**UPDATE 10/10/2007: Netherlands Cabinet rejects Ayaan’s protection funding; 90% of Dutch agree. Salman Rushdie calls out Dutch. Sad day for Europe. **
There’s no better soldier in the world war against Islamic fundamentalism than Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A product of a Muslim upbringing in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya, she escaped the brutality, settled in Holland, and found herself living a life devoted to exposing the inhuman nature of Islam – in particular, its subjugation and mutilation of the lives and bodies of women.
As part of Europe’s suicide, the Dutch Government has decided to drop its protection of Ms. Ali, who has been under direct threat of murder by Muslims within and without Holland. Two stories on Slate today chronicle the latest twists and turns in the saga of Ayaan – Christopher Hitchens’ “The Price of Freedom”, and Anne Applebaum’s “Double Dutch”. Both writers eloquenly express the importance of Ayaan Hirsi Ali in today’s world, and the outrage at Holland’s abdication of its responsibility as caretaker of a great liberal, democratic, enlightenment tradition. Both are well worth a read, particularly for those of you not familiar with Ali’s story.
For me, the importance lies in the fact that women like Ali are rare, but are the key to winning this 1,400-year-old struggle. Conservative Canadian bloggers can wail away all we want, but inside voices like Ali, who has experienced the brutality first-hand, and is willing to put her own safety at risk to ensure the world knows what it is up against, are more powerful than a million Flaggmans.
I have little doubt: generous American benefactors and donors will pay for her protection in Washington for as long as she needs it. Another European loss is another American gain. Yet I have little doubt about this as well: the degradation, humiliation, and ultimate capitulation of European enlightenment idealism is well underway.
2 Comments
October 9, 2007 at 12:48 pm
The Islamic Republik of Holland.
October 9, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Thanks for your blog…It helps keep me informed on things I otherwise wouldn’t know about. How in the world can Holland’s government be so short sighted an weak minded?