I grew up in Somalia, in Saudi Arabia, in Ethiopia, and in Kenya. I came to Europe in 1992, when I was 22, and became a member of Parliament in Holland.

However, some things must be said, and there are times when silence becomes an accomplice to injustice.

I call myself a liberal - a classical liberal as in John Stuart Mill.

If we don't take effective measures now, the Netherlands could be torn between two extreme rights.

In a sense, my grandmother was living in the Iron Age. There was no system of writing among the nomads. Metal artifacts were rare and precious.... The first time she saw a white person my grandmother was in her thirties: she thought this person's skin had burned off.

I'd love to go and visit the Mosque in Mecca again, just for the sheer beauty of it, not for God - much the way a non-Catholic might go to Vatican City because of the beauty of the buildings and the artifacts.

The idea that if people are just friendly and demonstrate they want peace, that will be answered with good will - that is really naive.