:00:07. > :00:08.We've become used to seeing ourselves among the big players
:00:09. > :00:16.Is it time to scale down our sense of self importance?
:00:17. > :00:18.Boris Johnson didn't get his way at the G7 foreign
:00:19. > :00:24.Was he naive to think he could push his weight around?
:00:25. > :00:27.All we can say is he got himself out on a limb and the
:00:28. > :00:34.branch was cut off in Lucca Italy at the G-7 meeting.
:00:35. > :00:38.We'll look at the state of foreign policy, and ask if we should start
:00:39. > :00:40.thinking of ourselves as a medium-sized nation?
:00:41. > :00:44.Also tonight, Katie Razzall has been looking at the hidden side of honour
:00:45. > :00:46.violence; the men who have been victims of forced marriage,
:00:47. > :00:54.There is a lot of shame and pride and ego involved.
:00:55. > :00:57.This is wrong, it's dirty, we're going to beat you up,
:00:58. > :01:01.we're going to put a Black and Decker drill up your arse.
:01:02. > :01:11.We discuss the representation of black people, and black
:01:12. > :01:24.But do those working in the industry feel like times are changing?
:01:25. > :01:30.Yesterday foreign secretary Boris Johnson had a plan
:01:31. > :01:35.for targeted sanctions against Russia, as a response to its
:01:36. > :01:39.Mr Johnson was public in promoting his idea,
:01:40. > :01:42.and he took it to the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Lucca
:01:43. > :01:50.Sanctions weren't even mentioned in the communique.
:01:51. > :01:52.The view that prevailed was summarised by the Italian host,
:01:53. > :01:57.that "we must not push Russia into a corner".
:01:58. > :02:01.Now what does this say about British foreign policy?
:02:02. > :02:05.For some, it is simply a Boris Johnson fail -
:02:06. > :02:08.that he pushed his plan without knowing
:02:09. > :02:10.But for others, it speaks to a diminished
:02:11. > :02:15.That we should never expect the world's players,
:02:16. > :02:18.to be hanging on our every word or idea.
:02:19. > :02:29.We'll talk about that shortly, but first here's Mark Urban.
:02:30. > :02:32.The Lucca meeting offered western Foreign Ministers a chance
:02:33. > :02:34.for a united response to Syria's chemical weapons strike,
:02:35. > :02:42.Boris Johnson ended up in a lonely position of proposing new sanctions,
:02:43. > :02:45.and even the idea of pressuring the Kremlin over Syria
:02:46. > :02:58.We want to create a future for Syria that is stable and secure.
:02:59. > :03:05.And so Russia can be a part of that future and play an important role,
:03:06. > :03:08.or Russia can maintain its alliance with this group which we believe
:03:09. > :03:12.isn't going to serve Russia's interests long term.
:03:13. > :03:16.As the US Secretary of State carried that message off to Moscow
:03:17. > :03:20.one thing was clear, Britain's attempt to get the other
:03:21. > :03:23.leading economies to buy into sanctions had misfired,
:03:24. > :03:29.drawing some American backing but little from any other quarter.
:03:30. > :03:33.All we can say is he got himself out on a limb and the branch was cut off
:03:34. > :03:42.I think it is extremely unwise to go out and say this
:03:43. > :03:45.is what we are going to try and get when probably your advisers
:03:46. > :03:48.already know that you are not going to shift the Germans
:03:49. > :03:50.or the Italians, at least, to name but two.
:03:51. > :03:53.And as Rex Tillerson sits down with the Russian Foreign Minister
:03:54. > :03:57.he knows that Sergei Lavrov has batted away every attempt the West
:03:58. > :04:00.has made for five years to get the Kremlin to push Bashar al-Assad
:04:01. > :04:10.-- And what happened in Lucca won't have strengthened the American hand.
:04:11. > :04:13.Well, I think first of all it was a United States,
:04:14. > :04:17.I always was a bit suspicious about its wisdom, because there
:04:18. > :04:20.has to be some doubt as to whether further sanctions
:04:21. > :04:25.would make any impact given that they were going to be targeted
:04:26. > :04:28.against individuals and unlikely to change the Kremlin's view.
:04:29. > :04:31.But also what we've now got is actually a worse situation
:04:32. > :04:38.Because Tillerson will now be told by the Russians
:04:39. > :04:40.when he sees Lavrov, well, you don't even
:04:41. > :04:51.Of course there is one difference this time,
:04:52. > :04:54.which is the recent American missile strikes on a Syrian air base.
:04:55. > :04:56.Whether that will leverage American diplomacy at Moscow
:04:57. > :05:02.That hope springs eternal on the part of American officials,
:05:03. > :05:05.no matter what their political party, that somehow the Russians
:05:06. > :05:09.are going to ditch al-Assad and embrace somebody else.
