran is trans, disabled, and making a new life for himself.
Some really rad African girls making change! Woo!
A feminist critique of the police state.
A troubling article about public health and contraception in India.
Students and artists protest against yellow journalism, standing with Tamoghna Haldar, who is being labeled as obscene by the media and Bengali intelligentsia alike.
Bonus: An old but important article that brings everything together. “There is no wrong way to have a body.”

Indrani, Aarushi, and journalism.

An attendee at the launch of Avirook Sen’s “Aarushi” tells us why she won’t be reading his book.
A withering takedown of the way the Indrani Mukerjea murder case has been treated in the media.

Recent badass cultural projects that have come to our attention.

Speaking of history, let’s talk about the recent efforts to rewrite it!

On the politics of commemoration.
Scholars are angry about the Central Government’s efforts to revamp the Nehru Museum.

Powerful critiques of white feminism.

Women being friends with other women!

Other important things:

Greenpeace India’s statement on the recent sexual harassment complaints made against it.
The Atlantic reports on the Syrian refugee crisis.

Also, this seems relevant:

ON TOPIC: COME SEPTEMBER…ZUBAAN TALKS ABOUT BODY POLICING, MUSLIM WOMEN, LABOUR RIGHTS & MAKING CULTURE