Hirsi Ali, the BBC and lost Dutch liberalism

The BBC publish an article about lost liberalism in Holland. Ah, I think, something highlighting the treatment of immigrant communities in the country... no, just something lamenting the treatment of the liar Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

The author of the article, Lisa Jardine, just doesn't seem to have kept up with recent events:

Hirsi Ali arrived in Holland as an asylum-seeker in 1992, fleeing a forced marriage.

No she didn't.

In the face of a growing clamour from both the Muslim and the secular communities to silence her, she has decided to re-settle in Washington.

No she jumped ship because of the storm over her lies.

Jardine does however know about the web Hirsi Ali tied herself up in:

In spite of her imminent departure, she has now been told by the Immigration Minister, Rita Verdonk that she is to be stripped of her Dutch citizenship because - out of fear - she did not use her true name on her original application form.

And the rest of it please - there were a few more lies than that.

Jardine also repeats the tired fiction of Muslim involvement in the killing of Pim Fortuyn.

Absolutely bizarre from the BBC.

Brian Whitaker meanwhile stays calm long enough to write about Hirsi Ali and bedfellow Irshad Manji. He makes the point that the neocons and rightwingers love them because they tell them what they want to hear. Trouble with the bridge that needs to be made between Islam and the West is that as with any rapprochement, you need to hear things that may not all sit well with you. Whitaker links to this essay by Laila Lalami in the Nation.

Comments

[ainelivia]

"clamour to silence her". Why, after all isn't that what we pride ourselves on in the west, freedom of speech; or is that freedom only to those that say what we wish to hear.... just a thought.

And I would, not doubting the accuracy of your comments, wonder if some of the "lies" were perpetrated by a media eager to hang on to certain stereotypes of certain groups; for example, that she fled a forced marriage.

[Ted]

It seems that both camps are at fault. I think calling her a 'liar' is harsh, Osama, and not the sort of language I expect you'd use about deported asylum-seekers in the UK. Or would you? And, of course, certain folk backed Hirsi Ali whilst not being entirely welcoming about immigration or multi-culturalism in the UK. So they're now dismayed - though wouldn't care less if it was some Albanians kicked out of Glasgow - and her opponents rejoice and call her a liar - which they wouldn't if it was some Albanians kicked out of Glasgow.

What a mess.