by Annabel Denham, Telegraph
The Somalia-born writer issues a stark warning to Britain and the West about what happens when societies fracture and states fail
Ayaan Hirsi Ali walks into Maslow’s, the sleek private members’ club tucked behind Kensington Gardens, shadowed by the bodyguard who never leaves her side. In London to speak at this year’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference, she is impeccably dressed in a white bouclé blazer, her hair swept neatly from her face. There is nothing performative or theatrical about her, despite the extraordinary life she has led. She speaks quietly, every answer deliberately measured. Hirsi Ali knows better than anyone that words have consequences. It’s why she refuses to be silenced.
More than 20 years have passed since Theo van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker with whom she made the short film Submission about the subjugation of many Muslim women, was murdered on an Amsterdam street. After shooting and repeatedly stabbing him, the Islamist Mohammed Bouyeri pinned a note to his body vowing that Hirsi Ali would be next. During his trial, Bouyeri turned to van Gogh’s mother, Anneke, and declared: “I don’t have any sympathy for you… I think you’re a non-believer.”
The day after the murder, Dutch security officials gave Hirsi Ali three hours to pack before escorting her to a military airbase. She was flown to the United States under armed protection, landing in Maine. Even now, she remains on al-Qaeda’s hit list.
What troubles her today, however, is not the personal threat. It’s the slow unravelling of the civilisation that offered her refuge in the early 1990s.