:05:10. > :05:15.And I think that is a profound misreading of Russian interests.
:05:16. > :05:18.This was what kept John Kerry alive, apparently, in the last two years
:05:19. > :05:25.I can't imagine to myself that the Trump administration
:05:26. > :05:35.Britain's intervention at the G-7 may well have been well-intentioned
:05:36. > :05:38.but has it just exposed the weakness of this country's
:05:39. > :05:48.Last week's chemical weapon attack came at precisely the moment that
:05:49. > :05:51.many Western countries had been gradually accepting they might have
:05:52. > :05:53.to put up with the Bashar al-Assad government and wanted to do
:05:54. > :05:58.something to improve their relations with the Kremlin at the same time.
:05:59. > :06:01.So any idea for targeted sanctions coming from the desk
:06:02. > :06:03.of the British Foreign Secretary was never really going to fly
:06:04. > :06:08.Instead, as so many times during the Syrian civil War,
:06:09. > :06:10.Western countries are set to put their own wider
:06:11. > :06:24.For US Russian relations that takes some of the poison and some
:06:25. > :06:27.of the heat out of the relationship and then move on to try and sort out
:06:28. > :06:30.a few things in the world, which includes the chaos
:06:31. > :06:38.So in Moscow they will talk about Syria, but the bigger
:06:39. > :06:41.For the Trump administration has been clear about its desire
:06:42. > :06:49.for better relations with Russia, and it still seems intent on that.
:06:50. > :06:51.Well, it's particularly intriguing to ask if Britain needs to adjust
:06:52. > :06:58.We are 0.9 per cent of the world population, the ninth largest
:06:59. > :07:00.economy measured properly, and the fifth largest
:07:01. > :07:08.Jeremy Shapiro is research director at the European Council
:07:09. > :07:11.on Foreign Relations, and used to work at the US
:07:12. > :07:13.State Department advising Hillary Clinton on the Middle East.
:07:14. > :07:18.Emily Thornberry is the shadow foreign secretary.
:07:19. > :07:29.Good evening. Jeremy, uninterested in your perspective. Do you think
:07:30. > :07:33.the expectation that Boris goes in and says what he would like
:07:34. > :07:39.everybody gathers round, says yes or no, is that just one way of thinking
:07:40. > :07:43.about it? -- I am interested in your perspective. Great Britain has a
:07:44. > :07:48.great history of diplomacy. It likes to think of itself as a great power.
:07:49. > :07:52.But it has been a medium power for decades now. It has punched above
:07:53. > :07:57.its weight during those decades because it had a good relationship
:07:58. > :08:03.with the US, and it has been a member of the EU. And it has managed
:08:04. > :08:08.to work both sides of that I/O and punch its weight diplomatically. But
:08:09. > :08:26.with the Brexit decision those days are, sort of, over. -- both sides of
:08:27. > :08:31.that aisle. Do you accept that? I think we have navigated our foreign
:08:32. > :08:35.policy between the EU and America and our relationships with both are
:08:36. > :08:39.profoundly changing. I think you underplay the many positives we have
:08:40. > :08:43.as a country. We can continue to punch above our weight. We have a
:08:44. > :08:48.place in the Security Council. We don't need to be second fiddle to
:08:49. > :08:52.the Americans there. We could have a distinctive voice. People speak
:08:53. > :08:57.English. We have a huge amount of soft power. We spend vast amounts of
:08:58. > :09:03.money on aid. We might be the worlds biggest when it comes to the
:09:04. > :09:07.Americans... A large amount of foreign ministers have been educated
:09:08. > :09:12.in Britain. At an important time in their lives they fall in love with
:09:13. > :09:21.this country. We spent a lot of money on defence... Boris has
:09:22. > :09:23.written this article... I will tell you the difference I have with him.
:09:24. > :09:27.In order to be influential you have to have... Today was about tactics.
:09:28. > :09:30.It was completely the wrong one. We had to take advantage of the fact
:09:31. > :09:34.that we have a massive brains trust in the Foreign Office. The best and
:09:35. > :09:40.brightest of Britain go out for this country. That has been cut by 40%,
:09:41. > :09:45.it has been undermined, it has an eccentric, at least, you know,
:09:46. > :09:49.Foreign Secretary, that perhaps undermined them. And Brexit has been
:09:50. > :09:53.taken away from the Foreign Office and given to another department...
