Hi friends - we're back from our collective break and bringing you our October newsletter. We hope you're all keeping well and taking care of yourself. Remember, we cannot support others if we are not being nourished and cared for ourselves. We've got two exciting new announcements this month - we're hosting another digital teach-in and opening up membership to our Brown Women [Un]Learn reading Circle. Check these out below and tell your friends!
In Solidarity,
The Rights Collective
Caste in The Diaspora Teach-In
We’re humbled to be able to invite you to 'Caste in the Diaspora', a digital teach-in exploring the topic of caste in the U.K. context and how it operates among the wider diaspora.
We will be exploring what caste is and how it has been perpetuated over the years among the diaspora, the social movements fighting caste oppression and discrimination in the U.K., and how non-Hindus/non-Asians can be better allies.
'Jai Bhim' poster by Priyanka Kumar for Creatives Against CAA.
We have a fantastic line-up of speakers including:
Santosh Daas MBE, Caste Watch U.K.
Dr. Murali Shanmugavelan, SOAS
Jyotsna Siddharth, Project Anti-Caste Love
Meena Varma, Dalit Solidarity Network U.K.
Chaired by Varun Khanna, advisory board member and reading circle facilitator (see below for more info on that) for The Rights Collective. Click below to sign up and share with your friends and family. Spaces are limited.
Meet the Team
Have you been following our amazing team in their Insta Takeovers this month over on @rightscollective? If not, get to know the faces and stories behind The Rights Collective team by clicking on the highlights on our page, and watching their posts 💫
Brown Womxn [Un]Learn Reading Circle
We're excited to announce that we will be opening up membership of our Brown Womxn [Un]Learn Reading Circle to new members starting from November 2020.
The circle has been running for a few months now and provides a space for members of the South Asian diaspora to explore and unpack various topics from an intersectional and critical lens.
Please note this reading circle is open to all genders but, since spaces are limited, we will prioritise womxn and non-binary folk. We are also U.K. focussed so timings for discussions will be set accordingly but you are welcome to sign up if you are based elsewhere too.
You can now sign up for our bi-monthly facilitated discussions on CASTE. Places are limited so please sign up below soon.
Brown Women [Un]Learn Resource Hub
Our Brown Women [Un]Learn Resource Hub is a carefully curated resource list for the South Asian diaspora. We've curated articles, books, videos and anything else that we feel can inform us of the issues we hope to tackle and ideas that underpin our work. We encourage you to engage with it in a dynamic way - and let us know how you're getting on!
Join Our Team
We’re grateful to have grown our work so much over the last few months. We’re now looking for new volunteers to join our amazing team so get in touch if you’re interested! We’re especially keeping an eye out for people who have experience with any of the following:
illustrating
designing (including websites)
editing audio and video
research and writing
communications
organising in the community
project management
We will be prioritising applications from people from the South Asian diaspora who identify as womxn, queer, working-class or Dalit / Bahujan and we encourage individuals from Kashmir, Nepal and Afghanistan to apply. Don't worry if you don't have experience in the above, we'd still love to speak with you!
Send us an email with your CV and a one-page cover letter explaining why you'd like to join us. We are recruiting on a rolling basis.
What We're Reading
How Caste Kills: the gang-rape of a Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh has again engulfed India with nationwide protests and outrage. 8 years after Jyoti Singh, has anything changed?
Bangladesh has introduced the death penalty for rape after the gang-rape of a woman in Noakhali went viral on social media, sparking mass protests over the country.
Refugees and internally displaced people are facing the brunt of the pandemic, with the gendered impact of COVID on Rohingya communities in camps disproportionately high.
In a landmark decision, Pakistan has become the first country to ban men from taking dowry. This has been positively viewed by many women rights organizations.