Mick Hartley

The NYT has an excellent article by Christopher Caldwell on Dutch MP and Muslim apostate Ayaan Hirsi Ali (via lgf):

The predicament of individual Muslim women has become a public concern in the Netherlands. In February, the daily Volkskrant ran an expose of widespread bigamy among Dutch Moroccans. Muslim views on virginity have led to other clashes. There are clinics that specialize in the surgical repair of broken hymens, a practice that was often covered by national insurance until the ministry of health blocked it last May. Genital mutilation, of the sort practiced on Hirsi Ali and 98 percent of girls in Somalia, has been illegal in Holland since 1993 but still occurs. Self-deprecatingly, Hirsi Ali refers to Muslim women as ”my issue.” But it overlaps with so many of the crises in Dutch and European society that being a single-issue politician has not made her a narrow politician. Hirsi Ali has taken positions on nonfeminist issues from the Iraq war (which she favors) to Turkey’s candidacy to join the European Union (she calls it a ”big gamble” for Europeans).

Until the arrival of Hirsi Ali, Dutch feminists tended to duck when there appeared to be a conflict between the rights of women and the culture of immigrants. One exception is the Egyptian-born essayist Nahed Selim, an ally of Hirsi Ali on many issues. Another is Cisca Dresselhuys, editor of the large-circulation feminist magazine Opzij, who drew fire when she announced that she would not hire women who wore head scarves. Dresselhuys wants Hirsi Ali to leave Dutch politics and take up a post where she could pursue her political passions internationally. For Dresselhuys, Hirsi Ali is ”more an activist than a politician.” This is a common view in the Netherlands — though not necessarily a correct one. Hirsi Ali’s legislative work on women’s issues has certainly been substantial. Last year, she drew up a plan to better enforce the law against genital mutilation, which passed the chamber. She has spent recent months trying to stiffen enforcement of laws against ”honor killings,” prevalent among certain Muslim immigrant groups, especially those from Turkey. She wrote a legislative paper on the economic integration of Muslim women and has urged closer scrutiny of new Muslim schools before they are accredited.

But she prefers to describe her legislative achievements in broad terms. ”I confront the European elite’s self-image as tolerant,” she says, ”while under their noses women are living like slaves.”