My freaking country is doing it again. Last week has been all about one of our MP's Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a prominent critic of fundamentalist Islam. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Dutch Somali-born MP, has lost her Dutch citizenship because she provided inaccurate information when applying for asylum in the Netherlands back in 1992. The fact that she did so is, however, something which she already revealed years ago, and - until just a few days ago - that appeared not to have been a problem. Anyone in distress would lie for shelter by the way. Now, a bewildered Ms Hirsi Ali plans to leave the country to go and work for Dubya's conservative think tank in Washington DC.A few months ago, The Court of Justice in The Hague -in a court case the neighbors of Hirsi Ali had started against her since they feared her presence is a security threat- allready came to the decision that Ayaan Hirsi Ali must leave her protected house in The Hague within four months.
More than half a century has passed since WWII but not much has changed. People still ask the police to remove their persecuted neighbors instead of giving them shelter. Holland is a country where everybody loves to talk about solidarity but solidarity is seldomly shown when private lifes are effected.Hirsi leaves Holland with a trail of social political damage behind her and I doubt if Dubya will tolerate her autonomous radical and liberal behaviour in his ultra conservative Christian anti gay thinktank (American Enterprise Institute) for more that three months. However, I hat-tip Ayaan for her courage and perseverance and congratulate the Dutch muslim fundamentalists with this victory. With the compliments of the Dutch government off course :-(((
5 comments:
She's quite a woman, isn't she? She must be a free thinker to have such liberal views on some things (even critical of religion) and yet to work for a conservative thinktank.
I'd love to meet her - I'm not afraid for her to come to our house.
Chin up Dimitri - there are good Dutch citizens too - just a tough time right now.
Ali was caught in your immigration laws that I understand were established eight years ago, which deny a Dutch passport when such Passport is achieved on a false name.
Presumably just about everybody knew her name 'Ali' wasn't her Somali name, but your minister, Rita Verdonk, has to apply your Dutch immigration laws.
Rita’s zero tolerance approach seems to be popular, she is seen as a strong leader, hence she recently sent a 17 year old Kosovo girl out of the country, denied the right to finish her school-exams.
Verdonk also denied the popular soccer player Kalou the Dutch nationality which he needed, to be able to join the world soccer championships, although this was legally possible. The Law as it stands seem very oppressive and is upheld with extraordinary vigour. I share your concern !!
Best wishes
Yes Gary she's quite something. We should embrace freethinkers i.s.o. kicking them out.
Lindsay once again you surprise me with your knowledge on our Dutch society. Kicking out the 17 yo Kosovar girl was a mistake too as far as I am concerned. She was a brave young girl too.. Rita is indeed defending Dutch law. I shouldn't blame her for that but I do. Law is to be interpreted in a human way, not this way.
I'll have to respectfully disagree on Ms. Ali. I've been following her career for a couple of years, and I don't see her as bewildered at all--more of a very shrewd politico. She could stay and try to fight for her citizenship, but instead has chosen a lucrative position with Lynne Cheney & Co. She planned to leave parliament in September regardless of the current debacle--looks like she has been in talks with U.S. think tanks for a while now.
Lost her citizenship? I thought the issue was still open for six weeks and Ms. Ali can still try to keep her citizenship (Verdonk is really looking like a twit with all the flip-flopping and is taking a lot of heat finally.) The issue over her citizenship is ridiculous--the Dutch government has known for years. I am rather disgusted about her saying that she came directly from Somalia to take advantage of the Somali humanitarian crisis (she came from Kenya via Germany--hadn't lived in Somalia since childhood). That hurts others who are legitimately requesting asylum on political grounds.
She's a very strong woman, whether you agree with her methods or not. Count me as one who doesn't agree.
Ayaan has fought for some good causes, if generally in a very counterproductive manner. She has acknowledged this, and says that one of her reasons for leaving is that she's not helping things here. But I have been very skeptical about her political views, because she seems to be a run-of-the-mill opportunist, with a penchant to exploit hatred for political gain.
Please consider. She left Somalia when she was 6, and hasn't lived there since. She grew up in Kenya, and abused the humanitarian disaster in Somalia in order to get into the Netherlands. She has called herself an economic immigrant, and admitted to abusing the system.
When she started in politics in the Netherlands, she joined the pro-immigrant socialist party. She rose to prominence there, but when an anti-immigrant, free-market party offered her a chance at an parliament position, she jumped ship (normally you have to be in a party for years in order to qualify). It is at that point that she "came clean" on her actual story, and her new party covered for her. Now she has taken a job at the American Enterprise Institute, a neo-conservative stronghold, where she will work with Gingrich, Cheney and other right-wing thinkers. And she had that job a while back, way before any of this happened. All she did was move up her starting date a bit. She was leaving the Netherlands anyway, Dimitri, on to bigger and better things. Well, on to a bigger salary at least, and perhaps a bigger platform from which to preach anti-muslim hatred.
In the few years that Ayaan has been a "free thinker" she has thought herself a pro-immigration socialist, an anti-immigration free-marketeer, and now a neo-conservative. Of course, she is allowed to change her mind, but please, let's not take her thoughts too seriously, she's too likely to change them.
I do think that she will do fine at the AEI. The neo-conservative movement is all about real-politik, covering rather venal goals with the cover of grand ideology. I see Ayaan doing the same: the only thing that has been constant in her thoughts and action has been a drive to improve her status. Strong, beautiful, charming, but without principles. No, Bush will be happy to have her. And he's welcome to her.
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