A public intellectual in hiding, Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks out to TheDC

Ali’s unique journey makes her one of America’s more poignant polemicists. Opponents to her message claim she is merely a woman spewing ideas that are a result of the traumas she suffered as a child and young adult. She says that argument is the refuge of opponents lacking intelligent retorts.

“So when these Muslim Brotherhood types say, ‘it’s only because she is traumatized,’ what they’re trying to do is distract our attention from their agenda and the negative consequences of Islam. Because if we start talking about what it really means to live under Shariah, then you see the contents of the political agenda they’re pushing,” she said. “So it’s better [for them] to change the subject and keep changing it and keep talking about associations with sinister right-wing organizations and youth trauma. They’re playing the white man’s game, presenting themselves as a minority,” a contention she says is outrageous given that there are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world and nowhere near that number of Westerners.

“If you count all Westerners together, they don’t make up 800 million – who is the minority here?,” she said.

Living an odd existence as a public figure in hiding, Ali identifies with “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day” cartoonist Molly Norris, who was recently forced to go underground after a fatwa was issued calling for her death. According to Ali, the U.S. government has an obligation to help Norris.

“It is the duty of the government of the United States to protect her from physical harm, which is a direct threat given by those people who are violating her civil rights to express herself and her thoughts,” Ali said. “If the government cannot protect the civil rights of the citizens, then it is not a democratic government and it’s unconstitutional. So, the government must do something about that.”

Ali added that the idea that American citizens would be forced to change their identity and go underground for fear that they may be killed for merely criticizing a religion is “outrageous” in the modern world in which we are supposed to be living.

“It is outrageous that Americans in the 21st century are going into witness protection programs on an issue of a criticism of a religion,” she said. “It’s crazy.”

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