Hirsi Ali 'The Real Heroine In The Fight Against Islam'

From 'Hero' one of my favorite movies of all time, directed by Zhang Yimou. Not only do I think that it is cinematographically the most powerful movie I have ever seen, but it also explores the subject of heroism in the most multifaceted yet subtley complete way.

 

"As a woman who was brought up with the tradition of Islam, I think it's not just my right but also my obligation to call these things by their name"

 

Hear Hear!

These are the words of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch politician/MP and, speaking of courage, I think we need to get to know her a lot better:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of the most sharp- tongued critics of political Islam - - and a target of radical fanatics. Her provocative film "Submission" led to the assassination of it's director Theo van Gogh in November 2004. The attacker, a 26-year-old extremist Muslim of Dutch-Moroccan descent, left a death threat against Hirsi Ali stuck to his corpse with a knife. After a brief period in hiding, the 36- year- old member of Dutch parliament from the neo-liberal VVD party has returned to parliament and is continuing her fight against Islamism. She recently published a book, "I Accuse," and is working on a sequel to "Submission."

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia and grew up in a Muslim family. At the age of 22 she was promised in marriage to a distant nephew. With the help of a friend she defied her family and escaped. Arriving in Holland, she took cleaning jobs to pay for her studies; learning Dutch, she went on to graduate from university and to work as a political scientist, before entering Dutch politics and gaining a place as a member of parliament.

Hirsi Ali is a Muslim – but she is fiercely critical of the degrading way women are treated within the Muslim communities around the world. She has made a name for herself pressing for the emancipation of Muslim women and documenting how thousands of women, even those living in non-Muslim countries, are subjected to beatings, incest and emotional and sexual abuse.

Hirsi Ali argues that without the emancipation of Muslim women, the socially disadvantageous position of Muslims will persist. She argues that there is a direct link between the underprivileged position of Muslim women, and the lagging behind of Muslims in education and the job market, their high rate of juvenile delinquency and their heavy reliance on social services.

Hirsi Ali holds the Muslim communities and Western governments responsible for allowing cruel practices such as genital mutilation, arranged marriages of young girls and the ‘doctrine of virginity’, to be inflicted on their female citizens. Hirsi Ali condemns Western governments’ blind tolerance of these practices and argues that the governments’ multicultural programs are counterproductive because they help keep Muslim women isolated from mainstream society.

Hirsi Ali also implores Muslims to address what lies behind the ‘dark’ side of Islam – the fanaticism that was epitomized by 9/11 and that has spawned countless tragedies before and after. She explains the need for criticism from within Islam – the need to restore a new balance of reason within the religion.

In September 2004, Dutch TV broadcast Hirsi Ali’s short film entitled “Submission”: it provocatively captured the fate of several Muslim women forced to submit to the will of men, in the name of Islam.

When Ayaan Hirsi Ali took part in a television programme about Islamic Shari'a law in 2003, she ended up contributing much more than her opinion on Islam and its treatment of women. A young woman from a Muslim family told the programme makers she was in fear of her life from her relatives who hit her and called her a whore for wanting to go out with her friends and wearing western clothes. Hirsi Ali listened to her story, then took the young woman to the police, only to be told: “We can’t help you. There are so many girls like you and this is not police work.”

It is not usually a politician’s job to look after threatened Muslim girls either, but that is what Ayaan Hirsi Ali did. She took the girl into her own home for nearly a year, enabling her to finish higher education. “She encouraged me every day,” says her protégée, who now has a job and her own flat. “Because of her I am stronger. It’s very difficult and dangerous for women from my community to speak out. Ayaan does that for us. We need her.”

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 36, believes passionately that showing Europeans what goes on in some Muslim homes in our midst will kick-start a process of emancipation. “If only people, including those in Britain, were aware of the sheer number of girls living in terror,” she says. “Just going outside without your father or your brother’s permission can lead to your being taken to the home country of your parents and being shot dead. You can be forced into marriage with someone who’s going to rape you every night. You will conceive children year after year when you don’t want to be pregnant.”

The fact, that she is now a Dutch politician, doesn't stop the Islamofascist thugs from constantly reiterating their murderous fatwas to kill her like Theo van Gogh. Au contraire, as part of her role as a politician, she has received death threats for numerous stances she has taken and activities she has undertaken. But as a self-proclaimed ex-Muslim, she has taken it upon herself to make the plight of oppressed Muslim women known to the West--and to hopefully end their suffering.

Seeing her incredibly calm demeanour on television taking part in an open studio discussion on CNN the other evening, whilst being attacked by Islam clericks with quivering voices of hatred, made me realize how much they despise her and how her life is truly in danger at the hands of these, and here I would like to say extremists but they are not. They are simply Muslim Qar'an bashing women haters, who despised her for telling the truth about how women are treated in Muslim countries and how unprotected they are in a society where the men are a law onto themselves.

In the interview with "Der Spiegel", Hirsi Ali responds to the Danish cartoon scandal, arguing that if Europe doesn't stand up to extremists, a culture of self-censorship of criticism of Islam that pervades in Holland will spread in Europe. Auf Wiedersehen, free speech.

SPIEGEL: Hirsi Ali, you have called the Prophet Muhammad a tyrant and a pervert. Theo van Gogh, the director of your film "Submission," which is critical of Islam, was murdered by Islamists. You yourself are under police protection. Can you understand how the Danish cartoonists feel at this point?

Hirsi Ali: "The cartoons should be displayed everywhere." They probably feel numb. On the one hand, a voice in their heads is encouraging them not to sell out their freedom of speech. At the same time, they're experiencing the shocking sensation of what it's like to lose your own personal freedom. One mustn't forget that they're part of the postwar generation, and that all they've experienced is peace and prosperity. And now they suddenly have to fight for their own human rights once again.

SPIEGEL: Why have the protests escalated to such an extent?

Hirsi Ali: There is no freedom of speech in those Arab countries where the demonstrations and public outrage are being staged. The reason many people flee to Europe from these places is precisely because they have criticized religion, the political establishment and society. Totalitarian Islamic regimes are in a deep crisis. Globalization means that they're exposed to considerable change, and they also fear the reformist forces developing among émigrés in the West. They'll use threatening gestures against the West, and the success they achieve with their threats, to intimidate these people.

SPIEGEL: Was apologizing for the cartoons the wrong thing to do?

Hirsi Ali: Once again, the West pursued the principle of turning first one cheek, then the other. In fact, it's already a tradition. In 1980, privately owned British broadcaster ITV aired a documentary about the stoning of a Saudi Arabian princess who had allegedly committed adultery. The government in Riyadh intervened and the British government issued an apology. We saw the same kowtowing response in 1987 when (Dutch comedian) Rudi Carrell derided (Iranian revolutionary leader) Ayatollah Khomeini in a comedy skit (that was aired on German television). In 2000, a play about the youngest wife of the Prophet Mohammed, titled "Aisha," was cancelled before it ever opened in Rotterdam. Then there was the van Gogh murder and now the cartoons. We are constantly apologizing, and we don't notice how much abuse we're taking. Meanwhile, the other side doesn't give an inch.

SPIEGEL: What should the appropriate European response look like?

Hirsi Ali: There should be solidarity. The cartoons should be displayed everywhere. After all, the Arabs can't boycott goods from every country. They're far too dependent on imports. And Scandinavian companies should be compensated for their losses. Freedom of speech should at least be worth that much to us.

SPIEGEL: But Muslims, like any religious community, should also be able to protect themselves against slander and insult.

Hirsi Ali: That's exactly the reflex I was just talking about: offering the other cheek. Not a day passes, in Europe and elsewhere, when radical imams aren't preaching hatred in their mosques. They call Jews and Christians inferior, and we say they're just exercising their freedom of speech. When will the Europeans realize that the Islamists don't allow their critics the same right? After the West prostrates itself, they'll be more than happy to say that Allah has made the infidels spineless.

SPIEGEL: What will be the upshot of the storm of protests against the cartoons?

Hirsi Ali: We could see the same thing happening that has happened in the Netherlands, where writers, journalists and artists have felt intimidated ever since the van Gogh murder. Everyone is afraid to criticize Islam. Significantly, "Submission" still isn't being shown in theaters.

SPIEGEL: Many have criticized the film as being too radical and too offensive.

Hirsi Ali: The criticism of van Gogh was legitimate. But when someone has to die for his world view, what he may have done wrong is no longer the issue. That's when we have to stand up for our basic rights. Otherwise we are just reinforcing the killer and conceding that there was a good reason to kill this person.

SPIEGEL: You too have been accused for your dogged criticism of Islam.

Hirsi Ali: Oddly enough, my critics never specify how far I can go. How can you address problems if you're not even allowed to clearly define them? Like the fact that Muslim women at home are kept locked up, are raped and are married off against their will -- and that in a country in which our far too passive intellectuals are so proud of their freedom!

SPIEGEL: The debate over speaking Dutch on the streets and the integration programs for potentially violent Moroccan youth -- do these things also represent the fruits of your provocations?

Hirsi Ali: The sharp criticism has finally triggered an open debate over our relationship with Muslim immigrants. We have become more conscious of things. For example, we are now classifying honor killings by the victims' countries of origin. And we're finally turning our attention to young girls who are sent against their wills from Morocco to Holland as brides, and adopting legislation to make this practice more difficult.

