C L O S E R

spiked | The meaning of football

Posted on June 4th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

spiked | The meaning of football

Duleep Allirajah
The meaning of football
In the run-up to next week’s spiked-debate on the World Cup, we muse over soccerism, Wayne’s toe, and how the Fall of Public Man has been offset by the Rise of Soccer Bloke.

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ISIM/IMES: From Allah to Prada

Posted on May 31st, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

The International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES) cordially invite you to a lecture by

From Allah to Prada (Forum, 2006) is the title of the first report of an ongoing research project among young Muslims in Amsterdam. From interviews with a panel of insider experts (professionals as well as young Muslims) a typology has been constructed, based on two dimensions (career and religious orientation). The aim of the study is to monitor developments in cultural identity, lifestyle and religion among young Muslims.
Dirk J. Korf, Ph.D., is associate professor in criminology at the Universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht. His main fields of research are lifestyles, patterns and trends of drug use and drug trafficking, as well as crime and crime prevention among ethnic minorities.

(more…)

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hetkanWel.net » Blog Archief » Hofstadgroep heeft humor

Posted on May 24th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

hetkanWel.net » Blog Archief » Hofstadgroep heeft humor.

De Hofstadgroep heeft humor. Maar maken ze nu een geintje met ons, of worden we vierkant uitgelachen?

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Consumption: It’s Not OK to Eat a Sexed-Up Chicken

Posted on May 24th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Consumption: It’s Not OK to Eat a Sexed-Up Chicken

Researchers from the United States and Brazil posed the following hypothetical: “A man goes to the supermarket once a week and buys a dead chicken. But before cooking the chicken, he has sexual intercourse with it. Is that wrong?

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Consumption: It's Not OK to Eat a Sexed-Up Chicken

Posted on May 24th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Consumption: It’s Not OK to Eat a Sexed-Up Chicken

Researchers from the United States and Brazil posed the following hypothetical: “A man goes to the supermarket once a week and buys a dead chicken. But before cooking the chicken, he has sexual intercourse with it. Is that wrong?

0 comments.

nrc.nl – Opinie – Strijd tegen absolute Allah is geboden

Posted on May 20th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

nrc.nl – Opinie – Strijd tegen absolute Allah is geboden
De post hieronder gaat over Hirsi Ali’s ‘Straw Demons’. Hier staat er weer in, vandaag in NRC, maar al lang eerder gepubliceerd.

Strijd tegen absolute Allah is geboden

Kijk ook naar sociale rol van religie Is hervorming van de islam mogelijk?

De basis van iedere discussie over de plaats van de islam in een democratische samenleving moet het principe van gelijke behandeling zijn, schreef Paul Scheffer vorige week in NRC Handelsblad. Dat betekent: aanscherping van de scheiding tussen kerk en staat en de plicht voor moslims om ongelovigen en kritische leden in eigen kring dezelfde vrijheid te geven die zij nu terecht als groep opeisen. Dit stuk heeft veel reacties opgeroepen. Volgens Ayaan Hirsi Ali is Scheffers vertrouwen op een hervorming binnen de islam misplaatst – gelukkig leert Hirsi Ali ons wat de ware islam is, zegt Robbert Woltering. Onder hun stukken meer bijdragen aan de discussie over kerk en staat.

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Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law

Posted on May 20th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law
Iran denies religious dress code law
Iranian officials on Saturday denied a report published by the Canadian National Post on the previous day, claiming that a new dress-code law was passed in Iran this past week, which mandates the government to make sure that religious minorities – Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians – will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public.

The National Post later cited experts saying that the idea of religious demarcation had only arisen in discussing a law defining Iranian dress code. The paper quoted an Iranian commentator who said the idea of external identification of non-Muslim minorities was only raised as a secondary motion.

Legislator Emad Afroogh, who sponsored the bill and chairs the parliament’s cultural committee, told The Associated Press on Friday there was no truth to the Canadian newspaper report.

“It’s a sheer lie. The rumors about this are worthless,” he said, explaining that the bill seeks only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions. “The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing,” he said. “Please tell them (in the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill,” he said.

Iranian Jewish lawmaker Morris Motamed told the AP: “Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament. Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here.”

A diplomat at Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York called the report “completely false.”

“We reject that. It is not true. The minorities in Iran are completely free and are represented in the Iranian parliament,” the diplomat said, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to make official statements.

Whether approved as law or not, the proposal demanded that Jews will have to wear a yellow band on their exterior in public, while Christians will be required to don red ones.

The new law was drafted during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami in 2004, but was blocked. That blockage, however, has been removed under pressure from current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In addition to the requirements on non-Muslims, the Iranian government has also envisioned that all Muslim Iranians wear “standard Islamic garments” designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions.

