“The inspiration and purpose behind Fuuse Mousiqi is to explore the crossroads of self-expression and activism, realising that every act of self-expression has a political and universal dimension: that whether raised in speech or song, our voices are the source of our power" - Deeyah
Today Deeyah launched her new labour of love, HBVA. Honour Based Violence Awareness Network aims to provide as many resources and tools to help individuals and organizations learn how to combat and deal with Honour Based Violence including the horrific crime; Honour Killings.
Note from Deeyah:
Since a young girl I have carried a deep passion for women’s rights issues. Honour Based Violence (HBV) is something I have been touched by in my own life through friends and family who have been subjected to various aspects of violence and repression in the name of honour. As a result, I have a deep personal commitment to this topic.
In the wish to shed more light on this issue, I set out almost three years ago on a mission to create a film project documenting the extent of ‘honour’ killings in Europe, and to gather better insight into the extent of the problem internationally. After extensively searching the web for information on the subject, my own need for research and data was left unfulfilled. I began interviewing experts in the field, ranging from policy makers, to NGOs, activists, police officers and legal professionals. I realised they also shared my frustrations at the lack of accessible and comprehensive information about HBV.
During these interviews, I also quickly became aware that HBV tends to be little understood in the West–with alarming consequences. We do know that HBV is far more widespread than current figures indicate because it is under-reported, under-researched and under-documented; and therefore, easily misunderstood and misrecognised.
Out of these needs, the Honour Based Violence Awareness Network was born. I humbly hope HBVA can serve as a helpful tool by making much of the excellent research materials and articles that already exist more easily accessible to everyone who has a need for them. In collaboration with our partners and experts, HBVA will also strive to produce up-to-date research and data about all aspects of ‘honour’-based violence globally.
- Deeyah
These words are taken from http://www.hbv-awareness.com/Other initiative begun by Deeyah includes MEMINI, http://memini.co/
Creator and co-producer of the album Listen To The Banned, Deeyah has been included in a published Journal compiled by the Journal of Urban Culture Research.
When Noor made the decision to live with her boyfriend, instead of conform to her family’s pressure for arranged marriage, tensions arose between her father and her. On October 20, 2009 in an Arizona parking lot Noor’s father attempted to run over his daughter and the mother of her boyfriend his Jeep. Noor spent two weeks in coma fighting for her life, but died as a result of her injuries. Source: MEMINI
MEMINI, is an international voluntary organisation, which aims to ensure stories of honour killing are told. MEMINI, which means ‘remembrance’ in Latin, works to bring to light the many women and girls who are victims of honour killing to call on government to establish more laws against such a terrible crime. Established by Deeyah, a former Norwegian singer with Pashtun and Punjabi backgrounds, MEMINI tries to raise awareness about honour killing.
Honour killing is a practice which occurs when a person is killed by another member of her family or community. The murder happens because of honour reasons as the victim has brought, or believed to have brought, dishonour to the family or to the community to which she belongs.
Speaking exclusively to Urban Times about honour killing, Deeyah said:
The purpose of honour killings is to remove the perceived shame, embarrassment or dishonour felt by a family, a clan, a tribe or a community that has a very strong group identity.These killings typically are intended to remove all signs of the person who has “offended” the collective. I have worked with this topic for many years and what has always made my heart hurt is in addition to the horrors and violence the victims of such crimes face is this intention of the killers to wipe out all signs of any existence of these young women
Not only are these murders so brutal and not only are the victims subjected to the ultimate betrayal of their family and community but the sheer tragedy of the people closest to them who should have loved them and cared about them and mourned them instead showed their conditional love and stole the life, dreams and potential of their own children.
Deeyah, who also won an award for her project Sisterhood, an initiative designed to empower young Muslim women by encouraging artistic expressions across creative disciplines, added.
Talking about MEMINI, Deeyah said that she wanted to create a special place for these women; a place which acknowledged their existence:
I wanted to create an online space where we could mourn them, think of them and acknowledge their life and that they were in fact here, to respect them, honour them and remember them. Together with just one of my dear friends we built this space of remembrance. Since its launch we have received the time and support of volunteers from all around the world who are helping us in writing, researching, documenting and honouring these martyrs of love and courage by remembering them. I am deeply thankful for everyone’s support, dedication and care. We of course cannot bring back these young lives but what we can do is defy the intentions of the murderers by honouring, respecting and remembering the ones who have been so brutally taken away
The reason why Deeyah decided to set up MEMINI in the first place was:
to remember, love and honour the ones who have been sacrificed for the safe of ‘family honour’; to raise awareness of honour killings worldwide; to help people see the real faces of this tragedy and to hopefully contribute towards positive change; and beyond everything with dignity and love to honour the memory of the lives lost
According to the UN, more than 5,000 womenand girls are killed each year globally by members of their own family. By acting upon honour matters, men succeed in maintaining the power in families and communities by denying women’s fundamental rights to be free to make their own decisions about their own lives.
Heshu Yones was 16 when her father discovered she had a relationship with a classmate. He attempted to force her to marry a cousin in Kurdistan, and subjected her to virginity testing. He stabbed Heshu to death at their West London home, because he feared she was becoming westernised. Source: MEMINI
Speaking about the response received so far, Deeyah said:
The response so far has been very positive. We’ve only had some emails with people complaining and cursing us for bringing the communities where this happens into negative light and attention. Of course the intent of MEMINI is not to stereotype any communities but rather to highlight this crime which is happening and we can not deny it is happening. By remaining silent about it we are emboldening the perpetrators, the intent of MEMINI is the very opposite of that, to expose it by showing the real faces of this tragic patriarchal notion of honour that is taking thousands of lives globally
Moreover, talking about the different communities hit by the tragic reality of honour killing, Deeyah added:
The communities in which these killings occur are strictly patriarchal and built on social and family structures that are interdependent where the good of the group is more important than the wishes of the individual, and the sexual behaviours of women are guarded and protected almost at all costs. Even though there is a popular trend to attribute honour killings to just the Muslim community, this is not actually accurate and only gives a very limited view of how big this issue in fact really is– the communities and societies with these notions of honour and these family structures where honour killings happen in fact cross religious groups. This does not excuse or reduce the fact that this must stop regardless of whatever communities this happens within
Being an entirely volunteer driven initiative, MEMINI exclusively counts on the work of its incredible volunteers who are dedicated to keep the memory of these women alive.
My teacher, my ustad, my guru Sarangi maestro and classical singer Ustad Sultan Khan has passed away.This is a tremendous and sad loss for me personally, for the world and for music. A great force of nature, force of music has left us. There was no one like him and there will be no one like him again. His mastery of his remarkable instrument and his serene depth of connection to music was profoundly inspiring. I have never heard anyone play the Sarangi with such emotion and perfection, he sang and played every single note with such honesty, love, respect and care.Khansahib I honour you and I miss you. I have always carried your every word with me. I remember well several years ago when I was considering leaving music completely altogether you got on the phone with me and said beta I know you are old enough to make your own decisions but listen to me about this, do any music you want, in any capacity you wish, if you don't want to perform or don't want to sing anymore don't, but you should not leave music behind, promise me you will always use the talent and gift of music Allah gave you and the talent I shaped and taught with such pride and joy, so just remember to always serve that and keep music with you in anything you do.Khansahib what a sad sad day this is...I am heartbroken now you are gone...I will remember getting up at 5am every morning to sit and sing with you, I will remember sitting and listening to your stories and wisdom about life, art and spirituality. I will remember the endless hours you spent teaching me about music, its depth and about living every moment in its purpose, in its melody.Thank you for blessing us all with your gift of music and love. With humility and gratitude I thank you for blessing me with the privilege and honour of being your ganda bandhan shagrid (disciple) from when I was 14 years old. I honour you and I will remember you always.You will always be with me through music, through every single note of every moment.--Deeyah