:09:54. > :09:57.The Foreign Office didn't want to come on this evening. In some ways,
:09:58. > :10:01.Jeremy, you have a grand vision of Britain as a great power. Spend more
:10:02. > :10:05.on the Foreign Office, you could have more the Britannia is floating
:10:06. > :10:10.around... I'm not talking about that. We should hold our heads up
:10:11. > :10:20.high and be more confident about ourselves.
:10:21. > :10:23.-- more royal Britannias floating around. That's great. All of the
:10:24. > :10:26.things you've talked about our British strengths. But I can tell
:10:27. > :10:28.you they are more keenly felt inside this country rather than outside.
:10:29. > :10:32.When I was in the State Department we didn't focus on that. We barely
:10:33. > :10:36.noticed it. If you look at the article in the New York Times about
:10:37. > :10:40.the G-7 meeting, it barely mentions Britain. I looked at several of them
:10:41. > :10:46.in other countries. They didn't mention Boris Johnson. But it was
:10:47. > :10:51.buried under... They did, it was buried, he was not seen as the
:10:52. > :10:58.story. The story was the US, the Russians, the Italians, it was not
:10:59. > :11:03.Britain. Yet if you read the British press's coverage it was all about
:11:04. > :11:09.Boris Johnson's Fabius, all of the tactics you were covering. King of
:11:10. > :11:14.what you said was right. -- Boris Johnson's failures. Let's focus on
:11:15. > :11:19.the Middle East. Our historic links with the Middle East are profound.
:11:20. > :11:24.We have an understanding. America doesn't have that. As a close ally
:11:25. > :11:28.of America we can, hopefully, if we were prepared to stand up to the
:11:29. > :11:31.president and say no, you've got that wrong, actually this is a
:11:32. > :11:36.better way of approaching things, we would have more clarity. That is the
:11:37. > :11:42.key point. -- we would have more clout. Would anybody listen to us if
:11:43. > :11:46.we deviated from the US? We are essentially the deputy to the US
:11:47. > :11:53.sheriff and everybody listens to the deputy and we need to agree. If we
:11:54. > :11:57.disagree with the US people will listen, do you agree with that? You
:11:58. > :12:04.pick your battles, you do not disagree with everything. Jeremy?
:12:05. > :12:08.Look at what happened before the Trump administration took over on
:12:09. > :12:13.the Israel Palestine issue. The government betrayed its position
:12:14. > :12:16.from a week before. Essentially attacked the Obama administration on
:12:17. > :12:23.its Security Council resolution that the UK Government had drafted for
:12:24. > :12:28.us. And voted for it. To me what that indicated was that the UK
:12:29. > :12:32.Government was afraid to be separate from the new American
:12:33. > :12:37.administration. And you can say... It is a sell-out. Maybe, but I think
:12:38. > :12:42.it is indicative of a larger problem any UK Government would have. Emily,
:12:43. > :12:47.do you think it would be difficult for politicians to tell the British
:12:48. > :12:54.public would Jeremy is saying? Look, guys, we are as important as Norway,
:12:55. > :12:59.maybe more, but we are a medium-sized power, we will find it
:13:00. > :13:03.difficult to swagger about, would you say that? I wouldn't say we have
:13:04. > :13:08.the same influence as Norway. We are not a superpower. Clearly. But I
:13:09. > :13:11.think we have and should continue to have much more influence than the
:13:12. > :13:16.size of our country because of all of the positives we have in our
:13:17. > :13:21.history and culturally what we have. And our connections. And we need to
:13:22. > :13:26.take advantage of that. Our place in international institutions is
:13:27. > :13:32.pivotal. We have been responsible for legal imperialism in the way
:13:33. > :13:35.we've exported human rights. We draft of the human rights which is
:13:36. > :13:38.now being used throughout. Which is why it is damaging to this
:13:39. > :13:44.government so we are not so keen on that like we used to be. Do you
:13:45. > :13:48.think soft power is more important than defence power? Give us some
:13:49. > :13:49.more advice. Is it spending more on defence, always the aid Budget that
:13:50. > :14:00.doesn't it? Soft power is what people appealed
:14:01. > :14:05.to when they want to talk about the power asset too nebulous to pin
:14:06. > :14:10.down. There is something real to it but hard to get your hands around
:14:11. > :14:14.and it does not move G-7 meetings. If we want to be heard above the
:14:15. > :14:18.cacophony of noise on foreign policy, if we had foreign policy
:14:19. > :14:21.that was a bit more principled unpredictable and people could
