Pim Fortuyn

From Freepedia

Dr. Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (surname pronounced somewhat like for-TOYN, IPA: [pɪm fɔʁtœʏn]), (February 19, 1948 – May 6, 2002), was a controversial politician in the Netherlands who formed his own party List Pim Fortuyn (LPF). He was assassinated during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf, a white collar left-wing environmentalist. Fortuyn could perhaps best be described as a liberal right-wing populist, though some of his ideas were rather leftist; he was in favour of free public transportation and reducing the size of the Dutch military.

Fortuyn was a focus of controversy for his views on Islam and his anti-immigration positions. He called Islam a backward culture and once said "if it were legally possible, I'd say no more Muslim should ever enter this country". He was labelled a far-right populist by his opponents and the media, but he fiercely rejected this label and distanced himself clearly from far-right politicians like in Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Blok, Jörg Haider of Austria or Jean-Marie Le Pen of France. Fortuyn himself compared his own politics to center-right politicians such as Silvio Berlusconi of Italy. Fortuyn could be considered a nationalist, but on cultural, rather than racial grounds.

He had a flamboyant personality and was known for his open homosexuality.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Views on Islam and Immigration 3 Other views 4 Reasons for success 5 Legacy 6 Notes

Biography

Fortuyn was born on February 19, 1948 in Velsen, in a Catholic family. He studied sociology in Amsterdam and later worked as a lecturer at the Nijenrode Institute and as an associate professor at the University of Groningen. In 1988, he moved to Rotterdam, becoming director of a government organisation administering student transport cards. From 1991 to 1995, he was an extraordinary full professor at the 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. In the interview, among other things, Fortuyn said he favoured an end to Muslim immigration, if that were possible. Having been let down by his party, on 11 February, 2002 Fortuyn founded his own party, LPF (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 social democratic Labour Party found itself out of power.

On May 6, 2002, at age 54, he was assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf. The attack took place at a parking-place 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.

Volkert van der Graaf confessed in court months later to Holland's first political assassination since WW II, claiming that he shot Pim Fortuyn "to defend Dutch Muslims from persecution." Facing a raucous court on the first day of his murder trial, he said his goal was to stop Fortuyn exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak parts of society to score points" to try to gain political power. Van der Graaf said: "I confess to the shooting. He was an ever growing danger who would affect many people in society. I saw it as a danger. I hoped that I could solve it myself."

The murder shocked the Netherlands, as no political assassination had occurred since the war, and as it made the cultural clashes within the Netherlands apparent. Politicians of all political parties suspended their campaigning. After consultation with LPF, 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. LPF went on to record an unprecedented debut in the lower house of parliament, winning 26 seats (17% of the total 150 seats). However, after the elections in the following year this figure dropped to 8 seats, and 2005 polls show a further drop to just one seat, if elections were to be held.

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, 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 religion." [ 1 ]

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 as much as 40,000 asylum-seekers into the country each year had to be stopped (however, the actual number was not that high and already falling at that time). He claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue an exceptionally restrictive immigration policy (but also granting citizenship to a large group of illegal immigrants). 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 Centrum Democraten, who in the 1980s wanted to remove all foreigners from the country and was repeatedly convicted for discrimination and hate speech.

Fortuyn proposed that all people who already resided in the Netherlands would be able to stay, but he emphasised the need of the immigrants to adopt the Dutch society's consensus on human rights as their own. He said "If it were legally possible, I'd say no more Muslim will get in here", but justified this claiming that the influx of Muslims would threaten freedoms in the liberal Dutch society. He thought muslim culture had never undergone a process of modernisation and therefore still lacked acceptance of democracy and women's, gays' and lesbians' as well as minority rights in general, and feared it would dismiss the Dutch legal system in favour of the shari'a law, which calls for the stoning of adulterers or removing the hands of thieves.

When asked by the Dutch newspaper Volkskrant whether he hated Islam, he replied: "I don't hate Islam. I consider it a backward culture. I have travelled much in the world. And wherever Islam rules, it's just 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 that Muslim culture. Then look at the Netherlands. In what country could an electoral leader of such a large movement as mine be openly homosexual? How wonderful that that's possible. That's something that one can be proud of. And I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much." [ 3 ]

Fortuyn was author of the 1997 book Against the Islamicisation 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 what he called "subsidy socialism". He furthermore criticised the media as a Siamese twin of the government.

He wanted smaller-scale organisation of public services such as health, education, and the police, making extensive use of the possibilities of information technology (for example, a surgeon conducting an operation remotely 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 also held liberal views, favouring the drug policy of the Netherlands, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, and related positions.