The purpose for the law was to prevent Muslims from becoming najis “unclean” by accidentally shaking the hands of non-Muslims in public.

According to Ahmadinejad, reported the National Post, the new Islamic uniforms will establish “visual equality” for Iranians as they prepare for the return of the Hidden Imam.

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Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law

Posted on May 20th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Jerusalem Post | Iran denies religious dress code law
Iran denies religious dress code law
Iranian officials on Saturday denied a report published by the Canadian National Post on the previous day, claiming that a new dress-code law was passed in Iran this past week, which mandates the government to make sure that religious minorities – Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians – will have to adopt distinct color schemes to make them identifiable in public.

The National Post later cited experts saying that the idea of religious demarcation had only arisen in discussing a law defining Iranian dress code. The paper quoted an Iranian commentator who said the idea of external identification of non-Muslim minorities was only raised as a secondary motion.

Legislator Emad Afroogh, who sponsored the bill and chairs the parliament’s cultural committee, told The Associated Press on Friday there was no truth to the Canadian newspaper report.

“It’s a sheer lie. The rumors about this are worthless,” he said, explaining that the bill seeks only to make women dress more conservatively and avoid Western fashions. “The bill is not related to minorities. It is only about clothing,” he said. “Please tell them (in the West) to check the details of the bill. There is no mention of religious minorities and their clothing in the bill,” he said.

Iranian Jewish lawmaker Morris Motamed told the AP: “Such a plan has never been proposed or discussed in parliament. Such news, which appeared abroad, is an insult to religious minorities here.”

A diplomat at Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York called the report “completely false.”

“We reject that. It is not true. The minorities in Iran are completely free and are represented in the Iranian parliament,” the diplomat said, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to make official statements.

Whether approved as law or not, the proposal demanded that Jews will have to wear a yellow band on their exterior in public, while Christians will be required to don red ones.

The new law was drafted during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami in 2004, but was blocked. That blockage, however, has been removed under pressure from current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In addition to the requirements on non-Muslims, the Iranian government has also envisioned that all Muslim Iranians wear “standard Islamic garments” designed to remove ethnic and class distinctions.

The purpose for the law was to prevent Muslims from becoming najis “unclean” by accidentally shaking the hands of non-Muslims in public.

According to Ahmadinejad, reported the National Post, the new Islamic uniforms will establish “visual equality” for Iranians as they prepare for the return of the Hidden Imam.

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Protected: Brabants Dagblad – Tolerantie na Bedir-brand

Posted on May 19th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| nederland – Zembla / Vanwaar die verontwaardiging?’

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| nederland – Zembla / Vanwaar die verontwaardiging?’

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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C L O S E R – Land of Confusion

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News, Public Islam, Some personal considerations.

It is remarkable how many references there are to Hirsi Ali as a beautiful woman. I agree with these men (?), don’t get me wrong but why is that important? It’s very rare to see such a comment for a man. Does it contribute to her authority? If it does, it’s no wonder I have less authority :).

Meanwhile, several conspiracy theories have emerged. For example ZachtEi (which has an excellent overview of the events by the way)

The VVD party knew AHA had to be sacrificed to fend off a left-wing takeover of the country during the 2007 elections. Rita Verdonk added insult to injury because it increases her own chances of winning the party leadership, and the VVD honchos stand by idly because they know the hugely popular Verdonk may be the only thing standing between Labour Party leader Wouter Bos and four years of social-democratic misery.

So, a set up to lose two people who are standing between Labour and their victory in the election. According to Peaktalk:

The tone of the documentary called “Saint Ayaan” made by the VARA – which is a left-of-center public broadcaster affiliated with both the Labour Party and organized labour – clearly underlines its intent: to take down Hirsi Ali. Leon de Winter points out in his blog that the left may have been down but hardly out, and is now in full swing to restore the Dutch age of politically correct consensus by publicly executing Hirsi Ali.

That is a correct assumption. But what has not been discussed in detail is that the Dutch right, and notably Hirsi Ali’s own liberal party (VVD) may have decided that it is time to get shot of her. Ayaan’s lies will now be the subject of a formal investigation by Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk, who as it happens is also part of the VVD and is in the middle of hotly contested leadership struggle (to be concluded later this month) in which she faces a more moderate and centrist candidate. So, if Verdonk’s aim is to gain control over the VVD she will have to not only make sure that by investigating Hirsi Ali she is living up to her ‘going by the book’ reputation, but she will have to placate her party’s more centrist members. As such, Hirsi Ali is of no real use to her, and it is Verdonk herself who has grabbed the “less-government, tough on immigration” mantle that has been vacant following Fortuyn’s and Van Gogh’s respective murders. Hirsi Ali has served her purpose by formulating a number of highly controversial positions, something that no one previously dared saying, and now that the word is out it is up to others to take the message forward.