:14:22. > :14:23.understand the basis for decisions we could have a great deal more
:14:24. > :14:25.influence. Thank you both very much. It's been a year in which
:14:26. > :14:28.experts have been pitted But there is no case of that sadder
:14:29. > :14:34.than the one involving Charlie Gard, the eight month old baby
:14:35. > :14:37.with severe brain damage. The doctors at Great Ormond Street,
:14:38. > :14:39.think he must allowed to die peacefully, his parents
:14:40. > :14:42.are desperate for him to have a last shot at an experimental
:14:43. > :14:44.treatment in the US. They've raised the money for that,
:14:45. > :14:47.but to their bitter disappointment, the High Court found in favour
:14:48. > :14:51.of the medical professionals today. The parents' lawyer expressed
:14:52. > :15:04.their feelings after the verdict. Connie and Chris are facing every
:15:05. > :15:06.parent's worst nightmare, they are struggling to understand
:15:07. > :15:09.why the court has not at least given Charlie the chance
:15:10. > :15:11.of treatment in America. The medical evidence is complex
:15:12. > :15:13.and the treatment offered These are not easy issues
:15:14. > :15:16.and they remain utterly committed, like any parent, to wanting
:15:17. > :15:24.to do their outmost for their child. the judge and everybody who reads
:15:25. > :15:28.about the case, all have nothing but respect and sympathy
:15:29. > :15:31.for the parents, Connie and Chris Well, Professor Dominic Wilkinson
:15:32. > :15:34.is the Director of Medical Ethics at the Oxford Uehiro Centre
:15:35. > :15:37.and Sarah Barclay is the director Sarah also happens to sit
:15:38. > :15:44.on the Clinical Ethics Committee at Great Ormond Street Hospital,
:15:45. > :15:47.but is not tonight representing them Let's put the case of Charlie aside
:15:48. > :16:06.and talk general principles. Dominic, how do the experts decide,
:16:07. > :16:10.how do the professionals decide. What is in the interests of this
:16:11. > :16:15.child or a child in general. In these very difficult cases all
:16:16. > :16:19.anyone is trying to do is work out what is best for the child. They
:16:20. > :16:25.look at the different treatment options, they weigh up the risks and
:16:26. > :16:28.benefits of those different alternatives. And there is going to
:16:29. > :16:35.be different evidence that people look at. We focus on the individual
:16:36. > :16:43.and not on the statistics. And safer this child, does this particular
:16:44. > :16:47.experimental treatment or perhaps mainstream -- mainstream treatment,
:16:48. > :16:54.to the risks outweigh the benefits. There doing it, thinking about it in
:16:55. > :16:57.a spreadsheet mentality rather than an emotional mentality because I
:16:58. > :17:06.suppose in a way the question is which is more valid,? We should not
:17:07. > :17:12.undertake the role that emotion plays in any of our decisions. Of
:17:13. > :17:15.course these are taken very seriously and to the heart of all
:17:16. > :17:19.professionals involved. There are also trying to weigh up as
:17:20. > :17:23.impartially as they can the information available about the
:17:24. > :17:30.different treatment options. One of the reasons this dispute arises is
:17:31. > :17:33.because people look at the evidence and they weighed up in different
:17:34. > :17:39.ways, the parents, the professionals, and they come to
:17:40. > :17:42.different conclusions. Often with time and careful thought and
:17:43. > :17:49.conversation, it is possible to reach agreement but sometimes not.
:17:50. > :17:52.Sarah, you handle the process of trying to manage some of these
:17:53. > :17:57.complicated and difficult relationships. What is it that makes
:17:58. > :18:02.someone break down. I think that is an important question, the point at
:18:03. > :18:06.which a situation which is desperately painful and complex
:18:07. > :18:10.become something more confrontational and something we
:18:11. > :18:15.might describe as a conflict. And so our work has been focused for the
:18:16. > :18:19.last few years on trying to unpick what it is that causes these
:18:20. > :18:23.situations to occur. And often not always but often, it is about
:18:24. > :18:28.communication breaking down, trust breaking down between the treating
:18:29. > :18:36.team on the one team and the parents on the other. And when that begins
:18:37. > :18:40.to happen, you get a situation which is entrenched and when that goes to
:18:41. > :18:46.court and becomes a very public conflict, with the language of the
:18:47. > :18:49.battlefield, the winning and losing, in these situations there can be no
:18:50. > :18:55.real winners and losers. At the heart of it is a very sick child.