SPIEGEL: You're working on a sequel to "Submission." Will you stick to your uncompromising approach?

Hirsi Ali: Yes, of course. We want to continue the debate over the Koran's claim to absoluteness, the infallibility of the Prophet and sexual morality. In the first part, we portrayed a woman who speaks to her god, complaining that despite the fact that she has abided by his rules and subjugated herself, she is still being abused by her uncle. The second part deals with the dilemma into which the Muslim faith plunges four different men. One hates Jews, the second one is gay, the third is a bon vivant who wants to be a good Muslim but repeatedly succumbs to life's temptations, and the fourth is a martyr. They all feel abandoned by their god and decide to stop worshipping him.

SPIEGEL: Will recent events make it more difficult to screen the film?

Hirsi Ali: The conditions couldn't be more difficult. We're forced to produce the film under complete anonymity. Everyone involved in the film, from actors to technicians, will be unrecognizable. But we are determined to complete the project. The director didn't really like van Gogh, but he believes that, for the sake of free speech, shooting the sequel is critical. I'm optimistic that we'll be able to premier the film this year.

SPIEGEL: Is the Koran's claim to absoluteness, which you criticize in "Submission," the central obstacle to reforming Islam?

Hirsi Ali: The doctrine stating that the faith is inalterable because the Koran was dictated by God must be replaced. Muslims must realize that it was human beings who wrote the holy scriptures. After all, most Christians don't believe in hell, in the angels or in the earth having been created in six days. They now see these things as symbolic stories, but they still remain true to their faith.

We need to learn a new word: dhimmitude, and fast. Michelle Malkin is with me on this one.

Derukugi, my reader on another thread alerted me to this:

According to Dagens Nyheter, the Swedish security services (Säpo), in collusion with Foreign Minister Leila Freivalds, have forced the website SD-Kuriren offline for publishing the Jyllands-Posten cartoons (SD-Kuriren is the house organ of the hard-right Swedish Democrats).

“We think that this was the best decision after we were contacted by the Foreign Ministry and Säpo,” Anna Larsson, vice president of hosting compant Levonline, told DN. Freivalds told DN that “it is terrible that a small group of extremists are exposing Swedes to danger [by reprinting the cartoons].”

Note: Freedom House’s 2005 survey ranks Sweden 9th in press freedom.

Note to Säpo: This site is hosted in Sweden, on the servers of Loopia AB. You can find their contact information here. The Spectator calls on every Swedish blog—left, right and center—to reprint the Mohammad cartoons in solidarity with SD-Kuriren, however odious we find their political views. Freedom of the press doesn’t make exceptions for stupidity and provincialism.

Our readers can report us to the police at the following address: sakerhetspolisen@sakerhetspolisen.se

Now that's the spirit Michael. More on this from Michelle Malkin, with the self-censoring CNN's coverage of the story here. Why am I not surprised. Krauthammer has a not to be misses article:

What passes for moderation in the Islamic community -- "I share your rage but don't torch that embassy" -- is nothing of the sort. It is simply a cynical way to endorse the goals of the mob without endorsing its means. It is fraudulent because, while pretending to uphold the principle of religious sensitivity, it is interested only in this instance of religious insensitivity.

On a lighter note, I am glad Buy Danish is winning @ Google.

More @ The Political Pitbul, The Jawa Report, Hyscience, Tim Blair, Vodkapundit, Andrew Sullivan, Oliver Kamm, Riehl World View, Cold Fury, Overlawyered, Sisu, Jihad Watch

Comments

[Joseph]

how skin-deep, ungrounded is Hirsi Ali's criticisms of Islam. Why doesn't she say to the world she is a renegade and full stop. Now she is besides an orientalist. She is a mimetic European, a servile native, a rhetorician of the empire. What underpins her bare-faced views is a westernisation theory/discourse.She has it that the cartoons should be shown. I want her to answer one single question. Can you air something on the "holocaust"? No one can. It is a taboo. Where's freedom of speech. Or should freedom of speech exist only when Islam is slandered. Mind you. Islam shall live. See the increasing numbers of converts to Islam from America and Europe. Why should these people convert to Islam if it is a "wretched" faith as Hirsi Ali insinuates. When Muslim women hear what she says (that they are locked up by their husbands) they will burst with laughter.To stake such a claim on the part of Ali is to evidence how ignorant about Islam she is.

[Nighthawk]

Dear Ms. Ali:

You are a wonderful woman and I hope you will give a lecture here sometime in Seattle, USA. You should read Saharasia by James DeMeo about how patriarchy started in the area that comprises the Sahara, Middle East and Central Asia and the emotional underpinnings of patriarchy.

