[Reader-list] A Public Hearing: Bar Dancers Speak on 20 August 2005

[abshi at vsnl.com]

Majlis, Point of View, and PUKAR Gender & Space project 
invite you to
 
worker performer citizen
BAR DANCERS SPEAK
    
a public hearing
 
Saturday 20 August
5 pm
KC College Auditorium
KC College, next to Oxford Bookstore
Near All India Radio and MLA hostel
Churchgate
 
The bill banning dancers from performing in bars across Mumbai came into effect this week, leaving thousands of bar dancers without jobs or livelihood opportunities. 
 
We have all heard what the Maharashtra government, which passed this law, feels about this issue. We have also heard what bar owners, who opposed this law, feel about this issue.
 
But have we heard what bar dancers - who are the most-affected - have to say about this legislation, and related issues of performance, work, dignity and citizenship?
 
On Saturday 20 August, bar dancers who are members of the Bharatiya Bar Girls Union will present their case before a distinguished panel consisting of academicians, filmmakers, performers, writers, journalists and trade unionists. This panel includes filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, writer Kiran Nagarkar, ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar, poet Arundhathi Subramaniam, academicians Lakshmi Lingam, Shereen Ratnagar and Nandini Sardesai, theatre personality Dolly Thakore, journalist Naresh Fernandes, and trade unionist Sanjay Singhvi. The panel will deliberate on this issue and respond. 
 
Please come and support these bar dancers in their struggle for work, dignity and livelihood. Please come and hear BAR DANCERS SPEAK.
 
Hope to see you there,
Madhusree Dutta, Majlis
Bishakha Datta, Point of View
Shilpa Phadke, PUKAR Gender & Space project