Class

In 2006 and 2007, I spent several months in Ahmedabad while on a fellowship from my university in the US. During my time in Ahmedabad, I interacted with the mostly-Hindu NGO staff where I was based, residents of the largely Hindu shantytown where the NGO was working, and professors at Gujarat University. Less than five years had passed since the city had gone through its nightmare: vicious riots involving saffron-clad men entering urban neighborhoods and brutalizing, gang-raping, and burning other human beings. Some 1,500 Muslims were killed.

This fragmented, musical novel breaks the prettiness of memory, brings irreverent humor where it should, shows the crisscross of ethnic neighborhoods in New York City, and celebrates love in the midst of violence. 

Choreographer Joti Singh reflects on her own familial connections to Ghadar history,  staged recently in her production "Red, Saffron, and Green."

Anirvan Chatterjee takes us on a tour of Berkeley’s radical South Asian American history, and argues that historical memory is one of the key inspirations for contemporary political movements

Nahar Alam and Chitra Aiyar discuss the varied, subtle, and often unknown narratives that arise both in the not-for-profit economy and the lives of the members of Andolan-a among the members of Andolan – Organizing South Asian Workers, a Queens-based workers’ center that seeks to empower low-wage immigrant workers (primarily female domestic workers) through popular education, collective organizing, and litigation. 

With the underground explosion of Das Racist & the BBC Asian Network-supported BURBAN (Brown Urban) scene in the UK, Chee Malabar attempts to hold down the fort for earnest desi rap stateside with his latest offering Burning Tire Artisan. His dedication to the game is apparent and his commitment to the cause evident, waving both Himalayan Project and Oblique Brown flags since the days when the Karmacy Movement was relevant to somebody; CM shows no signs of slowing down. 

The day-time bus ride from Bangalore to Chennai is one of those seemingly endless journeys; I picked up the book, Free Man, which I had begun to read a few days earlier. I was on my way back from a job interview with a mainstream newspaper, where I’d applied to work as a reporter, which coincidentally is also the author, Aman Sethi’s occupation.

Bearing the economic risks without reaping the benefits, taxi drivers in NYC are least protected by labor laws. Biju Mathew's book illustrates the organizing work and collective action happening among NYC's yellow cab drivers and their numerous victories.