The other aspect that should be underlined here is the deep resentment that success and ambition usually generate in The Netherlands. Dynamic careers, success, outspokenness, standing out in the crowd are things that have always been frowned upon, although that has changed a bit in recent years I guess. Still, the Dutch coined the phrase “act normal, that is strange enough” and a very ambitious black Muslim woman who built up a spectacular political career with international allure by holding a mirror in front of the complacent and politically lethargic Dutch was of course not something that would be rewarded with eternal gratitude.

For other it is just an ‘islamist‘ victory; something that keeps puzzling me: how did they end up here? The Muslim Contrarian has a different opinion, taking issue with Hirsi Ali’s lack of credibility:

It is clear that the credibility of Ayaan has taken a serious hit from these revelations. How easy could it be for her to falsely accuse Islam, a religion and a people she obviously hates, if it was so easy for her to lie on her refugee claims? To the neoconservative Christians who jump up to defend her, is it not said “thou shalt not bear false witness?”

Not only is she untruthful, but seemingly hypocritical. Herself an immigrant, she became a vocal critic of immigration as a member of the right wing Dutch VVD party. It was, in fact, her own party member, hardline immigration minister Rita Verdonk that called for her passport to be revoked. I suppose principle rarely gets in the way of politics and ambition.

In a way, I feel sorry to see her go out this way, used and betrayed. It is, however, understandable considering that western world, despite claims of freedom, justice, and equality, have a history of systemically exploiting and lynching Africans (Dutch apartheid, European colonialism, American slavery).

And not to forget others such as, Umar Lee:

The favorite Muslim of the West, that is an apostate who has become wealthy and famous scapegoating Muslims, Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, has admitted that she lied in order to get her Dutch Citizenship and will now be kicked out of the parliament and will likely be stripped of her Dutch Citizenship. Who says good things never happen?

Yesterday, a writer I really enjoy, Steve Dunleavy (a real guy), apparently was smitten by the lying Ali, who now that she is being kicked out of the Netherlands is going to try and take her fraudulent act to America with the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Maybe she can handicap the battle going on in the streets of Mogadishu right now between an Islamist group, with local support, and a group of criminal gangs being funded by the West.

There is something to be said, for all these accounts. Problem is that in all of them facts and fiction seems to be blurred. This is no wonder, since to documentary with which it all begun, also mixed facts and fiction. Let’s try to deconstruct it and see what we know and don’t know:

1. We know Hirsi Ali lied about her history
2. We know if you lie about your credentials, your citizenship will be annulled.
3. We know that television program Zembla, for the first time questioned several facts of her past in one program
4. We know Hirsi Ali several times has mentioned that she lied.
5. She is leaving parlaiment because of this affair.
6. She is not leaving the country because of this. She already planned to go to the US and in case of losing her Dutch nationality, she still could stay because she is a refugee.

We do not know:

1. If she was forced to marry a man she did not want: it is her word against that of her relatives and her ex-fiancee
2. We do not know if there was a conspiracy within the VVD or by the left wing VARA (broadcaster of Zembla), labour party and ‘het journaal’ (Dutch news bulletin).

So what is left? Not much actually. Luckily there is Sunny on Pickled Politics, where there is always an attempt to look at things from a distant perspective.

I think it is important to take the Ayaan Hirsi Ali saga as a way to examine internal change.

Ali has always been presented as a ‘fearless woman’ who said ‘the truth’ about Muslims and would stop the Netherlands ’sliding into dhimmitude;’ etc. Certainly her choice of friends were suspect sometimes.

Whatever her detractors say, society certainly needs people who stick their neck out and say what they feel at the risk of antagonising relations. We need the BNP as much as we need the likes Harold Pinter. We also need the likes of Ali because she stopped Netherlands from bending over backwards excessively in the name of political correctness.

Let’s not gloss over the fact that there is still widespread instances of female genital mutilation and wife-beating in the Middle East, South Asia and Latin America. Domestic abuse is a serious problem in this country too. Ali may have lied about her personal circumstances but she did not make up the death threats.

But what Ali did was take advantage of the anti-Muslim climate, conjure up a story that would play well with them, and exploit them for her own agenda. It says more about those ‘anti-dhimmis’ because they want to hang on to what she said, rather than accept she simply lied to get in. If her political leanings went the other way they would be up in arms. they are the ones being taken for a ride.

The bigger question is how do you deal with such hardline ‘reformers’.

