Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing popu ...

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Part ...

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

Islam in the Netherlands Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands, after Christianity, and is practised by 5% of the population according to 2018 estimates. The majority of Muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination. Many reside in th ...

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

populist Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

Filip Dewinter Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter (born 11 September 1962) is a Belgian politician. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party. Together with Hugo Coveliers of the VLO ...

Jörg Haider Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of ...

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

Edmund Stoiber Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber (born 28 September 1941) is a German politician who served as the 16th Minister President of the States of Germany, state of Bavaria between 1993 and 2007 and chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, Christian So ...

Joop den Uyl Johannes Marten den Uijl, better known as Joop den Uyl (; 9 August 1919 – 24 December 1987) was a Dutch politician and economist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 to 1977. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA). ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

Wim Kok Willem "Wim" Kok (; 29 September 1938 – 20 October 2018) was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002.LPF's ideology as

pragmatic Pragmatism is a philosophical movement. Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to: *Pragmaticism, Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy *Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics *''Pragmatics'', an academic journal in ...

and not populistic. In March 2002, his newly created LPF became the largest party in Fortuyn's hometown

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

during the Dutch municipal elections held that year. Fortuyn was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by

Volkert van der Graaf Volkert van der Graaf (born 9 July 1969) is a Dutch convicted murderer who assassinated politician Pim Fortuyn, the leader of the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, on 6 May 2002. Van der Graaf shot Fortuyn outside a radio studio in Hilversum shortly ...

, a left-wing environmentalist and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

activist. In court at his trial, van der Graaf said he murdered Fortuyn to stop him from exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power. The LPF went on to poll in second place during the election but went into decline soon after.

Early life and education

Fortuyn was born on 19 February 1948 in

Driehuis Driehuis is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Velsen, and lies about 8 km north of Haarlem. History It was first mentioned in 1680 as Drie Huysen, and means "three houses". Driehuizen dev ...

within the Dutch municipality of

Velsen Velsen () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal. On the north side of the North Sea Canal there is a major steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known a ...

, as the third child to a middle class Catholic family. His father worked as a salesman and his mother was a housewife. He attended Mendelcollege secondary school in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

where he was described as an academically gifted pupil. As a youth, Fortuyn initially wanted to train as a priest, but in 1967 he began to study sociology at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

and transferred after a few months to the

Vrije Universiteit The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

in Amsterdam. In 1971 he ended his study with the

Academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions commonly offer degrees at various levels, usually including unde ...

Doctorandus Doctorandus (drs., ; ) is a Dutch academic title according to the pre-Bachelor–Master system. The female form is doctoranda (dra., though this abbreviation is no longer used). The title is acquired by passing the ''doctoraalexamen'', the exam wh ...

. In 1981 he received a doctorate in sociology at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

as a Doctor of Philosophy.

Career

Professional career

Fortuyn worked as a lecturer at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit and as an associate professor at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

, where he taught

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

sociology. He was also an employee of the Groningen University Newspaper for which he wrote columns. He was a Marxist at the time and sympathized with the

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Part ...

(CPN), although he never became a full member. Later, he joined the Labour Party. In 1989 Fortuyn became director of a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

organisation administering student transport cards and worked as an advisor to the

Social and Economic Council The Social and Economic Council (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Sociaal-Economische Raad'', SER) is a major economic advisory council to the cabinet of the Netherlands. Formally it heads a Publiekrechtelijke Bedrijfsorganisatie, system of sector-based ...

(SER). In 1990 he moved to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. From 1991 to 1995, he was an extraordinary professor at the

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

, appointed to the Albeda-chair in "employment conditions in public service" and ran an education consultancy business. When his contract ended, he made a career of public speaking, writing books and press columns, and worked as a weekly columnist for ''

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', th ...

.'' He gradually involved himself in politics through regularly appearing on televised debate shows and became a familiar public figure for his charismatic and flamboyant speaking style. Fortuyn was openly gay, and said in a 2002 interview that he was Catholic.

Political career

Fortuyn began his political career on the left and was initially a Marxist due to an aversion to the Dutch political establishment which he described as dominated by

pillarization Pillarisation (from the nl, verzuiling) is the politico-denominational segregation of a society into groups by religion and associated political beliefs. These societies were (and in some areas, still are) vertically divided into two or more gr ...

and a "

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

mentality." He was sympathetic to the Dutch Communist Party but chose not to become a member due to personal disagreements with the party leadership and self-identified as a Marxist without becoming active in any communist organisations. In the 1970s he joined the Labour Party and became a

social democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

. In 1986, his views shifted towards

neoliberalism Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

in the hope that the

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

would lead to further individual emancipation, ending a perceived oppression by state

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

. In 1991, he proposed firing half of all civil servants and promoted

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

and decentralisation. In 1992, Fortuyn wrote ''Aan het volk van Nederland'' ("To the people of the Netherlands"), in which he declared himself to be the spiritual successor of the charismatic but controversial 18th-century Dutch

patriot A patriot is a person with the quality of patriotism. Patriot may also refer to: Political and military groups United States * Patriot (American Revolution), those who supported the cause of independence in the American Revolution * Patriot m ...

politician

Joan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol Joan Derk, Baron van der Capellen tot den Pol (; 2 November 1741, Tiel – 6 June 1784, Zwolle) was a Dutch nobleman who played a prominent role in the revolutionary events that preceded the formation of the Batavian Republic. As a member of the ...

. The book urges the already culturally emancipated citizen to use the free market to also liberate himself economically, from the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...

