Has anyone ever seen this video from the Forced Marriage Unit?

[a.c.]

I have to confess that I've never seen this. I stumbled across it while researching some stuff around Asian Media.

It's really good, and I can't believe that none of the campaign groups has got it embeded in their website. Nobody has ever mentioned this to me, but I think it's a fantastic resource.

Makes some really good points, like the fact that emotional pressure is used to forced people's compliance. I think almost everyone on MixTogether would agree with that.

I'd like to embed this on the front page of MT, and encourage other orgs to do likewise. What do you guys think?

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoGwwlFw20s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoGwwlFw20s</a>

[saffron]

Yes ,this is been on you tube for a while now..perhaps over a year old now.

There are other videos of forced marriages with other people that you and I know...have a look at forced marriages under ' You Tube.'

They have made some really good ones with animation...with different scenarios.
have a look at my next post.
'

[saffron]

UNREPORTED WORLD..on channel 4 tonight..I watched this..see listings under channel four.com.

Its about forced marriage issues in India..but although this title is used... its actaully more appropriate for a site like ours..because it covers..Caste and other forbidden relationships.even from one village to the next. Traditions going back 100's of years, to control the life of villagers within the walls of their villages.

There is the link to the' Panchayats'..the local councils who take power into their own hands..  power that they have on villagers lives..there are some awful cases of couples being killed and Panchayats saying they were acceptable and have to be done..terrible...

The interviwer was very brave to go to where she did over north punjab..india and pakistan...

A must see.

Chweetgurl...its painful watching,be warned.

But it is also important to know what it can be like in India in particular...there are pressures in India that are increasing around these issues..as this documentary shows..couples are prepared to fight for their love, and drastic steps are being taken by communities to stop them.

[a.c.]

I'm surprised that the other charities haven't got this on their websites or got any links to this video! A lot of people would be helped by watching it.

If there is other stuff on YouTube, we should catalogue it on the forum?

[saffron]

I think youll find prems charity has it on their website..'Freedom Charity'.

[a.c.]

Well done them (especially as they don't feature on it!)

I think we should have it on the front of the MT site too.

[chweetgurl]

I have watched this link this link before its quite touching...
Saffron i missed the show i will check online if its still avail on player thank you for posting it here.

[saffron]

Yes..I hope its not going to be too upseting...did you want to find the link for on here CG? It really opened my eyes to Mixed relationship issues, and intercaste relayionships in India

[Dev1975]

Thanks for the info Saffron, I've found it on the 4OD website but it's not available for viewing as yet.  It is just absolutely sickening to know that this is happening to innocent people whose only crime is to fall in love.  What century are these Panchayat's living in?!?

[saffron]

Its even more scary Dev that this is the thinking of many people in this country ..but they would never get away with what happens back at home here...having said that the cases of murders of women in this country due to honour issues..is an example of the ones that do happen here..the stats are approx 12 murders a year in the uk,

I wondered after hearing this programme if my parents had seen and heard of the horrors of these events in India all those years ago when they were growing up and living in India..and if this informed their thinking about mixed relationships..it certainly would explain their response and shock of what I had done in their eyes...they would have been afraid of their own extended family and community..although I kind of knew this...I could not accept that having grown up her.......that they would still have accepted me to marry a man from India...you know to bring someone over with a completly different experience to myself in growing up here...the cycle in my eyes would just continue in respect of someones thinking and then the thinking of children born in such marriages.

Dev..were you aware inyour upbringing of these things happening in a different way to the Panchayats her in Britain? Did the men you spoke to in family and the asian community hold views about maintaining traditions like these?

[chweetgurl]

Is it this one ?
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od#3138174

[Dev1975]

I don't remember much about this sort of stuff growing up as my family had a tendency to "hide" stuff from me that they must have felt would be damaging in some way.  I know my mum's very traditional about this sort of thing and emotional manipulation/blackmail is very much her M.O.  Two of my uncles (from dad's side) married non-Sikh (Hindu) women and my dad wasn't pleased about it, though he didn't say much.  That surprised me as he was always seen as a pretty laid-back sort of person.  One thing I know for sure is that no one in the family would resort to violent means just to ensure that people towed the line.  Perhaps I should be thankful for that!

[saffron]

There are good people out there who would not do any harm dev..they just dont know how to respond to mixed relationships because its unusual for them in their history sometimes.

[chweetgurl]

I do find it inhumane to kill a person just for the sake of so called 'honour' or society image they want to represent. 

[saffron]

Chweety..yes thats the programme, I hadn't noted you had put the link up ..Thankyou for putting the link up...

I hope this did not stir things for you..some parts of this video are really horrific..some pictures.  As I said I was very affected by it, but we need to be aware of the transfer of these issues to our society here too.

Thisw was about mixed couples in every way..caste or not. The woman who presented the programme and did the journey is India was very brave and very direct in many cases.