[…]

The problem for us who refuse to take a hardline against anyone is this. We know that if you want to reform a system, to attack it without knowing anything about it and demonising the people involved doesn’t work. It is a tactic that rapidly pushes you into the arms of people with ulterior motives and produces an ‘us and them’ barrier that becomes stronger than get broken down.

We know that change has to come, but it must do so on a platform of empowerment, not demonising. Ali did nothing to help the Muslim women who need power to reform their communities. She made it harder for them to stand up and take the middle ground.

If we all stood on a podium and waxed lyrically about how rubbish Asian values and culture was – nothing would change. And we can’t do that anyway, we still belong to that world.

Maybe it was the right time. Netherlands stopped letting in the religious fanatics who simply wanted to get on social security, but relations between Christian and Muslim Dutch people could never improve with a person so hell-bent on demonising all of them.

Finally, as someone at Pickled Politics says, a voice of reason. Some questions however (when we look back at the facts) are still unanswered.

1. Since it was well known that Hirsi Ali lied, why did it took so long for journalists to dive into the matter?
2. Was there a particular reason to it now?
3. There was nothing substantial new in the program, so why did they air it?
4. Because there was nothing new in it, and most of it was well known, why did the Hirsi Ali ‘supporters’ conceive it as a dirty personal attack? What I mean is if someone tells you over and over in that for example he has been cheating his wife, and there comes a tv program in which this is presented as a new fact and dozens of women are interviewed stating that they have been his mistress…you would laugh at the journalists probably. Old news! So why such a fuss?
5. Why did her opponents make such a problem of it, since they also knew?

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Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Egypt: Blogging Behind Bars

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Egypt: Blogging Behind Bars
Egypt: Blogging Behind Bars
Middle East & North Africa, Egypt, Weblog, Blogger News, Cyber-Activism, Human Rights, Protest, International Relations

On May 10, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, the award-winning blogger detained three days earlier for participating in peaceful protests in Cairo, became one of the first people to blog from prison.

“Today it hit me,” Alaa began his post, “I am really in prison. I’m not sure how I feel…The way fellow prisoners look at me tells me I do not feel well but I can’t really feel it.”

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Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| nederland – ’Hirsi Ali gered, dan wij ook’

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: Trouw, hetNieuws| nederland – ’Hirsi Ali gered, dan wij ook’

Posted on May 18th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Protected: de Volkskrant – Zembla ‘vertelt de waarheid’

Posted on May 17th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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C L O S E R – Hirsi Ali Controversy

Posted on May 17th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Still, attention worldwide for the Dutch Hirsi Ali affair. In the Washington Post:

On her asylum application, she gave a false name and date of birth and lied about the countries she had lived in and visited before arriving in the Netherlands, claiming she recently had fled war-torn Somalia when she actually had lived in Kenya for 12 years. Although it has been known for at least four years that she put false information on her asylum application, the issue came under renewed focus last week when a Dutch TV documentary looked at her case. The report included statements from family members that her marriage was consensual, not arranged.

That element of her life story goes to the core of her international persona, and, if untrue, could seriously damage her reputation and credibility.

After the debate yesterday (which was live on tv with 5 million viewers -  Dutch population is 16 million) Dutch minister Verdonk had to withdraw from her standpoint that Hirsi Ali’s Dutch citizenship was annulled. She has six weeks to find out if there are extraordinary circumstances for Hirsi Ali which may lead to an approval of her Dutch nationality. If not Hirsi Ali should be granted a fast procedure to obtain the Dutch nationality.

Meanwhile Hirsi Ali get’s support from several Dutch people such as writers, directors and comedians. They are stating that they are ashamed by the treatment that Hirsi Ali is given. The issue is also followed by Dutch bloggers abroad. Ornstein op Afstand states that this is the end of Dutch tolerance. Again I should add, because this case only makes clear in a very painfull way how the Dutch deal with refugees and asylumseekers. There is not a lot of tolerance for them, and Hirsi Ali has become the victim of that. Perhaps a symbolic victim.

Some others seem to feel the need to spread all kinds for lies such as Theipinionsjournal:

Because, immediately upon its release, Muslim clerics in the putatively liberal and progressive Netherlands issued a fatwa (decree of death) against her and van Gogh. And, within short order, van Gogh was found dead in the streets of Amsterdam with a note stabbed in his chest warning Hirsi Ali that she was next….

First of all a fatwa is an authoratative advice, not a decree of death. Second there was no decree of death against Hirsi Ali by Muslim clerics after the release of Submission I.

Therefore, it is not entirely surprising that she has now become a casualty of Dutch fears of retribution and reprisals by Islamic fanatics who are still fomenting violence throughout Europe over the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by Danish cartoonists. Moreover, last November’s Muslim riots in France – that have made the French government now exceedingly solicitous of appeasing Islamic firebrands by any means necessary – have only heightened Dutch anxieties.

Islamic fanatics are not ‘fomenting violence … over the caricatures’. The situation in Europe regarding those cartoons was rather quiet, with a few demonstrations.

And, it’s in this climate of fear (and loathing) that Dutch authorities seem to have finally determined that Hirsi Ali’s campaign – to reconcile Islamic practices with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – posed a threat to national security, and, consequently, that she must be deported. (Especially since – instead of seeking to appease Islamic extremists – Hirsi Ali has vowed to continue writing and producing her series of Submission films. And Dutch courts had already ruled that she had to vacate her apartment in The Hague because “neighbours feared she was a security risk.”)

With that, her Dutch citizenship was summarily revoked on Monday and she was declared persona non grata. And, to add insult to this injury, the Dutch Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk, who delivered this political fatwa, was a member of Hirsi Ali’s own political party. It was instructive, however, that Verdonk rationalized her government’s decision to deport Hirsi Ali as follows:

No way, that she has to be deported. Even if she loses her Dutch nationality, she can stay because she is considered to be a refugee. She is certainly not ‘persona non grata’. Stories like this fit within the same schema as those of the ‘jihadist tidal waves that hit europe‘. Hirsi Ali is seen is the great heroin in the battle against islam/islamism and therefore welcomed in the US by some.

Other people seem to be happy if she leaves:

Looks like she’s having a rough time, alright. It seems that Aryaan Hirsi “Ali” (her last name is not even “Ali”), the b*ch who was behind Theo Van Gogh in making that horrible short film, Submission¹, had told tall tales regarding her background in order to get a citizenship in the Netherlands.

Or dr. Maxtor:

Hirsi is not only a liar, but a pathetic hypocrite like all other rent-a-reformer(s) running around these days plugging crappy third rate books and cashing in on fashionable Islamophobia. Now she’s coming to America to set up shop under the wing of the “American Enterprise Institute,”the neocon septic incubator which gave us the like of Wolfowitz and Perle. Pull out a fresh roll of extra absorbent toilet paper for this cash cow.

Fortunately there still are blogs that are less hysterical than those of Hirsi Ali’s supporters or opponents, such as VanBragt. Some are wondering that the Netherlands will look like a fool and others are questioning the role of the media and questioning how people criticize the media.

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C L O S E R – Hirsi Ali and the Shortcut to the US

Posted on May 16th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News, Public Islam.

C L O S E R

I came to Holland in the summer of 1992 because I wanted to be able to determine my own future. I didn’t want to be forced into a destiny that other people had chosen for me, so I opted for the protection of the rule of law. Here in Holland, I found freedom and opportunities, and I took those opportunities to speak out against religious terror.

In January 2003, at the invitation of the VVD party, I became a member of parliament. I accepted the VVD’s invitation on the condition that I would be the party’s spokesman for the emancipation of women and the integration of immigrants.
What exactly did I want to achieve?
First of all I wanted to put the oppression of immigrant women — especially Muslim women – squarely on the Dutch political agenda. Second, I wanted Holland to pay attention to the specific cultural and religious issues that were holding back many ethnic minorities, instead of always taking a one-sided approach that focused only on their socio-economic circumstances. Lastly, I wanted politicians to grasp the fact that major aspects of Islamic doctrine and tradition, as practiced today, are incompatible with the open society.
That transition from becoming a member of a clan to becoming a citizen in an open society is what public service has come to mean for me. Only clear thinking and strong action can lead to real change, and free many people within our society from the mental cage of submission. The idea that I can contribute to their freedom, whether in the Netherlands or in another country, gives me deep satisfaction.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as of today, I resign from Parliament. I regret that I will be leaving the Netherlands, the country which has given me so many opportunities and enriched my life, but I am glad that I will be able to continue my work. I will go on.

The above quote is from Hirsi Ali’s public statement today. Yes, she is leaving parliament and going to the US. For a nice report on today’s events, see the facts here. This is certainly not a Dutch event only. Several non-Dutch blogs are mentioning the affair, and not all very well informed. For example Melanie Phillips states:

Yet instead of being cherished as a national heroine, she is being broken and bullied out of the country by an unholy alliance of venomous leftists, spineless public servants — including those of a highly conservative disposition — and radical Islamists, all giving a victory to the forces of evil.

A shocked friend of Ms Hirsi Ali says that the mood in the Netherlands today reflects a thirst for a public hanging. But this public anger is being funnelled not at the clerical fascism that has caused Dutch public figures to be guarded day and night against the threat of murder, but at one of those very figures. Thus the victim of violence is turned into its cause, and her institutionalised lynching will purge the terror from the people.

