Pim Fortuyn

Pim Fortuyn two days before his assassination .

Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, academic, author and businessman.

Fortuyn was openly homosexual and was a supporter of gay rights. He prompted controversy in the Netherlands with his views on Islamization, multiculturalism, and mass immigration in the Netherlands. When asked about his opposition to Muslim immigration, Fortuyn explained that, "I have no desire to go through the emancipation of women and homosexuals all over again." Fortuyn also maintained that he did not object to Muslim migrants because of their race or ethnicity, but for what he saw as lack of integration. He may possibly have been influenced by opinion surveys of Muslims regarding views on homosexuals and homosexuality, see Islamization and anti-Islamization: Opinion surveys of Muslims.

Fortuyn also supported certain libertarian and anti-European Union views. He was labelled a far-right populist by his opponents and in the media, but he fiercely rejected this label and also criticized certain anti-mass immigration critics such as Jean-Marie Le Pen when he was compared to them.

Initially associated with the Livable Netherlands party, his statements in a 2002 interview were considered so controversial that the party dismissed him as lijsttrekker (lead candidate) the next day. Fortuyn had said that he favored putting an end to Muslim immigration, if possible and wanted to abolish the "peculiar article" of the Dutch constitution forbidding "discrimination" (often assumed to be Article 1, regarding equality before the law; it has been argued, however, that he had confused this with Article 137 of the Penal Code, involving "hate speech", with Fortuyn being a supporter of freedom of speech).

Later in 2002, he created the Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF). It became the largest party in Fortuyn's hometown Rotterdam during the Dutch municipal elections held that year.

Fortuyn was assassinated by a leftist, who stated that he was "greatly influenced by politicians who compared Fortuyn with Austrian far-right leader Jorg Haider and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini."

The LPF went on to poll in second place during the 2002 election, but went into decline afterwards.

See also

• Islamization and anti-Islamization
• Theo van Gogh

External links

• The Legacy of Pim Fortuyn
• The Death of the Dutch?

References

Part of this article consists of modified text from Wikipedia, and the article is therefore licensed under GFDL.