AP interview with Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST 1. Wide pan from Empire State Building and other New York buildings to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch author, politician and activist 2. Close of Ali 3. Wide of Ali walking down a New York City street 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch author, politician and activist: "I think that all value systems, whether they're religious or non-religious, that do not respect the rights of individuals, do not respect women, do not respect gays, that those systems must be subordinate to the rule of law, to liberalism and to The Enlightenment. So in that case, I've made my choice and if you look at my book, I try to describe how that process went and why I finally thought that Western culture is not perfect, not at all, but that it is, if I compare it to all the other recipes of how humans should live together, it's the best." 5. STILL from her book "Infidel". Ali, centre, and the man to whom she was betrothed, on the right, at an airport 6. STILL from her book "Infidel". The still of Ali was taken in 1993 after she fled to The Netherlands 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch author, politician and activist: "Immigration has created large problems, especially in the bigger cities in Europe. But there are problems of integration and assimilation, as you call them in the US. And that now, there is the link between a number of immigrants wanting to come in and the integration problems not being resolved so you see some people just out of pragmatism saying, 'Maybe we should let in less people and give the people who are here a chance to assimilate.'" 8. Cutaway of Ali 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch author, politician and activist: "And in that assimilation process what has become a big issue since after 9/11, 2001, is: It's no longer about social and economic issues. It has also to be about values. Do you chose plainly for the values of the country in which you live? Are you going to take them, or are you going say, to reject that and say, 'I don't want anything to do with democracy, I don't respect the liberties of others,' subjugate women and still be a European? Still be Dutch? Still be French? Still be British? That is the issue dividing people now, it's not an issue or race or of racism." 10. Various excerpts from the film "Submission, Part 1" UPSOUND (English) actress: "Oh, Allah..." 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch author, politician and activist: "I was shocked to find that what Bin Ladin was saying, he was inviting us to do, was very, very consistent with our religion, with what is in the Koran, with the traditions of the prophet Mohammed, with the Islam that I was brought up with. That threw me into my own sort of mental dissonance in which I thought, I don't approve of what the, I don't approve of what (Osama) Bin Ladin has done but I want to remain a good Muslim. And I just couldn't reconcile the two, so I came to the conclusion that, as individuals brought up within Islam, we had to change the faith from within, rescue it from Bin Ladin." 12. Various excerpts from the film "Submission, Part 1" UPSOUND (Arabic) Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch author, politician and activist: "Allah is great..." 13. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Somali-Dutch author, politician and activist: "I am in danger everywhere I am as long as there are individuals who think they will go to heaven by killing me because I have become an 'apostase.' I used to be a Muslim, I left the faith, and there is a Koranic edict and the Prophet also gave the example, anyone who leaves the religion should be killed. So as long as there are people around who think they will go to heaven, I am in danger." 14. Close up of book "Infidel" STORYLINE You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/070179f634e2de3dca379d11ef889ecc Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork