PUBLICATIONS

Order any of the above publications (except film)
Order Love, Honour and Disobey film

PROVOKED: The story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia (now available)

Kiranjit's was the first case in which Southall Black Sisters supported and campaigned on behalf of a battered woman who had killed her husband.

Born into a privileged family in India, Kiranjit Ahluwalia came to England in 1979 to be married to a man she hardly knew. The next ten year were to be a nightmare of almost daily, physical, mental and sexual violence at the hands of her husband. There was no one she could turn to for help and support. Domestic violence was a taboo subject for many Asians in Britain, and family honour was at stake for anyone who went outside the family for help. Kiranjit, in desperation, killed the man who had tortured her for so long. Bewildered, poorly advised and speaking little English, she was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. In prison, she unexpectedly found a degree of freedom she had never known in the outside world. For the first time she was safe from beatings and abuse, and was able to enjoy the friendship and solidarity of other women who were in a similar situation.

Meanwhile, a campaign organised by Southall Black Sisters, a women's group operating on a shoestring budget to draw attention to her plight, was gathering momentum. Media coverage of her case had made Kiranjit something of a 'cause celebre' and she attracted many prominent supportes, including Diana, Princess of Wales who urged her to write this book. She was released amid senses of rejoicing in September 1992 when her conviction for murder reduced to manslaughter on appeal. Regina v Ahluwalia has become legal history because it was a landmark ruling that paved the way for other women in Kiranjit's situation to win justice.

This book was previously published under the title 'Circle of Light' and has recently been made into a film.

Postage and packaging for PROVOKED is £1.50 per copy.

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How Can I Support Her? Domestic Violence, immigration and women with no recourse to public funds’ Resource Pack

This resource pack for voluntary and community organisations gives comprehensive information for voluntary and community organisations supporting women with insecure immigration status who are experiencing domestic violence.

It covers how to make applications under the Domestic Violence Rule, information on other immigration and asylum procedures, and details of financial support that women may be eligible for.

Download a copy of How Can I Support Her? Domestic Violence, immigration and women with no recourse to public funds’ Resource Pack

Please see our order form information on ordering a hard copy of the Resource Pack. Postage and packaging for the No Recourse Pack is free.

Order How Can I Support Her? Domestic Violence, immigration and women with no recourse to public funds’ Resource Pack

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No Recourse Campaign Leaflet (A4)

This campaign brings together key women’s organisations to highlight the devastating impact of the ‘no recourse’ requirement on the lives of minority women without secure immigration status who are subject to domestic violence.

Download a copy of the No Recourse leaflet publicising the campaign, which also shows ways to support the campaign.

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Love, Honour and Disobey

In January 2006, our film Love, Honour and Disobey was published by Faction Films. Love, Honour and Disobey is essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand domestic violence within black and minority ethnic communities. It will be useful for training teachers, social workers, police, lawyers, health workers and any other professionals, refuges and women's groups.

Order Love, Honour and Disobey

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From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters, edited by Rahila Gupta.

Against all the odds, Southall Black Sisters, a poorly funded, radical women's group has become synonymous with black British feminism over the last twenty-four years.

They have not merely offered welfare advice from their West London base but have spearheaded campaigns on a range of issues from abused women who kill (such as the celebrated case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia) to the dangers posed to women by the rise of religious fundamentalism.

This important anthology makes the connections between race, gender and class and ensures that a neglected area of current feminist debate is not lost to history through a failure to record insights gained in the heat of activism.

Essays include:

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Against the Grain

A celebration of survival and struggle, 1990.

Published by Southall Black Sisters and available for purchase from them. This book is an in-depth analysis of the campaigns fought by Southall Black Sisters and the issues that we faced in the first ten years of our existence.

From highlighting the threat of fundamentalism to the freedoms won by women in their flight from domestic violence, no analysis of political struggle in the eighties is complete without this book.

It explores both feminist and conservative pressures on the Asian women's refuge movement, the 'gang' culture of 'militant' boys in Southall, the kind of alliances that should be forged by autonomous groups and the tensions between socialist and radical feminists. Some of the most historic moments of black women's struggle in the UK are captured in this account.

Order Against the Grain

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Forced Marriage: an abuse of human rights

An interim report one year after A Choice by Right, July 2001.

Forced marriage is part of our day-to-day work. We deal with 200 such cases and enquiries per year. This report looks at the scale of the problem, the community response and the state response.

It raises our concerns about government policy on forced marriage in the year following the report of the Home Office Working Group, A Choice by Right.

Southall Black Sisters was one of the members of this Group which had been established in the wake of the tragic death of Rukshana Naz, killed by her brother and mother for refusing to remain in a forced marriage.

The report makes detailed recommendations to government departments and agencies, such as the Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, criminal justice agencies, civil justice, social services, health, education and housing.

Order Forced Marriage: an abuse of human rights

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