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 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, although he did not consider himself a "Marxist".

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 has been called a far right populist, but he fiercely rejected this label and distanced himself from far right politicians who are active in Austria, France and Flanders (Dutch speaking part of Belgium). He could perhaps be described as a nationalist, however on cultural and not racial grounds.

Contents

1 Biography 2 Views on Islam and Immigration 3 Other views 4 Notes 5 External link

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 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 became 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 right-wing 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 a stop on Muslim immigration, if that would be 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 list, 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 carpark outside a radio studio in Hilversum where he had just given an interview. This was 9 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 the gun.

The murder shocked the Netherlands, as political assassination had not occurred 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 he 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 with his and other gays' way of life.

On 9 February 2002 he made further controversial statements in a Dutch newspaper, this time the Volkskrant [ 2 ]. He said 16 million inhabitants of the Netherlands was enough, and 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. He also said that he considered article 7 of the constitution, which asserts freedom of speech, more important then article 1, which forbids discrimination. However he distanced himself from Hans Janmaat of the Centrumpartij , who in the 1980s wanted to remove all foreigners from the country and was repeatedly convicted for discrimination and hate speech. Fortuyn said that everybody who was already in The Netherlands would be able to stay. He said that he rejected all violence and had nothing against immigrants as a group, but would not allow anymore Muslims to enter the country if it were legally possible.

When Volkskrant asked whether he hated Islam, he said,

"I don't hate Islam. I consider it a backwards 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.

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 policing, 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, however Fortuyn said no extra funds would be allocated until inefficiencies had been worked away.

He held socially 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 youngster 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 (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