There is no proof of such a conspiracy and certainly not one including radical islamists. Dutch Muslim umbrella organizations do have stated that they are not sad that she is leaving, but they are certainly not radical islamists. Also there is certainly not a blood thirsty crowd that wants her out. Several Dutch blogs as the Ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl and Frontaalnaakt.nl and Geenstijl.nl are supporting her. Many critics of her I have spoken to, even support her in this case. Of course there are also people who remain critical and are glad to see her leave. Her supporters are certainly more outspoken, also the ones abroad.

Important to note by the way, if Hirsi Ali looses her Dutch nationality, that does not mean she has to leave the country because of that: she is still a refugee and therefore she could stay.

When I got home from work this evening, I tried to get hold of NRC Handelsblad; a Dutch evening daily. It was sold out. Everywhere. This certainly is an event on the WWW. Several other blogs are also engaging with this issue, some with very short, but interesting, comments such as ‘Aqoul

A very queer bit of reporting on Somali-Dutch MP and possible immigration services deceiver Ayaan Hirsi Ali aka Ayaan Hirsi Magan, who appears to have not been quite in the situ she claimed re forced marriage when she won Dutch citizenship. The article is perhaps a lesson in the madness that is immigration laws and debates at present across the Developed-Developing world divide. It may, if the facts are right, also be a somewhat sad lesson in media hype as well.

And others just referring to other sources such as Sandmonkey, others pointing to the position of her party (VVD) that has a very firm standpoint on migration (…and lying), but not everyone in that party is very glad with that view in this case, others stating that she has some strange supporters. Some people think it might backfire to Dutch minister Verdonk.
During the debate in parliament it has become clear that there is room for reconsidering the withdrawal of Hirsi Ali’s Dutch nationality or even a new request for naturalization with a shorter procedure. So there is room for negotations and solutions.

If you want to read Hirsi Ali’s complete statement: (more…)

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C L O S E R – Hirsi Ali and the Netherlands

Posted on May 15th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News, Public Islam.

C L O S E R

Last week the television program Zembla aired a documentary about Hirsi Ali. In it the makers claimed that Hirsi Ali lied about the reasons she has to fled to the Netherlands and about the way she did it. Nothing new, actually. She already admitted that in several programs, speeches and books. It just shows that people will always adjust their story in order to be granted asylum in a safe country. Who wouldn’t?

In my view there are two problems regarding this issue and Hirsi Ali. First of all her authority is partly based upon her past. The fact that she lied about it (even though she admits it) does not lend much credibility to her position as someone who has experienced it all herself. Second problem is that the Hoge Raad (Supreme Council) last year stated that the Dutch authorities were right in evoking the Dutch nationality of an Iraqi family who had lied about their past. If that can happen to them…

So now the rumour is that she will go to the US. Some American blogs are already very happy about that. I doubt very much that this incident is the cause for that. Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad reports that she would begin her new job next year, but because she has to leave her house, she asked if she could go to the US earlier to work for the AEI. This incident of course is nice timing for her to announce that.

Read the reactions at Expatica.com

This issue again proves that we still have difficulties in acting nuanced and sophisticated when it comes to Hirsi Ali. For some left wing people she is the devil who is one of the main causes for the polarization in this country.

Probably without realizing, the makers (of Submission I, Van Gogh and Hirsi Ali -Mdk) the used the same grammar Joseph Goebbels used in 1940 in his notorious movie ‘Der Ewige Jude’

For some others she is the saint who has lived all the atrocities she is talking about it and defends this country against the barbarians.

During World War II, eighty percent of Dutch Jews were deported to the camps and killed. They were often delivered to the Nazi’s by the Dutch themselves. They wanted to protect themselves and hoped that collaboration would make them safe.

The Dutch now desperately want to hang Ayaan in the hope to restore the multicultural dream. VARA created an atmosphere in which so-called ‘revelations’ mystify and falsify Ayaan’s past and present.

We are now witnessing in Holland the public execution of Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

And no I do not think that it is correct what Little Green Football reports (or should I say in this case: lying?) that the Dutch elites want Hirsi Ali to be deported (note the link to WWII they are making with the word deporting). Some critics argue that she should hand in her Dutch nationality, but I don’t think anyone would want her to go back to Somalia and that is certainly not what the critics are saying. Referring to them as the elite is ridiculous, also because it neglects Hirsi Ali’s supporters who also belong to the elite.

Tomorrow more about this and you can follow the recent news on this here.

2 comments.

