Hirsi Ali criticises western 'appeasement' of Islam

JAIPUR, India, Jan 24, 2010 (AFP) – Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born former Dutch lawmaker threatened with death for her outspoken criticism of Islam, on Sunday accused the world's liberal democracies of appeasing radical Muslims.


AFP – Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born Dutch writer and fierce critic of Islam, poses for reporters during

Hirsi Ali, who since 2004 has lived under constant guard against death threats from Islamic extremists, made her accusation during an unannounced appearance at the
Jaipur Literary Festival in India.


Speaking to a packed audience, Hirsi Ali said fear of offending Muslims and the wider Islamic world meant Islam had been largely exempted in Europe and the United States from the critical scrutiny applied to other religions.

"In the West, people are frigidly stuck in an attitude of self-doubt," fearful of Muslim radicals but also worried of being seen as anti-Muslim and thus betraying their own liberal traditions, Hirsi Ali said.

"This appeasement has made the public space in these countries a lot less safe," she added.

Born into a Somali Muslim family, Hirsi Ali, now 40, sought and obtained political asylum in the Netherlands in 1992.

In the Netherlands, Hirsi Ali wrote a screenplay for a short film by Theo van Gogh about women's treatment under Islam.

Just over two months after it aired in 2004, Van Gogh was assassinated. A letter pinned to his body with a knife contained a death threat to Hirsi Ali and marked her entry into a life under constant protection.

Genuine debate about Islam, Ali argued, was all too often "shut down by those who have a stake in keeping any criticism of Islam away. Theo's murder just made me realise how incredibly dangerous this theology is."

Hirsi Ali, who now lives in the United States, warned that the "reticence" of mainstream politicians in Europe to confront the threats that elements of Islam pose was partly responsible for the rise of racist right-wing parties.

"It's extraordinary to see the energy we spend on protecting individual Muslims from questioning their moral framework," she said.

"We should make Islam go through the same enlightenment process other religions have gone through by using that questioning process."

In 2003 Hirsi Ali was elected a member of the Dutch parliament but resigned her seat over a political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship.