Dean's World

Like others, I have been following the story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali - the Somali-born refugee and former Dutch politician who faces expulsion from the Netherlands for lying in order to gain asylum back in 1992 (to which she has publicly admitted since 2002). It once felt like I was the world's only black libertarianesque feminist....that is, until I encountered this profile of Ayaan Hirsi in mid-2004, while perusing the Web for information on black moderates and conservatives outside the United States.

So now, America is her next stop. Time magazine asks: is America ready for the moderate-conservative atheist feminist and best-selling writer, who faces death threats for her vocal criticism of Islam? "If this slight and elegant woman's arrival in Washington sets off even half the clamor her departure from Dutch politics did, the capital better start girding itself....The outcry has probably improved Hirsi Ali's chances of retaining her Dutch citizenship after a six-week appeal period — but she's leaving anyway. The row has boosted Hirsi Ali's visibility — not that the [American Enterprise Institute, a prominent conservative think-tank where Ms. Hirsi Ali will work] is complaining. 'Controversy isn't something we avoid; we're not a timorous institution,' says its president, Christopher DeMuth. Hirsi Ali's studies into the confrontation of Islam with 'the post-Enlightenment world' are a good fit with the aei, DeMuth says. But one of Hirsi Ali's most prominent Dutch collaborators, University of Amsterdam sociologist Paul Scheffer, says some of her new fans in the U.S. might be in for a surprise. 'They'll discover that she's an atheist who is very critical about the role of Christianity in politics, too.'"

The Philadelphia Enquirer has a supportive editorial, and calls her a fellow enemy of violence: "Welcome her if she does come to this country, where she has been offered a job at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. You don't have to agree with everything Hirsi Ali says to regard her voice as a useful addition to discussions on Muslim women's rights and militant Islam.....Beyond the personal hardships, her situation highlights issues that need honest and open debate to combat extremist Islamic ideology, which terrorists use to justify their violence. These include the struggle for Islam between extremists and moderates, the tension in Europe between native-born citizens and immigrants, and the sensitivity of proposing that Muslims reexamine how their religion gets used to promote violence and intolerance. While al-Qaeda's attacks in the United States and elsewhere feature radical Muslims, adherents of any faith should worry when extremists kill in their religion's name. Hirsi Ali recently spoke here at an event sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. With powerful words, she praised secular legal systems and democratic ideals such as freedom of expression. If she does come to the United States, may she find a safe haven to exercise that freedom."

Daily Bulletin (Ontario, Calif.) wonders if Ms. Hirsi Ali's move is the start of more immigrants from Old Europe, who are fleeing religious persecution from Islamic extremists. Apparently, Hans-Peter Raddatz, an Islamic-studies expert, recently moved to USA. Flemming Rose, the culture editor of Jyllands-Posten (Denmark) - the paper that published those Mohammed cartoons and set off a global storm - is also mulling a move to America. "As yet the Europeans, lately subject to cartoon riots, French slum riots and terrorist bombings, can turn things around. Islamic radicals can be deported, moderate Muslims can co-exist with European liberals and millions of people now co-existing peacefully in Europe despite religious differences prove the feat is possible. On the other hand, the next century will bring Europe a cultural and demographic shift without precedent in the modern world. Some European countries are poised to have majority Muslim populations before the end of this century. Most of those Muslims will be peace-loving and tolerant, but if the violent minority pushes hard enough to expand its intolerance, Europe's history of appeasing tyrants doesn't bode well."