Ayann Hirisi Ali
Her Message at the National Press Club on June 18, 2007
Ms. Ali explains how the West, a liberal democracy, and the Islamic culture are diametrically opposed morally and philosophically especially with respect to human rights.
At a speaking engagement at Washington D.C. ‘s National Press Club on Monday June18, 2007, Ayann Hirisi Ali, author, film maker and women’s rights advocate gave one of the most enlightening speeches on the difference between Islam and the Western culture. She has written three books thus far: Son Factory, The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam, and finally, Infidel .
Her work on the film called Submission, examines the state of women in conservative Islamic culture. The ten minute movie made with Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh depicts Muslim women being abused by men in the Islamic culture. After their work on the film, Theo van Gogh was murdered by radical Islamist Mohammed Bouyen on a street in Amsterdam on November 2, 2004. The killer left a 5 page letter threatening Ms. Ali’s life. She decided to leave the Netherlands and move to the U.S. Her views on Islam, especially how women are treated in the culture, have continued to produce death threats from around the world. She is an advocate for human rights especially women’s rights.
Ms. Ayann Hirisi Ali, 37, born in Somalia in 1969, ran away from an unwanted pre-arranged marriage and fled in 1992 to the Netherlands where she became a Dutch citizen in 1997. In 2003 she was elected to the Dutch Parliament. In 2004, after van Gogh was murdered she moved to the United States.
Time magazine listed her as one of the 100 most influential people in 2005, Reader’s Digest named her European for the Year in 2006, and the American Jewish Committee awarded her the Memorial Courage Award in 2006. Her work is to establish women’s dignity in the world. She has just finished a book called Infidel which is a memoir book detailing her life in the Islam culture. She champions respect and dignity for every individual as well as recognizes that for her courage is one of the greatest human values.
Ms. Ali mentioned in her remarks at the Press Club that in 2005 , in the Netherlands, she was asked to an event there to comment on her movie Submission. She found herself defending free speech, free press, and the women’s movement in Islam against Arab journalists and commentators at a Western journalists’ event After the showing of the movie, she said she found it odd that at a Western event that Western journalists felt embarrassed about defending the very principles they had asked her about in her movie.
Ms. Ali questions “Why are Westerners insecure about all the things that make the West great: free press, freedom of speech, political freedom, critical thinking, equal rights for women, and men, and gays, and the great strengths of scrutinizing ideas and especially faith? She continued that this war is about values of the West versus the values of Islam. Islam and liberal democracy are not compitable, cultures and religions are not equal. The Kuran is full of the hatred against women. From this perspective according to Ms. Ali, journalists must take a stand and report on what is occurring in the Islamic culture with respect to women.
She says that Islamic dogma creates a cult of death, a cage against women, and a curse against knowledge. Europeans, Americans, and Australians ask what about the good Muslims living next door to me.? Isn’t it only fair to give Muslims their own religious freedom in the U.S?
Her answer is that all these questions are good. She said there is a big moral difference between Islam and Muslims, who are a diverse group of Muslims. She continues to say at the Press Club that some Muslims want to reform their faith, others want to use violence to spread their views, others want to become Catholic, or atheists, and others are apathetic. She continues to say that Islam and reform are a set of beliefs that are hostile to everything Western. In Muslim schools in the west , she says, kids are taught to believe Jews are pigs and dogs, and that jihad is a virtue, and Muslim believers are to distance themselves from non-believers.
Her message from the National Press Club on June 18, 2007 in Washington DC is that Islam is completely opposed to the Western culture and totally incompatible. She finished by expressing this point by saying that those with wisdom will listen and understand her message.