:18:56. > :19:00.What we would try to do is try and see it that you can begin to work
:19:01. > :19:05.with teams of clinicians to say when is this beginning to happen, what
:19:06. > :19:10.can we do to get in there earlier. Is it harder with parents with young
:19:11. > :19:16.children then it would be perhaps with a spouse, a husband or wife
:19:17. > :19:20.brain-damaged, is there something about the bond of the parent to a
:19:21. > :19:29.recently born child that makes it more complicated? It is incredibly
:19:30. > :19:33.powerful and strong and of course these are small, newborn babies in
:19:34. > :19:37.many cases and the parents are only just beginning to get to know them
:19:38. > :19:43.but their role as parents they feel is absolutely to be the advocate for
:19:44. > :19:48.that child. All research will show even if there is a minute percentage
:19:49. > :19:51.chance of success of any kind of treatment, they will jump at that
:19:52. > :19:57.chance. As parents that is quite understandable. Why would you ever
:19:58. > :20:03.want to stand in the way of the parents being the decider of what
:20:04. > :20:07.it's worth taking a risk on or not? Parents are at the heart of the
:20:08. > :20:14.decisions we make in intensive care, that I make when I'm working with
:20:15. > :20:19.very sick babies. And rightly so. But there are limits to the
:20:20. > :20:24.decisions parents can make. We are certain for example the treatment
:20:25. > :20:30.would benefit a child and we do not think it is parents -- it is right
:20:31. > :20:33.for parents to refuse treatment, chemotherapy for example that would
:20:34. > :20:36.certainly improve the chances of a child. On the other hand when
:20:37. > :20:42.parents request something that clinicians feel certain would do
:20:43. > :20:47.more harm than good... People do get it wrong sometimes. One of the
:20:48. > :20:53.things we try to do or should try to do is to be humble and acknowledge
:20:54. > :20:57.our uncertainty and there are going to be times where we are more
:20:58. > :21:01.uncertain than others. Where we are uncertain parents should have a
:21:02. > :21:07.fundamental role in these decisions. But sadly where we've come believe
:21:08. > :21:11.that a treatment cannot help, and in fact will do more harm than good, it
:21:12. > :21:20.is important that we make that does that decision that we have to make.
:21:21. > :21:22.Thank you both very much. -- that's sad decision.
:21:23. > :21:24.Time for a quick spot of Viewsnight now.
:21:25. > :21:26.This Sunday there's a referendum in Turkey -
:21:27. > :21:28.it's about a proposal to change the constitution, giving
:21:29. > :21:31.the president more power and getting rid of the post of Prime Minister.
:21:32. > :21:34.It is fair to say it is controversial; and here is Turkish
:21:35. > :23:50.author, Elif Safak to offer an opinion on it.
:23:51. > :23:55.Hear the words honour-based violence, and most of us will assume
:23:56. > :23:57.the victims in any particular case, are women.
:23:58. > :24:02.Coming from conservative religious communities,
:24:03. > :24:07.they can find themselves having to hide anything from sexual abuse
:24:08. > :24:09.to domestic violence to their being gay, because to speak
:24:10. > :24:12.out would potentially dishonour their families.
:24:13. > :24:16.At worst, that puts their own lives at risk.
:24:17. > :24:19.It's not much talked about, and frankly to most of us honour
:24:20. > :24:21.punishment of relatives is incomprehensible,
:24:22. > :24:25.but Newsnight has been speaking to men trapped in this predicament.
:24:26. > :24:36.Katie Razzall has this special report.
:24:37. > :24:44.What would members of the community think?
:24:45. > :24:49.I could have been disowned, I could have been forced to marry
:24:50. > :24:55.Being abused, you associate with women in the Asian community.
:24:56. > :25:08.Up to now when we talk about online abuse we tend to think of women.
:25:09. > :25:12.But Newsnight has uncovered another side to honour violence.
:25:13. > :25:14.And found whole groups of men silenced and ignored.
:25:15. > :25:16.Men can be hidden victims, of forced marriage, physical
:25:17. > :25:22.They're subject to the same cultural codes of kinship
:25:23. > :25:36.and honour as women, but they're telling
:25:37. > :25:40.Men like this British imam, who we are calling Meneer.
:25:41. > :25:43.He asked us to disguise his identity to protect him from repercussions.
:25:44. > :25:46.We are trained from a young age to keep the family honour intact.
:25:47. > :25:49.Even if it means that you might have experienced abuse or you might have
:25:50. > :25:55.At the age of ten to 11 if I remember correctly,
:25:56. > :26:04.a relative of mine used to come and visit us from overseas.
:26:05. > :26:07.And he would fondle, kiss, and he raped me once.
:26:08. > :26:12.And I remember that incident very clearly.
:26:13. > :26:16.It affected me to such an extent that about ten years ago
:26:17. > :26:21.I was on the point and on the verge of committing suicide
:26:22. > :26:24.and ending my life, despite the fact that I have been working as an imam
:26:25. > :26:28.and as a teacher for almost 25, 30 years.
:26:29. > :26:31.After decades of torment, Meneer finally told his family
:26:32. > :26:38.My family members, some of them were shocked.
:26:39. > :26:41.But again, they did not want me to take it further.
