Pim Fortuyn
Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, academic, author and businessman.
Life
Fortuyn, born in Velsen, Netherlands, 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:
- "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 and their attacks on women and the LGBTQ community. 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).
LPF
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. The LPF went on to poll in second place during the 2002 election, but went into decline afterwards.
Death
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."[1]
- On 6 May 2002, at age 54, Fortuyn was assassinated by gunshot in Hilversum, North Holland, by Volkert van der Graaf. The attack took place in a car park outside a radio studio where Fortuyn had just given an interview. This was nine days before the general election, in which he was running.
The murderer Volkert van der Graaf (born 9 July 1969 in Middelburg, in the province of Zeeland), who expressed remorse for the murder during the trial, was convicted to only 18 years after shooting Fortuyn in the head in Hilversum. On 7 July 2006, the national daily newspaper De Telegraaf published an article stating van der Graaf's connection with the murder of environmental official from Nunspeet Chris van de Werken on 22 December 1996. De Telegraaf printed extracts of a secret police report on the murder of Van der Werken on its website.In 2014, the Dutch authorities released van der Graaf, after having served two-thirds of his jail sentence. No information was released about van der Graaf's whereabouts. He had to wear an electronic ankle tag and report weekly to police for the first year.