[Cannon]

@ Mr. Rhee,

As much as i admired Theo van Gogh, he once said that being the "village idiot" he did not expect to be harmed. His was not courage so much as naivety, something Hirsi Ali with her experience and knowledge does not have. She knows the danger and that is why she is protected.

Your call for her to face the threat is ridiculous. I don't know if you are really that ignorant of Islam, or whether you are malicious and would have liked to see Hirsi Ali get hurt. Either way she has a vision, that should not be compromised by stupidity in being "courageous" the way you see courage.

The simple fact is, and remains, that she is doing something most others don't have the guts to do. She has effectively given up peace in her life and her freedom to fight this fight under the constant threat of something happening somewhere in an unguarded moment. You should wish you had that conviction and courage.

People who proclaim she is a coward make me laugh. Most of us don't even have the courage to say anything negative about Islam publicly.

Considering the reactions of the Muslim world when it comes to the cartoons, it is quite clear this is a larger, and much more important issue than you make it out to be. And not something "personal" of hers. I admire the role she plays for Holland as a politician, much more than the spineless and useless politicians that remain.

If you are a VVD member, and if your opinion is shared by the majority, then you don't deserve Hirsi Ali. You should continue to look for votes by changing with the wind, whichever way it happens to blow, which the VVD as a party is good at.
That party in general doesn't have the first clue of liberty.
At least not when it is not expedient enough for poll results.

[duptian]

With regards to the movie "Hero," a lovely example of cinematography. But if you like this movie, you will love "Triumph of the Will." It was also an exellent cinematographic event and had the same purpose.

[Mr. Rhee]

When was the last time Ali got paid or invited to speak to a Muslim group?

Until that happens- its time the people stopped shelling out big bucks and hanging on to her every word when she preaches to the converted'. Hers is an elitist message only being acknowledged by Westerners and will do nothing to stop the threat of radical Islam.

Hirsi Ali's only claim to fame is a personal vendetta against Islam and calling Muhammed a 'pedofile' and 'tyrant'. Her beef with her former religion is a personal and not politial statement, and has caused a rift in the party . When Theo Van Gogh was murdered because of the film Submission- Ali did nothing to get the film released after it was embargoed, and instead announced her plans to make a second film about homosexuality in Islam. It doesnt take any effort to taunt Muslims,and her self indulgent machinations divert attention away from the mortal threat which radical Islam poses to non Muslims everywhere.

It should be noted that she,unlike Van Gogh, had 24/7 security when they embarked on making the film. To add insult to injury she also fled the country like a coward instead of standing up to the Islamists after the murder.

Waving a red flag in front of a bull while being surrounded by bodyguards requires no courage. It was Theo van Gogh that paid the price of Ali's false bravado.

It's time that people stopped this fawning adoration and realise that Muslim goddesses like Ali have feet of clay.

[Paul of York]

She exhibits courage few people know, she has given herself up to Freedom just as your Father did and nothing else matters now. The appeasers, apologists and cowards mock them because that is the safer course, they think. They fear the attention of bravery, too bad, the price of shutting ones eyes will only go up.

[Darrell]

Alexandra,

Slow down! I can't keep up with you!!!!
And I don't want to let a single word from you,
a single thought, go unread and "undigested"!
I am only human!
You are so much more...

My comment is on point. We are talking about women at the forefront of the battle, aren't we?

Thank you!

[Liquid]

Quote"It is a mistake and a pattern of the West to support Muslims that actually transgress Islam to pander to Western ideals"

Isn't it interesting that the word "transgress" is used here instead of the appropriate word "expose"

Funny how that is always applied to a "muslim of the west" that has had a taste of true freedom and has opened their eyes to dark side of Islam.

[North by Northwest]

Jamal,

it was those that distorted Islam that made her suffer

Your argument only makes sense, if you share her viewpoint that the first and foremost distortion is the claim that G-d 'dictated' the Qur'an and that as a consequence Shari'a laws need to be reformed to catch up with our day and age. If not, your comment is nothing more than a poor attempt to muddy the water. For starters, when you attempt to discredit here, your statement ought to be free of implicit contradictions.

[jamal]

How is she couragous? This woman supports what is against Islam. Islam did not make her suffer, it was those that distorted Islam that made her suffer. Now she distorts Islam herself and is therefore no better then her oppressors. It is a mistake and a pattern of the West to support Muslims that actually transgress Islam to pander to Western ideals.

[Scott W. Somerville]

I've added her (and a link to this site) to my "Profiles in Courageism" entry. It's at:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Somerschool/81591/

[Scott W. Somerville]

She's what I've begun calling a "courageist," which is the only real answer to "terrorism."