Ayaan Hirsi Ali roundup

Not too long ago, queen Beatrix visited Moroccan youngsters in Amsterdam. It was a sensible thing to do, but even at the time, I wondered if she shouldn't extend the same courtesy to native Dutch. Up until now, she hasn't.

Two Dutch authors have now called for the queen to pay a visit to MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who is in hiding following the murder of Theo van Gogh. The letter by Nelleke Noordervliet and Max Pam reads: 'There should be a picture in the newspaper of the head of state with the woman who was the intended recipient of the knife that was plunged into Theo van Gogh's body.'

Of course, queen Beatrix may already have visited Ms. Ayaan Hirsi Ali. (One can hope.) Since Hirsi Ali is in hiding, it's unlikely they would advertise such a visit.

Meanwhile, Dutch author Leon de Winter voices his intense disapproval of the fact that Ms. Hirsi Ali is still in hiding. According to him, she should be able to do her job as an MP, even if the military have to lock off The Hague for it.

(Amsterdam is our national capital, but The Hague is our political center of power. Parliament as well as the government are based there, as are many government departments, embassies and the International Court of Justice. This way, we can use Amsterdam for the fun stuff.)

Mr. De Winter has a point. For Ms. Hirsi Ali will not be receiving a major Dutch feminist prize for now. The organization of monthly Opzij has postponed the ceremony due to security concerns.

The fact that the translation rights to Ms. Hirsi Ali's books have been selling extremely well recently, surely doesn't offer much in the way of consolation.

17:13

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And again, the radical Islamists win

Last year, Dutch cinemas showed the hugely successful comedy 'Shouf shouf habibi!', which revolves around Moroccan immigrants and their difficulties integrating in Dutch society. At the time, there was some minor uproar when it turned out that Moroccan moviegoers in several cinemas regularly burst into applause during a scene in which a second-generation Moroccan son hits his sister. An acquaintance of mine was shocked when she saw how Moroccan girls voiced their consent to this kind of violent behavior. These were not girls wearing headscarves either - they were dressed according to the latest revealing Western fashion.

Since ignorance was still bliss at the time, these incidents got forgotten pretty quickly.

Not it turns out that a sequel may be postponed because director Albert ter Heerdt is afraid of possible repercussions. To quote Mr. Ter Heerdt: 'I don't want a knife in my body.' I guess it would be too easy for me to call him a coward, since (a) I'm not facing his dilemma, and (b) I don't have a family to look after. But it is a damn shame no one else has stepped forward to do the honors.

15:37

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Religious un-division

Something struck me about the open letter by Mohammed Bouyeri that was pinned to Mr. Van Gogh's mutilated body with a knife. I only realized it when a reader (thanks, Phil) sent me a hyperlink to this article:

There is one certainty in the whole of existence; and that is that everything comes to an end.

A child born unto this world and fills this universe with its presence in the form of its first life's cries, shall ultimately leave this world with its death cry.

I am an agnostic, but I was raised an orthodox Christian. A very orthodox Christian (by Dutch standards, anyway. Yes, we did use cars and electricity). The one book of the Bible I still read regularly is Ecclesiastes. And what does this preacher say in chapter 4, verses 2 and 3? Right, this:

2 And those now dead, I declared more fortunate in death than are the living to be still alive.

3 And better off than both is the yet unborn, who has not seen the wicked work that is done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes concludes that, if life is indeed meaningless, one might as well enjoy it. From chapter 8, verse 15:

15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

Then again, most radicals don't seem to be that interested in 'joie de vivre'.

12:33

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