Protected: De Standaard.be – Racistische moord (?)

Posted on May 11th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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Sargasso – Wie komt er op voor Ayaan Hirsi Ali?

Posted on May 7th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

Op Sargasso de volgende vraag: Wie komt er op voor Ayaan Hirsi Ali?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali moet van de rechter uit haar beveiligde woning omdat de buren klagen over overlast.
Zij zit daar omdat we onze democratisch gekozen kamerleden willen beschermen tegen elementen met een nogal extreme interpretatie van hun religie.
Wie denkt u dat het voor haar opneemt?
Haar eigen partij, de VVD? Welnee, die melden het niet eens op hun site.
De heer Wilders dan die in dezelfde positie zit? Ach kom, die is druk met interviews geven aan Penthouse, die leest immers iedereen.

Nee hoor, het is Femke Halsema van GroenLinks die voor haar opkomt. Zij stelt in ieder geval kamervragen en vraagt om maatregelen.

Kennelijk is de VVD er meer bij gediend dat deze zaak fout loopt. Dan kunnen ze tenminste bij de volgende verkiezingen weer op hun grote angsttrommel slaan. Who needs enemies with friends like that?

En ik ga weer over tot de orde van de dag.

Nogal uit de lucht gegrepen insinuaties over de VVD en Wilders (ook al is hun zwijgen opvallend). Het punt is: Ik snap de buren wel, maar zo hoef je natuurlijk nooit iemand meer te beveiligen.

1 comment.

Hirsi Ali’s American Tour

Posted on May 7th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

PEN has invited Hirsi Ali to discuss her new book, The Caged Virgin, and her experiences in Africa and as a Dutch MP. That was last week, and it has caught considerable attention on the web. Atlas Shrugs quotes an entire NY SUN article:

Like an increasing number of immigrants in the West who refuse to have a “victim” label pinned to their lapels, the Dutch-Somalian actress, author, and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali represents something of a problem for liberal intellectuals. A short film she cowrote, “Submission,” was shown on Dutch television in August 2004. Its subject was the mistreatment of Muslim women at the hands of Muslim men.

Deliberately provocative, the film projected words from the Koran onto exposed female flesh. Just over two months later, the director, Theo van Gogh, was savagely murdered by a Muslim fundamentalist.Ever since, Ms. Ali, who is a member of the Dutch Parliament and the author of a new book, “The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam”, has had to live under the protection of armed guards. On Sunday, Ms.Ali was interviewed by the Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch at the New York Public Library as part of PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature.[/quote]

Also Winds of Change has picked it up:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was in my backyard this week, and would to the gods I had been able to get away and see her. She’s been making the rounds of East Coast America’s establishment, including NPR and PEN, where Ron Chernow confirmed my bad opinion of him, carried over from his puzzlingly popular Alexander Hamilton book, by giving her an introduction that was more an apology than an endorsement.

It would be enormously enjoyable to see her visit places like Atlanta and Birmingham on her American tour, where she’d shake up minds and hearts in a different fashion and no doubt get a warm and heroic reception. But she is going deliberately into the fetid dragon’s dens of modern leftism, with a message meant to unsettle sleeping reptiles and prod them into thought.

And on Kesher Talk a LGF-fan posts:

I’m honestly thrilled that I was able to go hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali speak. As I remarked to my mother, this was the first time I’ve heard a speaker with whom I agreed on every point. I think she’s incredibly inspiring and I wish more people had the opportunity to hear what she has to say. Surprisingly, hardly anyone in the elitist-NYC-liberal circle I go to school with every day knows about her–I told my U.S. Government teacher I went to hear her speak, and not only did he not know who she was, he’d never heard about Theo van Gogh! I think that’s all pretty appalling.

Together these blogs give a nice impression of (some of the) reactions on the side of the Atlantic and on the ‘islam-critics” websites. And well, you can have your own opinions about Hirsi Ali, but you have to admit that she is very good in building her own constituency and setting the agenda for debate. Therefore I don’t agree with people who say she is a bad politician but a good activist. She is both, and very good in both.

0 comments.

Hirsi Ali's American Tour

Posted on May 7th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

PEN has invited Hirsi Ali to discuss her new book, The Caged Virgin, and her experiences in Africa and as a Dutch MP. That was last week, and it has caught considerable attention on the web. Atlas Shrugs quotes an entire NY SUN article:

Like an increasing number of immigrants in the West who refuse to have a “victim” label pinned to their lapels, the Dutch-Somalian actress, author, and politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali represents something of a problem for liberal intellectuals. A short film she cowrote, “Submission,” was shown on Dutch television in August 2004. Its subject was the mistreatment of Muslim women at the hands of Muslim men.

