Pim Fortuyn was assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign.

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Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (pronounced: fore-TOWN, SAMPA fOr"t9yn) (February 19, 1948 - May 6, 2002), was a controversial politician in the Netherlands. He was assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf, a left-wing activist. An openly gay publicist, Fortuyn had formerly worked as a part-time sociology professor at the University of Groningen and the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In his early days in Groningen, he was a member of the Labour Party PvdA. He tried to become a member of the communist party CPN, but they did not accept him.

Fortuyn was a focus of controversy for his hostile views on Islam and his anti-immigration positions. He was opposed to Muslim immigrants such as Khalil el-Moumni, who he said refused to integrate into Dutch society and were forming a threat to the country's tolerant culture. He was called a far-right populist, but he fiercely rejected this label and distanced himself from far-right politicians who are active in Austria, Flanders, (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), and France. He could perhaps be described as a nationalist, but on cultural, rather than racial, grounds.

Biography

Fortuyn was born on February 19, 1948 in Velsen. He studied sociology in Amsterdam and later worked as a lecturer at the Nijenrode Institute and the University of Groningen. In 1988, he moved to Rotterdam, becoming director of a government organization administering student transport cards. From 1991 to 1995, he was a part-time professor at Erasmus University, holding the Albeda professorship in public service wage negotiation. When he left that position, he made a career of public speaking and writing books and press columns, gradually becoming involved in politics.

On 26 November, 2001, he was elected by a large majority as lijsttrekker (head of the list of candidates) for the newly formed Leefbaar Nederland party to participate in the Dutch parliamentary elections of May 2002.

On 9 February, 2002, he was interviewed by the Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper (see below). The statements he made were considered so controversial that he was dismissed as lijsttrekker the next day by his party. In the interview, among other things, Fortuyn said he favored an end to Muslim immigration, if that were possible. Because he did not want to give up his political career before it had even properly begun, on 11 February, 2002 Fortuyn founded his own party, Lijst Pim Fortuyn. Many supporters of Leefbaar Nederland transferred their support to the new party.

As lijsttrekker for the Leefbaar Rotterdam party, a local offshoot of his national party, he achieved a major victory in the Rotterdam district council elections in early March 2002. The new party obtained about 36% of the seats, making it the largest faction in the council. For the first time since the Second World War, the Socialist Labour Party found itself out of power.

On May 6, 2002, at age 54, he was assassinated by an animal-rights activist named Volkert van der Graaf. The attack took place in a parking garage outside a radio studio in Hilversum, where Fortuyn had just given an interview. This was nine days before the elections for the lower house of Parliament, for which he was running. The attacker was pursued by witnesses and was arrested by the police shortly afterwards, still in possession of a gun.

The murder shocked the Netherlands, as no political assassination had occurred there for centuries. Politicians of all political parties suspended their campaigning. After consultation with the Lijst Pim Fortuyn, it was decided not to postpone the elections. However, it was not possible under Netherlands law to modify the candidate lists, so Fortuyn became a posthumous candidate. Lijst Pim Fortuyn went on to record an unprecedented debut in the lower house of parliament, winning 26 seats (17% of the total 150 seats).

Fortuyn was buried on July 20, 2002, at Provesano di San Giorgio della Richinvelda (Provesano), in the province of Pordenone in Italy, where he had owned a house.

Views on Islam and Immigration

In August 2001, Fortuyn was quoted in the Rotterdams Dagblad (newspaper) as saying, among other things, "I am also in favour of a cold war with Islam. I see Islam as an extraordinary threat, as a hostile society." [ 1 ] This was based in his experience with Islamic intolerance of homosexuality.

On February 9, 2002, he made further controversial statements in a Dutch newspaper, this time the Volkskrant. [ 2 ] He said that the Netherlands, with a population of 16 million, had enough inhabitants, and therefore, the practice of allowing 40,000 asylum-seekers into the country each year had to be stopped. He claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue an exceptionally restrictive immigration policy. Furthermore, he considered Article 7 of the constitution, which asserts freedom of speech, of more importance than Article 1, which forbids discrimination. However, he distanced himself from Hans Janmaat of the Centrumpartij, who in the 1980's wanted to remove all foreigners from the country and was repeatedly convicted for discrimination and hate speech. Fortuyn proposed that people who already resided in the Netherlands be able to stay. He rejected all violence and was not against immigrants as a group, but he would not allow any more Muslims to enter the country if this were legally possible.

When asked by Volkskrant whether he hated Islam, he replied, "I don't hate Islam. I consider it a backward (see note) culture. I have travelled much in the world. And wherever Islam rules, it's terrible. All the hypocrisy. It's a bit like those old Reformed Protestants. The Reformed lie all the time. And why is that? Because they have norms and values that are so high that you can't humanly maintain them. You also see that in Muslim culture. Look at the Netherlands. In what country could a leader of such a large movement as mine be openly homosexual? It's fantastic that it's possible. That's something that we can be proud of. And I want to keep it that way." [ 3 ]

Fortuyn was author of the 1997 book Against the Islamicization of Our Culture.

'Note' The Dutch word he used to express "backward" bears the more negative connotations of the word "retarded".

Other views

He said he was neither right wing nor left wing, asked for more openness in politics, and expressed his distaste for subsidy socialism. He criticised the media as a Siamese twin of the government.

He wanted smaller-scale organization of public services such as health, education, and the police, making extensive use of the possibilities of information technology (e.g., a surgeon conducting an operation by remote control at a local hospital). Critics said his plans would require building hundreds or thousands of new institutions at enormous expense, but Fortuyn said no extra funds would be allocated until inefficiencies had been removed.

He held liberal views, favoring the drug policy of the Netherlands, same-sex marriage, euthanasia on request, and related positions.

He wanted to disband the army and air force, retaining only a navy, but also wanted to reinstate compulsory military service, giving youngsters the choice between military service and a new to form social service (in which they would help in hospitals, retirement homes, etc).

Notes

[1] Original quote in Dutch: "Ik ben ook voor een koude oorlog met de islam. De islam zie ik als een buitengewone bedreiging, als een ons vijandige samenleving."
[2] Volkskrant article (http://web.archive.org/web/20020212063049/http%3a//www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws/denhaag/1013147690985.html) (Dutch)
[3] Original quote in Dutch: "Ik haat de islam niet. Ik vind het een achterlijke cultuur. Ik heb veel gereisd in de wereld. En overal waar de islam de baas is, is het gewoon verschrikkelijk. Al die dubbelzinnigheid. Het heeft wel iets weg van die oude gereformeerden. Gereformeerden liegen altijd. En hoe komt dat? Omdat ze een normen- en waardenstelsel hebben dat zo hoog ligt dat je dat menselijkerwijs niet kunt handhaven. Dat zie je in die moslimcultuur ook. Kijk dan naar Nederland. In welk land zou een lijsttrekker van een zo grote beweging als de mijne, openlijk homoseksueel kunnen zijn? Wat fantastisch dat dat kan. Daar mag je trots op zijn. En dat wil ik graag effe zo houden."
[4] A Milieu Defensie article with quotes of Pim Fortuyn dismissing environmentalism (Dutch) -- http://www.milieudefensie.nl/blad/2001/novdec2001/fortuyn.htm

External link

• Crosswalk.com - Death in Rotterdam Tolerance Takes Its Toll (http://www.crosswalk.com/news/1140154.html)

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