:26:42. > :26:44.And again, the reason is about honour, shame,
:26:45. > :26:53.It's about honour and fear of my life.
:26:54. > :26:56.One honour-based violence charity, Karma Nirvana, told Newsnight
:26:57. > :26:59.between 2015 and 2016, it saw an increase in men
:27:00. > :27:09.And Virgina International said from having no male
:27:10. > :27:11.victims contacting them, now one in five of their
:27:12. > :27:15.But still it's thought the majority don't talk to anyone.
:27:16. > :27:19.We've had contact with more than 70 alleged victims.
:27:20. > :27:23.These men have been shamed into silence and shockingly,
:27:24. > :27:28.many told us they'd contemplated suicide
:27:29. > :27:30.because of the torment they have gone through
:27:31. > :27:43.Being gay can dishonour a family and the wider community.
:27:44. > :27:45.From a young age he understood his homosexuality didn't fit
:27:46. > :27:51.Definitely I feared my life, I thought I could be killed.
:27:52. > :27:54.And that wasn't a joke, that was real.
:27:55. > :27:57.I felt I would be disowned for sure, and kicked out of the house.
:27:58. > :28:01.Definitely, I went through depression, suicidal tendencies.
:28:02. > :28:07.I used to think about it, yes, especially when I was at university,
:28:08. > :28:10.I used to think about throwing myself off the balcony or taking
:28:11. > :28:20.I wanted to find out more about these codes of honour
:28:21. > :28:24.and shame that silence men like Majinda.
:28:25. > :28:25.Charity worker Rani Bilku invited Newsnight to
:28:26. > :28:33.These practices have little to do with religion.
:28:34. > :28:37.And apply across communities, be they Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh.
:28:38. > :28:39.The concept of shame, it dishonours the whole community
:28:40. > :28:49.You're looking at the immediate family, you're looking
:28:50. > :28:52.at the community as a whole and that community can also belong
:28:53. > :28:59.to the community back home from where they've come from.
:29:00. > :29:02.In another part of Britain another man too ashamed to be identified.
:29:03. > :29:04.Haroun has escaped what he claims was an abusive marriage.
:29:05. > :29:07.But still fears the consequences of talking openly.
:29:08. > :29:08.My ex abused me financially, psychologically, emotionally.
:29:09. > :29:11.She had been doing it for a number of years.
:29:12. > :29:13.I didn't speak up before because I was afraid.
:29:14. > :29:21.Which led me to attempt suicide because I knew I had two choices.
:29:22. > :29:27.Either die, or live with the torture.
:29:28. > :29:30.Being abused you associate with women in the Asian community.
:29:31. > :29:35.If you associate it with men, it's like she's wearing
:29:36. > :29:45.That extra pressure is on you, it leads to other things.
:29:46. > :29:48.Today's video is about my coming out story.
:29:49. > :29:51.Majinda now lives openly as a gay Sikh.
:29:52. > :29:54.He has a YouTube channel and a book offering advice to South Asians
:29:55. > :29:58.about how to come out to the parents.
:29:59. > :30:00.-- about how to come out to their parents.
:30:01. > :30:04.People I knew were marrying, you know, women, even though
:30:05. > :30:06.they were gay, or they were killing themselves, having suicide.
:30:07. > :30:12.I came out via SMS when I was living in the Middle East.
:30:13. > :30:20.And that's the worst, well, I don't know, there's
:30:21. > :30:26.And what did being gay mean to your parents?
:30:27. > :30:29.You had sent them this text, what did they take from that?
:30:30. > :30:32.My mum having grown up in India, she had seen the Hijra population
:30:33. > :30:36.So that is the only concept she has of what is being non-straight.
:30:37. > :30:39.And she thought I was going to wear a sari and that
:30:40. > :30:45.And then she was like, I remember you had a penis
:30:46. > :30:48.when you were born, like, do you still have a penis?
:30:49. > :30:53.And my dad, who did have education in the UK for a few years,
:30:54. > :30:56.he thought I had a mental condition which meant that I couldn't work.
:30:57. > :30:59.And he told my mum I will work double hours at work
:31:00. > :31:09.His mum has been on quite a journey since.
:31:10. > :31:13.Even appearing in one of his videos about how to react to a gay child.
:31:14. > :31:17.There's a lot of shame and pride and ego involved,
:31:18. > :31:23.this is wrong, it's dirty, they're going to beat you up.
:31:24. > :31:25.And put a Black Decker drill up your arse.
:31:26. > :31:28.We're going to come and knock you out, you know,
:31:29. > :31:30.your sister is getting married, we're going to tell her in-laws
:31:31. > :31:41.In some cases keeping silent to protect family honour
:31:42. > :31:43.means abusers get away with serious criminal offences.
