The Leading Speakers Bureau

Award-Winning Humanitarian & Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is courageous freedom fighter, one of the most influential and outspoken political figures of our time. A political crisis surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from the parliament, and led indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet. She was named one of TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” of 2005, one of the Glamour Heroes of 2005 and Reader’s Digest’s European of the Year for 2005. In 2004 Ayaan gained international attention following the murder of Theo van Gogh who had directed her short film Submission.

In government she found her voice as an advocate for an “enlightened Islam”

[expand title=”In detail”] The daughter of a political opponent of the Somali dictatorship, Ayaan grew up in exile, moving from Saudi Arabia to Ethiopia then Kenya. After earning her M.A. in political science, she worked as a researcher for the Wiardi Beckman Foundation in Amsterdam. She served as an elected member of the Dutch parliament from 2003 to 2006. While in parliament, she focused on furthering the integration of non-Western immigrants into Dutch society, and on defending the rights of Muslim women. She campaigned to raise awareness of violence against women, including honour killings and female genital mutilation, practices that had followed the immigrants into Holland.[/expand]

[expand title=”What she offers you”]A fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has previously spoken to quite diverse audiences: in addition to many college venues where she has spoken, she has also been very well received at hedge funds, leadership conferences, Jewish community events, state department events, law enforcement / judiciary conferences. With her deft and thoughtful handling of a wide range of questions she provides moments of electric dialogue and debate.[/expand]

[expand title=”How she presents”]Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a great speaker and a gracious person. Her talks are well-crafted and thoughtfully executed. Determined to voice the truth, she speaks about the importance of freedom of speech and the defense of the principles of the Enlightenment, the need to reform Islam, the rights of Muslim women.[/expand]
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