Somali-Dutch
writer, politician and feminist activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali photographed
in New York City. Ali, a prominent critic of Islam, wrote the screenplay
for Theo van Gogh’s movie Submission which led to death threats and to
the assassination of Theo van Gogh. (Mark Mahaney/Redux)
…
The United States itself, so marvelously
imbued with the spirit of freedom and personal independence, is becoming
a battleground for this clash of cultures. And very sadly, one side,
the side of respect for self-determination, is losing.
Picture an American girl, a typical
California teenager in jeans who lives on Facebook and likes sports. She
loves her family, but feels pressure from them to resist peer
influence. A typical family dynamic? So far.
Out of respect for father and family, this
girl agrees to visit her parents’ home country, the old world where her
grandmother is aging and would love to see her granddaughter one more
time.
Her Muslim father and Muslim family and Muslim home country.
On this visit, this gesture of affection
and respect, this American girl is overpowered and confined, stripped of
her passport, cut off from outside contact, watched every second, and
prepared for marriage to a much older man whom she’s never met.
A much older Muslim man.
This story is true, and I assure you it is
not an aberration. Robbing a girl of her freedom and identity is
becoming more and more common in the United States. Such crimes are
committed not for money or personal obsession, but in the name of
traditional religion and culture.
Forced marriage is linked to other acts
committed in the name of religion and culture, so-called honor killings
(perversely named!), and linked to the barbaric act of female genital
mutilation—all three crimes commonly committed in the name of protecting
honor and sanctioned by religion.
Which religion?
What worries me is that, within the
American value system, there are two clashing strains—individual rights
clashing with tolerance of others. I fear that, in the new battleground
I’ve identified, individual rights of women are losing out to tolerance
of oppressive customs.
Beyond that, Americans respect the right
of all men and women to launch their own odysseys and be the human being
that ability and fortune might allow.
But another wonderful quality of American
culture is tolerance of others. Americans have always welcomed people of
all backgrounds, religions, and races. It’s a spirit of tolerance, now
energized and amplified by the cult of multiculturalism.
I see these two strains in conflict: individual rights and tolerance of religious abuse.
In Holland I have seen well-meaning,
principled people blinded by multiculturalism, overwhelmed by the
imperative to be sensitive and respectful of immigrant culture, while
ignoring criminal abuse of women and girls.
When I said the position of Muslim women
had to change now, people were always telling me to wait, or calling me
“right-wing.” Was that what they told the mineworkers in the 19th
century when they fought for workers’ rights?
In the United States I see a similar, very
worrying reluctance to ignore judging immigrants who oppress their
women and mutilate their girls in the name of their own religion and
culture.
Worse, many not only ignore the oppression but they support open
borders and importation of millions more sharia-adhering people. Like
they did in the UK and now realize was a mistake, Mistake of multiculturalism aided extremists says PM.
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