'Everyone Is Afraid to Criticize Islam'
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch politician forced to
go into hiding after the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, responds to the
Danish cartoon scandal, arguing that if Europe doesn't stand up to extremists, a
culture of self-censorship of criticism of Islam that pervades in Holland will
spread in Europe. Auf Wiedersehen, free speech.
SPIEGEL: Hirsi Ali, you have called the Prophet Muhammad a tyrant and a pervert. Theo van Gogh, the director of your film “Submission,” which is critical of Islam, was murdered by Islamists. You yourself are under police protection. Can you understand how the Danish cartoonists feel at this point?
Hirsi Ali: They probably feel numb. On the one hand, a voice in their heads is encouraging them not to sell out their freedom of speech. At the same time, they’re experiencing the shocking sensation of what it’s like to lose your own personal freedom. One mustn’t forget that they’re part of the postwar generation, and that all they’ve experienced is peace and prosperity. And now they suddenly have to fight for their own human rights once again.
It’s simple enough for religionists to criticize Hirsi Ali as someone who “has lost her religion”.
This SPIEGEL interview offers us a chance to reflect upon the reasons someone would reject a point of view that they were told from childhood was just and righteous.
Posted: Sun - February 19, 2006 at 07:11 AM