:31:44. > :31:48.Maneer only felt able to talk about what happened to him
:31:49. > :31:51.when his work as an imam put him in touch with other survivors.
:31:52. > :31:54.Up until that point I thought I was probably the only person
:31:55. > :31:56.who had probably experienced such a thing.
:31:57. > :32:01.After listening to at least 30, 40 case studies of young Muslim
:32:02. > :32:05.males and some females in this country who have experienced also
:32:06. > :32:08.abuses of a sexual nature, and some by clergy, I felt that
:32:09. > :32:15.Otherwise I would be answerable to God.
:32:16. > :32:17.There are individuals in our communities who have
:32:18. > :32:24.behaved in a manner which is totally unacceptable.
:32:25. > :32:26.What are the reasons why your community might think it
:32:27. > :32:30.would be a bad idea for you to talk about these sorts of issues?
:32:31. > :32:32.The Muslim community is like in a dock at the moment,
:32:33. > :32:35.everybody everywhere from every corner is scrutinising the Muslims
:32:36. > :32:39.for whatever they do, from what they wear,
:32:40. > :32:42.what they eat, what they do, how they behave.
:32:43. > :32:44.And bringing about something like this will only add,
:32:45. > :32:48.you know, to the problems of the Muslim community.
:32:49. > :32:51.However, I see it slightly differently.
:32:52. > :32:56.I believe that for a long time perpetrators of these type
:32:57. > :33:00.of offences, which are very serious in my eyes, I believe, have got away
:33:01. > :33:02.with it by using this card, that it will bring disrepute
:33:03. > :33:06.Maneer has not pressed charges against his relative,
:33:07. > :33:17.Perhaps most shockingly, he says his abuser went
:33:18. > :33:21.Katie Razzall with that report and for details of organisations
:33:22. > :33:23.which offer advice and support with forced marriage or honour
:33:24. > :33:32.violence, go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline.
:33:33. > :33:35.On Sunday, a new six part drama called Guerilla hits the small
:33:36. > :33:46.Two lovers take a stand amid the racial struggle of 1970s London.
:33:47. > :33:48.It's a storyline that focusses on the black
:33:49. > :33:51.Raising the question as to whether there is enough such
:33:52. > :33:53.portrayal in mainstream film and drama.
:33:54. > :33:55.Historian and broadcaster, David Olusoga thinks he might
:33:56. > :34:06.This time last year and the Oscars were being widely condemned
:34:07. > :34:08.after not a single non-white nominee had appeared in any
:34:09. > :34:20.Twitter burst into action, condemning the Academy under
:34:21. > :34:25.A year later and the film Moonlight, a stunning African-American
:34:26. > :34:26.coming-of-age story, won the Best Picture Oscar.
:34:27. > :34:37.TV, too, has undergone something of a transformation.
:34:38. > :34:41.In America there's been a lavish remake of the classic
:34:42. > :34:43.1970s miniseries, Roots, which starred the British actor
:34:44. > :34:53.On the BBC we've had Undercover, a drama in which the lead characters
:34:54. > :34:59.played by Sophie Okonedo and Adrian Lester,
:35:00. > :35:01.were what academics who studied cinema call "happen
:35:02. > :35:05.They were black, but race wasn't central to the story.
:35:06. > :35:07.All the speeches, the empty rhetoric, they do nothing.
:35:08. > :35:09.And this week Sky Atlantic premiers Guerilla, a drama set amidst
:35:10. > :35:15.the racial tensions of early 1970s London.
:35:16. > :35:17.There's also new feature documentaries that
:35:18. > :35:24.13th uncovers a loophole in the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution,
:35:25. > :35:30.A loophole that historically has weaponised the US criminal justice
:35:31. > :35:38.The story of the negro in America is the story of America.
:35:39. > :35:43.While I'm Not Your Negro is an award-winning biopic of one
:35:44. > :35:45.of America's greatest writers and sages.
:35:46. > :35:57.Has Hollywood and TV on both sides of the Atlantic had an epiphany,
:35:58. > :36:01.or has this just been a good year, a blip?
