Dear subscribers,
Hope this finds you all in good health.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic and the enforcement of lockdown, our lives have changed significantly. We are all trying to face numerous challenges that have suddenly been thrown at us. At Ebong Alap we are engaging in new modes of conversation and communication to make sense of some of the disturbing trends unfolding around us. We thank you for your interest in our work and we are sharing with you today some of the things we have been doing in the last three months.
Stay safe.
Ebong Alap team
At this point, we are embracing the digital medium more than ever to reach out to as many people as possible. Here are glimpses of our latest endeavours.
Audio-Visual Alap Series
On the 1st of April we launched an audiovisual series on discussions around different facets of the pandemic and the impact of the lockdown on diverse groups of people/ sectors in India. In a time of distancing, our idea was to address social bias, discrimination, and injustice that resurfaced with a vengeance. We did eleven such episodes on topics ranging from Corona and kinds of Fear, Gender and the lockdown, state surveillance in times of Covid, and a series of episodes on voluntary relief networks during the lockdown. Here are links to some of our episodes. You can visit our facebook page to watch the full season.
- লকডাউন, রাষ্ট্র ও আমরা। আলাপ সিরিজ ৬
- দেশের চার রাজ্যের চার স্বেচ্ছাসেবী উদ্যোগ। আলাপ সিরিজ ১০
- দূতী চাঁদের সাথে লকডাউনে স্পোর্টস। আলাপ সিরিজ ১১
Webinars on Online Teaching
The pandemic is bringing about vast and quick changes in education with a shift to online teaching at all levels and widening digital divides across the country. At the same time, a lack of awareness of digital ethics is fast adding to existing disparities and dangers particularly for marginalised groups of students, women and queer people. In this context, Ebong Alap and Point of View, Mumbai jointly conducted a series of webinars on Equity, Digital Security and Online Teaching especially with school teachers, a majority of whom teach in government schools of West Bengal.
The first webinar on 3 June 2020 was bilingual and it was attended by more than 70 participants from across the country and a few from Bangladesh. An engaging panel discussion around the issues of access, equity, digital scholarship and online safety and security facilitated tons of comments and questions from the audience.
Here's a video excerpt from the webinar.
The following webinar held on 12 June 2020 focused on a round table discussion with teachers who attended the previous webinar and wanted to share their grounded experience around online teaching in different socio-economic contexts. This interactive session was conducted primarily in Bengali where teachers discussed the problems of digital divide and questions of access and equity, the need for digital literacy and understanding cyber security.
Cyclone Amphan Relief Work
After the devastation caused by cyclone Amphan in south Bengal, Ebong Alap has been organising relief primarily for female-headed households and to elderly or single women living alone in some of the worst affected areas. In the first phase our team visited Gosaba and Canning blocks of South 24 Parganas to provide immediate relief to about 200 families in the form of clothing, dry ration, medicines, sanitary napkins, nutrition supplements etc. In the second phase we provided monetary help through bank transfers to people who have lost their homes in Amphan in the east Kolkata wetlands, in Hingalganj and Joynagar blocks of North and South 24 Parganas respectively. We are going to be resuming the third phase of relief in July through distribution of portable solar lights with mobile charging sockets to a few hundred women in some of the affected areas.
New series on Ekhon Alap Blog
Hate Crimes and the Lockdown: In April we published a factsheet of instances of hate crimes that have taken place around the country since the lockdown was announced on 23 March, 2020. A timeline of a series of violent physical and verbal attacks and mob lynching on the ethnic (Indians of Chinese origin and those from the northeast) and religious (Muslim citizens of India) minorities during the first month of lockdown was published in our blog both in English and in Bengali. Click here to read the English version.
Attack on Frontliners:We compiled a list of attacks on frontliners in the fight against COVID 19 including doctors, nurses and other health workers, policemen and law-enforcing agents in India since the lockdown. We published this both in Bengali and in English. Click here to read it on Ekhon Alap Blog.
Articles around the Pandemic in translation: We felt the need for a translation series of articles published around various aspects of the pandemic. We have published Bengali translations of original English articles by leading thinkers and activists including Arundhati Ray, Jane Goodall, Yuval Noa Harari, Mukul Kesavan and others. Here are links to a few of them:
- Caste and Contagion by Mukul Kesavan
- The World after Coronavirus by Yuval Noa Harari
- Pandemics and Prejudice by Amitangshu Acharya
Interactive Online Campaign
Our online story series #Onlineকথামালা, around incidents of online violence, digital rights and questions of cyber security, was based on real life experiences gathered via an online survey. We developed story-graphics reflecting realities of violation of rights and sexual viloence in the digital medium. Here are two stories from the series.
Dey's Publishing, College Street, Kolkata
On-call । (033)22197920 । No delivery fee
In-store । Mon-Sat । 11 am - 6 pm
Dhyanbindu, College Street, Kolkata
On-call । 9836671203 । 20% off + rs.60 delivery fee upto 1kg.
Parchment, Kalighat, Kolkata
In-store । 1 pm - 4 pm
Sunil Da's Book Stall, Ultadanga, Kolkata
In-store । 11 am - 7 pm
Ramkrishna Book Stall, Bolpur
In-store । 8 am - 12:30 pm
currently available books include:
- সহজ আলাপে ইস্কুলে জেন্ডার । সম্পাদনা: শর্মিষ্ঠা দত্তগুপ্ত, চান্দ্রেয়ী দে । ১৫০ টাকা ।
- পরিবার, কাজ ও মেয়েরা । নির্মলা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় । ১০০ টাকা ।
- উন্নয়ন ও প্রান্তিক মানুষ । অনিতা অগ্নিহোত্রী । ১০০ টাকা ।
- নগর ও নাগরিক । সুকান্ত চৌধুরি । ১০০ টাকা ।
- বিপন্ন সময়: বর্ণবাদ, জাতীয়তাবাদ, বাক্স্বাধীনতা ও আজকের ভারত । সম্পাদনা: শর্মিষ্ঠা দত্তগুপ্ত, তৃণা নিলীনা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় । ৩৫০ টাকা ।
- The Vedas, Hinduism, Hindutva । Kumkum Roy, Kunal Chakrabarti, Tanika Sarkar । INR 150 ।
- Muslim-Hindu Dialogue: Issues-Queries-Arguments । compilation: Subhendu Dasgupta । INR 100 ।
- Christian Conversions । Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar, Pradip Dutta । INR 80 ।