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2007-01-25 Home Front: Culture Wars
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Hirsi Ali's follow-up film likely to be as controversial as the first
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Submission Part Two, the follow-up to the controversial short film made by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh, will be a feature at least 90 minutes long and a potential nightmare for lawyers.
Radio Netherlands Worldwide talked to former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali during a visit to Barcelona. Since her dramatic and rancorous departure from the Netherlands, Ms Hirsi Ali has been attached to a conservative think tank in Washington DC. She was in Spain to promote the appearance of Mi Vida, Mi Libertad, the Spanish translation of her autobiography Mijn Vrijheid(published in English as The Infidel ).
In 2004, while still a member of parliament, she wrote the script for an 11-minute film, Submission Part One, about the repression and abuse of Muslim women. Director Theo van Gogh paid dearly for his part in the film. He was assassinated by a Muslim extremist who was unable to get at Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
"Theo van Gogh was killed, so I know someone can get killed. The lesson we learned from Part One is to talk more about the dangers, be explicit, even sign contracts. It's crazy. Many of the people who are engaged in it think it's crazy that in making a film you have to take into consideration your security and security measures."
The craziness extends to detailed contracts establishing precisely who does what and who is responsible for what - just in case anything goes wrong. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not prepared to say anything about when the new film will be released or through which medium. That secrecy is a reflection of the tight security with which the project is surrounded.
"I can't give you a date, I can only tell you that we are working on it and it's a bigger project than Submission Part One. My part is very small in the sense that I am the one with the idea. All I can do is write down how I see things, but the marketing, the publicity, the presentation, there are experts who are going to do that."
While the Muslim woman was the central figure in Submission Part One, the sequel focuses on the Muslim man. There are four main characters, one of whom is a homosexual.
"I have focused on passages in the Qu'ran which express an attitude totally different to our western liberal views. Homosexuality is almost a non-issue in Europe and the Netherlands. At present there is only one group in the Netherlands who form a threat to homosexuals and that is young Islamic men who attack homosexual teachers and homosexuals on the streets. It shows anyone living in a democracy just how vulnerable the system is."
Ms Hirsi Ali made a relaxed impression during her visit to Barcelona. She seems more at ease having exchanged the snakepit that is Dutch party politics for the very proper American Enterprise Institute. The Somali-born Dutch nomad, as she proudly describes herself, says she does not particularly miss the cut and thrust of political debate in which she often played such a central role.
"I don't miss the excitement of politics. You have to realise that it's a political arena where you compete and you do that not with knives and guns, as we are doing in Somalia today, but with words and through the media. I love what I do now because I have the combination of work that is satisfactory, that is meaningful and that I have the feeling that I am in control. When I was a politician it was like the circumstances were in control of my life. Here with the American Enterprise I feel like I am in control."
Despite the problems and the controversy, she does not regard her time in the Netherlands as wasted or frustrating - far from it.
"When I was in the Netherlands as a member of parliament I found my work satisfactory in the sense that I reach the aims that I set for myself. I wanted to create awareness for the violence against Muslim women in particular and women in general in the Netherlands. I also wanted to create awareness for the fact that Islam as a doctrine is incompatible with rule of law and with liberal democracy. I succeeded and I'm very proud of that. And I'm very grateful to the Netherlands for allowing me to do that." 
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Posted by ryuge 2007-01-25 07:42||
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