Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Daring or dogmatic? Debates on multiculturalism and emancipation in The Netherlands’. Focaal

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is probably one of the present-day’s most controversial politicians. Born in 1967 in Mogadishu (Somalia), she came to the Netherlands as a refugee in 1992 and has graduated in political science. She was active within labor party till 2002 when she switched to the liberal party. She became the member of the Dutch Parliament for the same party in 2003. She is famous for her radical standpoints against Islam in general and the Islamic community in the Netherlands in particular. The same standpoints assumingly became the base of some threats from Islamic community that drove her into temporary hiding in 2002. This event, however, gave her more visibility in the media and politics and made her one the most wanted TV guests. In 2002 I first saw Ayaan as she appeared in a discussion program on Dutch television. At that time, I saw a strong woman who fought for her ideas: someone who dared to distance herself from her traditional, Islamic background and by doing so, positioned herself against the traditional Islamic community in the Netherlands. Her arguments on the incompatibility of Islamic belief and women’s emancipation were sharp. She stood up for the rights of Islamic women, who she believed were suppressed by Islamic tradition and law. I found Hirsi Ali’