Bevaru

Bevaru is a bi-monthly newspaper dedicated to the struggles and resilience of the women workers in Bangalore, particularly sex workers, garment workers, domestic workers and powrakarmikas (waste pickers). Each issue of the newspaper explores a different facet of their lives and their experience of the city, moving away from a singular and fixed representation of the worker. It stays close to the lives of women/queer working class communities, which reveal the desire, violence, love, loss and alienation that comprise life in a city. The newspaper situates itself as the intersection of gender, sexuality and labour, a perspective which often gets flattened in mainstream reportage around labour.The newspaper is produced in collaboration with the domestic worker, sex worker, garment worker and powrakarmika unions in the city, and articles are researched and written in consultation with the workers. So far, five editions of the newspaper have been published in English, Hindi and Kannada and distributed through union networks and at public events in the city. In addition, we curate events in public spaces for the workers to express themselves through creative practices, such as music, dance and performance. We are in the process of transitioning Bevaru to digital platforms, and are experimenting with video and sound.