Twan Huys Lecture
The rise and fall of Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the Netherlands (....and why she will be a star in the United States)
One of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2005, Ayaan Hirsi lived through a rise and fall in the Netherlands shedding light on contemporary issues in Dutch society around diversity and tolerance. In this lecture, Twan Huys, an anchor on the Dutch current affairs television show NOVA, will discuss Hirsi Ali’s story as he experienced it working on a documentary about this controversial figure. His film, De Gelukszoeker (The Pursuit of Happiness), follows Hirsi Ali’s downfall in the Netherlands and her rise in intellectual circles in New York and Washington. Somali-born Hirsi Ali arrived in the Netherlands as a refugee in 1992 and was elected to the Dutch Parliament in her early 20s. She faced death threats after collaborating on a film about domestic violence against Muslim women with director Theo van Gogh (who was himself assassinated) and now works for the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. Hirsi Ali recently published her memoirs in Infidel. Huys' lecture will discuss the impact of Hirsi Ali in the Netherlands and her influence in the United States.