He wanted to unite the army and air force to save money, retaining only a navy, but also favoured re-instating compulsory military service, giving youngsters the choice between military service and a new form of social services (in which they would help in hospitals or retirement homes, for example). It is often said that he wanted to disband the army and the air force; however, Fortuyn denied this on 24 March 2002 in a business TV programme.

Reasons for success

Many opinion leaders have tried to explain the rise of Fortuyn and his appeal with a large segment of the voters. A widely held view focuses on a perceived "gap" between politicians and common citizens: according to this account the feelings and complaints of the population, in particular concerning immigration and integration, were ignored for reasons of political correctness or simply because politicians were out of touch with their voters. Others pointed at Fortuyn's charisma and his oratory skills, which were in stark contrast with those of some of his opponents. Finally, some feel the political culture at the time was to blame - the traditional emphasis on consensus within Dutch politics (Polder Model) was further heightened during the coalition governments of former enemies PvdA and VVD (the mainstream left- and right-wing parties respectively). These governments were also known for what are sometimes called "back room deals": intensive collaboration between the government and the coalition parties in the parliament. All this had led to increasingly similar political platforms for the coalition parties, a development that Fortuyn used to his advantage, some would say.

Of course, the explanations mentioned above are not mutually exclusive, and many believe several of these factors, and others, have played a role.

Legacy

Fortuyn is widely credited with dramatically changing the Dutch political landscape and political culture. The 2002 elections, only weeks after Fortuyn's death, were marked by large losses for the VVD and especially the social democratic PvdA (which was even halved in size); both parties replaced their unpopular leaders shortly after. The election winners were Fortuyn's party LPF, and the christian democratic CDA, which, according to pundits, was seen as a "safe haven" by those who planned to vote for Fortuyn but were wary of voting for a party without his leadership. On the other hand, others speculate that Fortuyn's perceived martyrdom may have played into the hands of LPF.

All major parties have adopted tougher immigration and integration viewpoints after the rise of Fortuyn. The immigration policy of the Netherlands is now one of the strictest in the EU. In addition, debates on these topics, in politics, but also in everyday life, have become more prevalent and are no longer taboo as many claim they were in the years before Fortuyn. However, while some applaud these developments as a release from political correctness, others have objected to the harsher political and social climate, especially towards immigrants and Muslims. [1] Contemporary Dutch politics is more polarized than it has been in recent years, especially on the issues that Fortuyn was best known for. There is a deep division on whether to consider the multicultural society a failure, and to what extent assimilation is needed. Furthermore, the decision by the government to expel a large number of asylum seekers whose application had failed [2] was met with praise but also with fierce criticism (incidentally, Fortuyn advocated an amnesty for asylum seekers already residing in the Netherlands).

Many politicians stress the importance of learning from the reasons behind the failure of the traditional parties. Listening to voters, transparent government, more dualism and speaking plainly are praised as some of the lessons learned from Fortuyn's success, though some complain that there have been no substantial changes, or that common courtesy in politics has been replaced by populism.

The coalition cabinet of CDA, LPF and VVD fell within three months, largely due to infighting within the LPF. The LPF was diminshed to only 8 seats in parliament (out of 150) and was not included in the new government; however, political commentators speculate that there is still a sizable number of discontented voters who may vote for a non-traditional party, if a viable alternative is at hand. In recent times the Group Wilders, which has a strong stance on immigration and integration, has performed well in polls.
Fortuyn received many votes due to his stance on immigration and integration, which is traditionally seen as right-wing. However, this should perhaps not be seen as an indication of the Dutch voters leaning more towards the right in general, given, for example, the impopularity of the present right-wing cabinet, and the strong showing of left-wing parties in recent polls (note however that if the present cabinet completes its term, new elections are not expected until 2007). Many of those who had voted for Fortuyn's LPF in 2002 seem to have returned back to the left-wing PvdA, or indicate that they will refrain from voting at all. Meanwhile, the LPF is reduced to just 1 seat in a July 22, 2005 poll by NOVA, a Dutch current affairs tv programme.

In 2004, in a tv show, Fortuyn was chosen as "Greatest Dutchman of all times", followed closely by William of Orange, the leader of the independence war that established the precursor to the present-day Netherlands. However, the election was widely regarded as not being representative because it was held through the internet and by phoning in, so easily hijacked and probably heavily influenced by Fortuyn’s sympathizers, who had his violent death still fresh in their minds. It later turned out that William of Orange had in fact received more votes, although they could not be counted until after the official closing time of the poll (and the proclamation of the winner), due to technical problems. The result has therefore not been corrected.

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". ("I also favor a cold war against Islam. I see Islam as being an exceptional threat, as a society hostile to us".)
[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
[5] Greatest Dutchman (Dutch)