On Monday, Channel 4 will be showing a Dispatches programme called ‘When Cousins Marry‘.
Despite the inclusion of a token white couple (who are not even first cousins) the show is primarily about sections of the Asian Muslim community who habitually engage in cousin marriage, and the illnesses this causes among their children.
Dispatches reveals the tragic consequences of first cousin marriage in Britain. Every year such marriages cause hundreds of children to be born with terrible disabilities; one third of whom are so ill that they die before they are five years old.
The practice is most common in Britain’s Pakistani community, in which more than 50% of people marry their first cousin, and in Bradford 75% of ethnic Pakistanis follow the tradition.
The documentary is also very definitely about the shady politics surrounding this issue.
Presenter Tazeen Ahmed remarks:
…we approached 16 MPs with a significant number of British Pakistani constituents for interview – every one of them declined. We also asked 30 MPs with high populations of British Pakistanis in their constituencies to give their views in a short survey. Only one, who wanted to remain anonymous, responded telling us that anyone who tried to talk about it risked being attacked politically. Former Labour MP Ann Cryer believes it is political correctness that is preventing politicians from raising the subject. ‘It’s fear that they’ll be accused of racism or demonization’, she says, adding that she too has been lambasted for discussing it in the past.
From MixTogether’s point of view, the programme also touches on the all-important freedom to choose a marriage partner:
However, some young people told us that they sometimes face extreme pressure from their families to marry their first cousins. I met ‘Zara’ who was born and raised in the UK. When she was 16, she was pressurised into marrying her cousin from Pakistan. She says ‘I was emotionally blackmailed, my husband’s family went on a hunger strike, they said we are going to commit suicide and that it was matter of their honour because I had been engaged to my cousin for a long time.’
All of these aspects to the programme place it squarely within the remit of Sunny Hundal, who has built a career as a journalist out of commenting on political issues that impact on the Asian community. He is currently trying to re-shape the Left and promote ‘grass roots participation’ in politics, and he has recently joined the Labour party. Yet in recent times Hundal has made virtually no comment on forced marriage and related issues. This is sometimes left to his deputy Rumbold on Pickled Politics, but seems to never get Hundal’s personal seal of approval. He reserves comment on Muslim issues to areas where he can attack his political opponents.
Yet here is a TV programme with very obvious potential benefits to the Muslim community and to a lot of young Asians. It also highlights an area where freedom of speech is being restricted amongst our political representatives in Parliament. There is no doubt that Dispatches: When Cousins Marry will add credibility to the case being made by forced marriage campaigners.
The question is whether Hundal will put his personal credibility on the line and call for a response on this issue from his readers.
This blog will definitely be watching…
Update: Predictably no response whatsoever from Sunny Hundal. He has left it to Rumbold on Pickled Politics to do his usual performance, flagging big issues so that Hundal can wash his hands of them.
If the English Defence League or BNP were responsible for the same rate of hospitalisations of British Pakistani children as genetic disease, do you think Sunny Hundal would stay silent?
Hundal used the Asian card to get where he is, but now he won’t lift a finger to campaign personally on issues that affect real Asian kids.
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