Last night on BBC4 I watched a particularly poignant and emotional programme called 'Honour Kills'.
In the programme they examined so called 'Honour' killings and the reasons often used to justify them.
These murders are usually committed against a female member of the family for some alleged dishonour they have brought upon the family, usually upon the father.
In one case a house was firebombed by the brother of a girl who was apparently going out with someone inside the house. A toddler died in that attack, and the perpetrators are believed to be hiding in Bangladesh where these crimes are often seen as 'honourable' by certain groups although they are not legal there either.
The problem that causes these killings I believe is the culture clash between modern Western secular life and society and mostly Islamic Village culture brought over by immigrants around 50years ago. This culture is then pushed onto their children who inevitably end up leading double lives. Often there lives outside the house would not or are not approved of by the older generations of the family.
A man in the programme made a good point that these weren't honour killings but 'control' killings. The fathers can't stand to see their daughters out of their control and living their own lives and then they kill them for some supposed afront against the families honour when it is infact his ego that has been offended.
Blogger 'muslimdilema' recently wrote that one of her friends wears the full face and body veil so that she can go out with her boyfriend without being identified. If she was seen by a member of the family with a man who wasn't related to her there would be serious consequences for her she may even be killed by members of her own family!
This is a problem that is often ascribed to the Muslims of Britain but personally I believe it has nothing to do with Islam. Islam like all religions preaches love and harmony and although these murders often happen in Islamic communities it is not the religion of Islam that calls for them to happen at all. What is the problem however is the culture that is brought to Britain along with it that has nothing to do with religious beliefs but is merely a way of patriarchs controlling their families and making them fit their twisted view of what a womans role is. This of course cannot fit in with Western society were women are allowed to choose there own role in life.
Society needs to become more aware of this as its is not just the heinous act of murder that is the problem but smaller acts of physical and psychological violence that undermines these vulnerable women and makes them feel like this is something they have to put up with. When as we all know it is not! It is a pity the BBC chose to show this important programme at 1.30am this morning. if anyone actually reads this and is interested part to is on BBC4 tonight at the same time I believe.
