AHA-Gate: LvdL eet vaker Deense kaas

[Dr. Marc-Alexander Fluks]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Bron:   Expatica Netherlands
Datum:  16 oktober 2007
Auteur: Lousewies van der Laan
URL:    http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=44988


What is the price of liberty?
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She's back! Ayaan Hirsi Ali came back to Holland, and immediately started
yet another political and media frenzy. The current drama centres on
Ayaan's safety. Former MP and MEP for the liberal party D66, Lousewies van
der Laan, has her say.


Since criticising Islam for condoning violence against women, she has been
on the run from Islamist extremists trying to kill her. The warning note
was attached to the body of murdered cineaste Theo van Gogh with a knife.

Ayaan has had an eventful year. In the summer of 2006 she had to escape to
the US after a court ruled in favour of her neighbours who were afraid to
share a building with a terrorist target.

This came at around the same time that the populist immigration minister
Rita Verdonk first took her Dutch passport away for lying about her name,
and giving it back a month later after it turned out that Somali family
law allowed her to use her grandfathers name after all. The matter led to
the fall of the Dutch government in June 2006, when junior coalition
partner D66 lost their trust in the minister, while the other two parties
(CDA and VVD) insisted on keeping her in the job. Verdonk has, in the
meantime, been kicked out of the parliamentary group of the VVD, because
of, yes, loss of trust.

The current drama centres on Ayaan's safety.

When she fled to the US, the Dutch government pledged to protect her
there. The government now claims this was just for a year. The protection
expires this month.
Ayaan apparently agrees that the Dutch financed protection cannot go
indefinitely. She has now asked for more time to raise the necessary
private funds. Salman Rushdie, who has joined the debate, indicated that
the former VVD party leader, Gerrit Zalm, promised her protection forever
when he 'stole' her (and the many votes she represented) away from the
rival PvdA party.

Interestingly, her former party friends in the VVD have joined the right
wing calls of Geert Wilders (who also has protection because of his
10-point plan to "de-Islamify" Holland) in calling for an end to her
protection. After all, why should the Dutch taxpayer foot the bill?

If you find this bookkeeping mentality hard to accept in the face of the
threats she faces, you’re in good company. Salman Rushdie has warned the
Dutch prime Minister that this could turn into an international scandal
for The Netherlands. TIME Magazine has nominated Ayaan as one of the
world’s most influential people. She has become an international icon in
the fight to liberate women, whether you like her or not.

Yes, she is very outspoken and critical of her former religion. I am sure
that some Muslims found her film 'Submission' extremely upsetting. But
many Christians found 'Life of Brian' or the 'Last Temptation of Christ'
deeply insulting. They did not however murder the producer or try to
assassinate the writer. Violence, or the threat of it, undermines
everything we hold dear. When we allow terrorists to dictate what a person
can say, they win.

Societies that cherish freedom need to realize that freedom comes at a
price. Whether the annual cost of protecting Ayaan is EUR 100,000 or 3
million, should not be the issue. Whether we protect her for one more
month or the rest of her life should not be the issue.

The Netherlands should have decided to pay what is needed to protect one
of her most prominent citizens and in doing could have reclaimed its
reputation as a haven for free thinking and free speech. Regrettably, last
week only two parties felt that way: the Greens and D66, the social-
liberals.

The Government washes its hands of the matter, and Ayaan is left to fend
for herself. Now the Danes are coming to the rescue and have offered Ayaan
protection. The cartoon crisis has taught them that sometimes you have to
stand up for liberty, even if it costs a few euro. I was already buying
more Danish cheese in order offset the post-cartoon boycott. We will now
be doubling our consumption. Long live the Danes!

16 October 2007

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Lousewies van der Laan is a former MP and MEP for the liberal party D66.
She writes a fortnightly column for the expat community in Holland to help
you enter into current Dutch debates. If you have comments or would like
to propose topics to understand Dutch politics better: please write to
lousewies at gmail.com.

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(c) 2007 Expatica Communications BV.

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