Deliberately provocative, the film projected words from the Koran onto exposed female flesh. Just over two months later, the director, Theo van Gogh, was savagely murdered by a Muslim fundamentalist.Ever since, Ms. Ali, who is a member of the Dutch Parliament and the author of a new book, “The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam”, has had to live under the protection of armed guards. On Sunday, Ms.Ali was interviewed by the Paris Review editor Philip Gourevitch at the New York Public Library as part of PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature.[/quote]

Also Winds of Change has picked it up:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was in my backyard this week, and would to the gods I had been able to get away and see her. She’s been making the rounds of East Coast America’s establishment, including NPR and PEN, where Ron Chernow confirmed my bad opinion of him, carried over from his puzzlingly popular Alexander Hamilton book, by giving her an introduction that was more an apology than an endorsement.

It would be enormously enjoyable to see her visit places like Atlanta and Birmingham on her American tour, where she’d shake up minds and hearts in a different fashion and no doubt get a warm and heroic reception. But she is going deliberately into the fetid dragon’s dens of modern leftism, with a message meant to unsettle sleeping reptiles and prod them into thought.

And on Kesher Talk a LGF-fan posts:

I’m honestly thrilled that I was able to go hear Ayaan Hirsi Ali speak. As I remarked to my mother, this was the first time I’ve heard a speaker with whom I agreed on every point. I think she’s incredibly inspiring and I wish more people had the opportunity to hear what she has to say. Surprisingly, hardly anyone in the elitist-NYC-liberal circle I go to school with every day knows about her–I told my U.S. Government teacher I went to hear her speak, and not only did he not know who she was, he’d never heard about Theo van Gogh! I think that’s all pretty appalling.

Together these blogs give a nice impression of (some of the) reactions on the side of the Atlantic and on the ‘islam-critics” websites. And well, you can have your own opinions about Hirsi Ali, but you have to admit that she is very good in building her own constituency and setting the agenda for debate. Therefore I don’t agree with people who say she is a bad politician but a good activist. She is both, and very good in both.

0 comments.

NPR : ‘The Caged Virgin’: A Call for Change in Islam

Posted on May 6th, 2006 by .
Categories: Misc. News.

NPR : ‘The Caged Virgin’: A Call for Change in Islam
‘The Caged Virgin’: A Call for Change in Islam

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Steffen Kugler

Dutch author and politician Ayaan Hirsi, pictured here talking to reporters in February 2006, scolded European leaders for appeasing radical Muslims rather than demanding greater equality for women.
Day to Day, May 4, 2006 · Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a native of Somalia who emigrated to The Netherlands in the early 1990s, is no stranger to controversy among her fellow Muslims. Living in the West, she felt free to publicly criticize Islam’s treatment of women.But that freedom came at a price. In 2004, a short film Ali scripted called Submission was shown on Dutch television. In the film, naked women veiled with see-through shrouds painted with verses of the Quran kneel in prayer, telling their stories as if they are speaking to Allah.

The film’s co-writer and director Theo Van Gogh was later stabbed to death by a Muslim radical. A letter pinned to the body with a dagger threatened Ali’s life. Since then, she has been under the constant protection of body guards.

The danger hasn’t stopped her from remaining outspoken about her beliefs. Ali calls her new collection of essays, The Caged Virgin, an “Emancipation Proclamation” for women and Islam.

0 comments.

NPR : 'The Caged Virgin': A Call for Change in Islam

Posted on May 6th, 2006 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

NPR : ‘The Caged Virgin’: A Call for Change in Islam
‘The Caged Virgin’: A Call for Change in Islam

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Steffen Kugler

Dutch author and politician Ayaan Hirsi, pictured here talking to reporters in February 2006, scolded European leaders for appeasing radical Muslims rather than demanding greater equality for women.
Day to Day, May 4, 2006 · Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a native of Somalia who emigrated to The Netherlands in the early 1990s, is no stranger to controversy among her fellow Muslims. Living in the West, she felt free to publicly criticize Islam’s treatment of women.But that freedom came at a price. In 2004, a short film Ali scripted called Submission was shown on Dutch television. In the film, naked women veiled with see-through shrouds painted with verses of the Quran kneel in prayer, telling their stories as if they are speaking to Allah.

The film’s co-writer and director Theo Van Gogh was later stabbed to death by a Muslim radical. A letter pinned to the body with a dagger threatened Ali’s life. Since then, she has been under the constant protection of body guards.

The danger hasn’t stopped her from remaining outspoken about her beliefs. Ali calls her new collection of essays, The Caged Virgin, an “Emancipation Proclamation” for women and Islam.

0 comments.

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