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| Europe |
| Yes, Hirsi Ali lied. Wouldn't you? |
| 2006-05-21 |
| Politics in Europe is the poorer after the brave MP was stripped of her Dutch citizenship That Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the controversial Dutch MP, had dangerous enemies determined to kill her for her outspoken views on Islam was well known. What is surprising is that it is those closest to her who have now betrayed her. She has been the victim of misrepresentation and caricature, and become a pawn in a wider ideological battle. Her latest battering came after a Dutch documentary film crew, which had gone to Kenya to interview various members of Hirsi Ali's family to unearth the story of her origins, misleadingly claimed to reveal that Hirsi Ali had lied about her country of origin and the arranged marriage from which she was fleeing when she arrived in Holland in 1992. It claimed she had not been forced into the marriage and that she therefore had nothing to flee from. When the film was shown on 11 May, it prompted the Immigration Minister to write a letter to Hirsi Ali stripping her of her Dutch citizenship. Hirsi Ali had long ago alerted her party to the 'lie' in her 1992 asylum application. She had claimed to come from Somalia (where she lived as a child) because, being a wartorn country, it would qualify her for asylum. She has publicly stated several times she was ashamed of doing so. The truth was that she had lived for 10 years as a refugee in Kenya. Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, her political ally and friend, and long aware of the facts, responded to the 'revelations' by revoking Hirsi Ali's citizenship. Verdonk, who has her eye on the leadership of the Liberal party, claimed she could not make exceptions for an MP. Hirsi Ali certainly lied, but the exploitation of that lie by her detractors has been outrageous. The rules (and prejudices) surrounding asylum do not cater for female refugees fleeing the will of a family. They are designed for those fleeing a government or a war. Her father had arranged her marriage to a distant cousin. Though she refused to turn up at the ceremony, the family signed the documents and she became legally married. 'My father is not a man who takes no for an answer,' she said. En route to Canada to join her appointed husband, she applied for asylum in Holland, claiming she was from Somalia, believing that had she told the truth, she would have been returned to Kenya. So she lied and in a moving statement last week explained why. 'I felt I had no choice. I was frightened that if I simply said I was fleeing a forced marriage, I would be sent back to my family. And I was frightened that if I gave my real name, my clan would hunt me down and find me. So I chose the real name of my grandfather. I claimed my name was Ayaan Hirsi Ali, although I should have said it was Ayaan Hirsi Magan.' And Hirsi Ali is surely right. A woman fleeing domestic oppression is unlikely to find her asylum claim a priority in any country. Some see her as the victim of a growing anxiety in the Netherlands about immigration, to which Hirsi Ali herself has contributed. Others are determined to discredit her for her atheism, her rejection of Islam and her exposure of the way Muslim women are often forced to submit to their men. But why, Hirsi Ali might ask, is it so difficult to forgive a falsified asylum application and so easy to ignore the abuses daily suffered by immigrant women? Such abuses include domestic violence, honour killings and genital mutilation, all practices which Hirsi Ali has witnessed directly as an interpreter for Somali women in Holland. And yet, as the debate on immigration becomes polarised, in the Netherlands as in Britain, the left remains silent, fearing that to speak out would be anti-immigrant. At the same time, it is equally peculiar to hear elements of the right embracing women's liberation, the easier to bear down on Muslims. Hirsi Ali's more nuanced views are frequently caricatured. She once questioned whether the morality of the Koran should apply literally in the 21st century, pointing out that Muhammad had been married to a nine-year-old and that that might be considered perverted today. Her words provoked the headline 'Hirsi Ali Calls the Prophet a Pervert'. The conservative American Enterprise Institute has offered Hirsi Ali a job. She will not make life easy for her new colleagues and certainly oppose many of its views on social policy. Instinctively anti-authoritarian, Hirsi Ali has always raised difficult questions. It is a tragedy that such a brave and honest figure has been forced out of European politics. And a deep irony that such an honest woman has been brought down by a necessary lie. |
| Posted by:Sheling Unomons1998 |
| #5 Back on topic: If the Dutch kicked out all the immigrants who lied on their applications, half (or more) their Hmmmmmmm.... |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-05-21 16:45 |
| #4 Thanks for the tip A5089. And here's to Ma Rantburg and her treasured homemade cookies. :-) |
| Posted by: ryuge 2006-05-21 14:02 |
| #3 When cookies get all mixed up, trick is to post a comment first with usual nick to get a fresh cookie (hummm), then post articles. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-05-21 07:31 |
| #2 testing . . . testing |
| Posted by: ryuge 2006-05-21 07:26 |
| #1 test post. For some reason, I wasn't able to post under my usual nick today. My Netscape postings came up as Sheling Unomons1998 and my Explorer post came up as Whereng Elmomotch1978, so I'm going to see if the same is true in comments as well. The next comment will also be mine. ryuge |
| Posted by: ryuge 2006-05-21 07:24 |