:36:02. > :36:04.David Olusoga is with us and we're also joined by the director
:36:05. > :36:20.Good evening. David, we know you are optimistic, you have seen a lot
:36:21. > :36:25.going on, do you feel that way? No. CHUCKLES
:36:26. > :36:33.If we look at the UK situation, if you go back to the 1970s we had a
:36:34. > :36:40.series like Empire Road, we had a cop series, which was the first
:36:41. > :36:50.black detective series. We also had in the 1980s a spate of comedies. No
:36:51. > :36:57.Problem. On the BBC also commissioned some TV series. -- and
:36:58. > :37:03.the BBC also commissioned some TV series. Where is the black voice
:37:04. > :37:10.now? Where are the writers? Where are the stories being told on a
:37:11. > :37:14.consistent basis? We had ongoing series in the 1970s and 1980s but I
:37:15. > :37:26.don't see that now. Are you excited by Gorilla coming out? -- Guerilla
:37:27. > :37:31.coming out? I don't know about it, I don't know who the writers are. As
:37:32. > :37:36.this is not opened up something? Suddenly a realisation that this was
:37:37. > :37:40.a set of powerful stories and great characters and actors, and maybe
:37:41. > :37:45.this is something people have cottoned on to, but has he not hew
:37:46. > :37:52.out of that feeling? I am excited about Guerilla. I'm also excited
:37:53. > :37:55.that Idris Elba was not only starring in it but he's also the
:37:56. > :38:01.producer. I think what is different from the 70s, 80s and 90s, we now
:38:02. > :38:04.have a company of some of the greatest black actors we've ever
:38:05. > :38:10.produced. This golden generation of British black actors who are sliding
:38:11. > :38:16.across the world. And some of them like Idris are using their megastar
:38:17. > :38:21.power in television and cinema on both sides of the Atlantic. That is
:38:22. > :38:25.how Hollywood works. We talk about people being players. We've not had
:38:26. > :38:30.that before. I'm more concerned about the British situation because
:38:31. > :38:33.we often get into the American situation. But he became a star
:38:34. > :38:38.because he went to America because he didn't get any opportunities
:38:39. > :38:41.here. My issue is that the actors are leaving here to go to America
:38:42. > :38:47.because they don't have the opportunities. That is my issue. If
:38:48. > :38:51.we focus on the British situation, there is not the development that we
:38:52. > :38:57.have seen previously. And I am looking at the writers, where are
:38:58. > :39:02.the Black writers in British television, the black directors?
:39:03. > :39:06.These are the storytellers. For me, we can look at the American
:39:07. > :39:10.situation, which has its differences and contradictions, but I am
:39:11. > :39:15.focusing on the UK. We need statistics to see if it is getting
:39:16. > :39:19.better or worst... We can know by looking at where is the presence?
:39:20. > :39:25.What is the presence of black content? You used this interesting
:39:26. > :39:30.phrase, happened to be black characters, which is more important
:39:31. > :39:35.for portrayal and diversity? Is it black themed dramas that are about
:39:36. > :39:39.the black experience, or is it mainstream dramas, or any eternal
:39:40. > :39:44.narratives that affect everybody, and in which there are black
:39:45. > :39:49.characters, it is not about them being black? It is both. If you ask
:39:50. > :39:53.a black actor they would like to be involved in roles where they can
:39:54. > :39:56.talk about the world they come from, their experiences of their families
:39:57. > :40:03.and communities, but they'd also like to be on Albert Square. They
:40:04. > :40:10.would like to be a policeman... We are talking about the menu of things
:40:11. > :40:15.that is available. You can have characters which are coming from a
:40:16. > :40:18.non-specific place, and you can have characters and stories which are
:40:19. > :40:24.race specific. That is part of the menu. My point is we are not seeing
:40:25. > :40:29.the culturally specific, because it makes us grow as a society. It
:40:30. > :40:36.introduces us to new worlds. We are not progressing in that area. Is the
:40:37. > :40:41.problem... For good or bad, there is the tyranny of the majority. If 85%
:40:42. > :40:51.of people are not vegetarians, you will find meet in most
:40:52. > :40:58.restaurants... -- meat in most restaurants. I don't accept that.
:40:59. > :41:02.The problem is, as an independent film-maker, I come across writers
:41:03. > :41:06.who are talented but they cannot get a foothold in television or movies.
:41:07. > :41:10.So if I am trying to get a product off the ground with a writer, the
:41:11. > :41:17.writer has no track record, so we end up in a vicious cycle.
:41:18. > :41:21.Absolutely. We need the writers, we need to stories, because it helps
:41:22. > :41:26.the menu, it helps make society much better place. We must leave it to
:41:27. > :41:27.there. Thank you, David. That is it for tonight.
:41:28. > :41:30.Before we go, you've probably all seen the United Airlines video
:41:31. > :41:32.by now, several times, where a passenger refuses to give
:41:33. > :41:35.up his seat on an overbooked flight and airport security are summoned
:41:36. > :41:37.to 're-accomodate' him in an unconventionally forceful way.
:41:38. > :41:40.So we leave you with this United Airlines Customer Care
:41:41. > :41:41.Training Video that's doing the rounds.
:41:42. > :41:55.Stewardess, please, let me handle this.