Leaving the beaten track: Hirsi Ali and Karacaer

The Dutch NRC had two interesting articles last week. One about Hirsi Ali‘s autobiography My Freedom (that will appear in English as ‘The Infidel. The Story of my Enlightenment‘). The other one was Haci  Karacaer‘s speech, former chairman of the Milli Gorus, Northern Netherlands, movement), that also had a clear biographical focus.
What is clear from both accounts is how, as migrants, they both tried to leave (or maybe transcend?) the path of life that was laid out for them. In the case of Hirsi Ali her migration to the Netherlands was a kind of re-birthing, that erases parts of her past, adds new elements to her narrative and puts her current Self at a distance from her youth. This is stimulated by the dark side of Dutch society that she frequently meets as an interpreter for asylum seekers and women in shelters; among them a lot of black people and/or Muslims. I can only imagine how big the contrast has been between those experiences and her experience as a student in Leiden. Working in Leiden myself as a reseacher, I know Leiden is a very protected little city, an elite city where on the outside everything is neat. The difference with the raw reality of womens’ shelters must have been very big. Her self acclaimed role as the one who will liberate women from Islam, is understandable in this way.

Karacaer was a well drilled Turkish nationalist when he entered Dutch society. He decided he wanted to belong to the mainstream, instead of being part of a minority. Soon he had the idea he was accepted and well integrated into Dutch society. After a while he realized that his own culture and beliefs were much more internalized then he thought. He asks himself if he and other migrants were only seen as people passing by and/or that they had to much baggage that hindered total integration. He ‘discovers’ that people try to make sense of other people and base themselves upon the cultural heritage of these people and nowadays that often concerns Islam. It doesn’t matter anymore that you are Turkish, Kurdish, Moroccan, Dutch, if you are a Muslim then: ‘One islam serves all’.

Both Hirsi Ali and Karacaer explain their own developments: from being raised to become a good ‘baari’ (a submissive woman, adhering to every demand of her husband, a good Muslima, etc.) or Nationalist to people who are very critical about integration and who try to fight for people’s rights in European Muslim communities. The differences are very clear as well. Karacaer has always had to deal with his Turkish and Muslim constituency and had to try not to distance himself too much from them: his authority depended on it for many years. Hirsi Ali instead followed the politics of confrontation and tried with provocations to improve the situation of Muslim women and declared herself an apostate of Islam thereby distancing herself from the women she was trying to speak up for. Both of them are now at an important turning point in their public life. Karacaer is no longer chairman of Milli Gorus which might allow him to follow his own path more and Hirsi Ali has left the Netherlands for a career in the US. Both can be seen as excellent politicians ánd activists and it will be interesting to follow them the coming years.