Hirsi Ali, the Dutch, and Islamists

Deborah Scroggins reports :

In the United States, where few people have had the chance to read or see her critiques of Islam, the 35-year-old [Dutch politician] Hirsi Ali has been almost exclusively portrayed as a champion of free speech and women's rights. In the Netherlands, however, she remains the subject of intense controversy. Well before van Gogh's murder, she had become a major hate figure among Dutch Muslims, who accuse her of stirring up Islamophobia on behalf of a cabal of right-wing politicians and columnists. Since the murder, a surprising number of native-born Dutch intellectuals have come around to the Muslim point of view....

It sounds a trifle like the nuanced, blame-the-victim analysis. Criticizing thugs provokes them, so the real problem is the critics' unwillingness to shut up.

...In what appears to be a Europe-wide pattern, some feminists are aligning themselves with the anti-immigrant right against their former multiculturalist allies on the left. Joining them in this exodus to the right are gay activists, who blame Muslim immigrants for the rising number of attacks on gay couples.

That could do it. If "intellectuals" blame gay activists for refusing to accept that they cause Islamists to attack them by being publicly gay, gays may reasonably decide that "intellectuals" are on the other side in a murderously violent culture war.

Dutch Muslim to Dutch critics of Islamic fundamentalism in Holland:

"We are telling them, 'We have rights, too. You have to change your idea about freedom or face the consequences.'"

I can see why Pym Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh were concerned before they were murdered on the street.

This is a fairly long column, but gives a good overview.

Thanks to Instapundit for the lead.