. In 1989, Fortuyn left the Labour Party and during the 1990s became a member of the centre-right

VVD The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberalRudy Andeweg, Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingsto ...

and was briefly a political consultant to the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

in the early 2000s. Though on economic matters Fortuyn would largely remain a neoliberal, culturally he soon became strongly influenced by the

neoconservative Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and coun ...

political philosopher and chief editor of the weekly ''Elsevier'' Hendrik Jan Schoo who made him a columnist in 1993. Schoo deplored that a progressive

new class New class is used as a polemic term by critics of countries that followed the Soviet-type Communism to describe the privileged ruling class of bureaucrats and Communist party functionaries which arose in these states. Generally, the group known ...

would have promoted multiculturalism, founding an anti-racist

civil religion Civil religion, also referred to as a civic religion, is the implicit religious values of a nation, as expressed through public rituals, symbols (such as the national flag), and ceremonies on sacred days and at sacred places (such as monuments, bat ...

on article 1 of the Dutch constitution, forbidding discrimination. Whereas in the early 1990s Fortuyn had held liberal views on immigration, this changed under the influence of Schoo. Dutch neocons understood that in the evermore secularising Netherlands a change on the lines of the

Reagan Revolution Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...

had become highly improbable. Women's rights, gay rights, abortion and euthanasia had been generally accepted. In his 1995 book ''De verweesde samenleving'' ("The orphaned society"), Fortuyn claimed that the progressive movement of the 1960s had eroded traditional norms and values. Both the roles of the "symbolic father" and the "caring mother" had been lost, leaving an orphaned population without guidance, to live out a meaningless decadent existence. However, Fortuyn did not propose a return to old socially conservative or Dutch Calvinist and iconoclastic values and argued that the media, schools and artists should provide a moral leadership, explicitly promoting and defending the new values of modern Western society, constantly recreating the Dutch identity. Fortuyn consistently retained a liberal stance on matters such as LGBT rights throughout his political career. Adopting the philosophical analysis by

Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as a ...

, it was assumed that such an identity could only be defined in

antithesis Antithesis (Greek for "setting opposite", from "against" and "placing") is used in writing or speech either as a proposition that contrasts with or reverses some previously mentioned proposition, or when two opposites are introduced together f ...

to some actually existing concrete enemy. Inspired by Samuel Huntington's '' The Clash of Civilizations'', Dutch ethnicity was to be re-invented by identifying that enemy as Islam. In his 1997 book ''Tegen de islamisering van onze cultuur'' ("Against the islamisation of our culture"), Fortuyn proposed that after the

fall of communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...

a new adversary would be found in Muslim culture. Fortuyn explained the global fundamentalist wave of the 1990s as a backlash against the insecurities caused by

globalisation Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

. The Dutch should counter

Islamic fundamentalism Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return t ...

by promoting and defending their own ''fundament'', Dutch culture, especially

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

and the Enlightenment values. These should not yet be imposed on the Dutch population as a whole, with the exception of immigrants. Whereas American neoconservatives promoted hard power policies in relation to the Muslim world, Dutch neocons favoured a

soft power In politics (and particularly in international politics), soft power is the ability to co-opt rather than coerce (contrast hard power). In other words, soft power involves shaping the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. A defin ...

approach. Shortly before the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, Fortuyn called for a

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

against Islam, meaning a non-military defensive enmity. The attacks and the

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

made Islam a main issue in Dutch politics for the first time. Fortuyn announced his intention to run for parliament in a television interview in 2001, although he did not specify which party he would seek to stand as a candidate with. Although he was already in contact with the newly formed

Livable Netherlands Livable Netherlands ( nl, Leefbaar Nederland, LN) was a Dutch political party. Pim Fortuyn began his political career in the party. History Historically there have always been parties in States Provincial (provincial legislatures) and municipa ...

(LN) party, he also considered running for the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

which he had worked as a consultant for, or even creating his own

list A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...

. Livable Netherlands founder

Jan Nagel Johan Georg "Jan" Nagel (born 20 June 1939) is a Dutch politician who was a member of the Labour Party, and later formed his own parties. He is currently in the Pensioners' Party 50PLUS. Nagel started his career in his twenties on VARA-Radi ...

subsequently invited him to run as party leader and Fortuyn was elected "

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

" (

lead candidate In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

) by a large majority of party members at the LN conference on 26 November 2001, prior to the Dutch general election of 2002. In his leadership bid and general election campaign, Fortuyn attacked the mainstream parties on multiculturalism, immigration and law & order. He also called for less government interference and for a reform of the Dutch public health and education systems. He concluded his acceptance speech by saying the words in English that would become his slogan; "At your service!" Support for LN rose dramatically during Fortuyn's brief leadership, climbing from 2% in opinion polls to about 17%. On 9 February 2002, Fortuyn gave an interview to ''

Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized ...

'', a Dutch newspaper (see below) regarding his beliefs on immigration and Islam. His statements were considered so controversial that LN dismissed him as ''lijsttrekker'' the next day. Against the advice of his campaign team, Fortuyn said in the interview that he favoured closing borders to Muslim immigrants and if possible he would abolish the "peculiar article" of the Dutch constitution forbidding discrimination (at the time it was generally assumed that he referred to Article 1, the

equality before the law Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law. The principle requires a systematic ru ...

; it has been argued, however, that Fortuyn and the interviewer had confused this with Article 137 of the Penal Code, incitement to hatred).

Founding the LPF

Having been rejected by Livable Netherlands, Fortuyn founded his own party

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing popu ...

(LPF) on 11 February 2002, taking many former LN members and supporters with him. Heading the list of the Livable Rotterdam party, considered to be the local counterpart of the LPF, he achieved a major victory in the

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

municipal council elections in early March 2002. The new party won about 36% of the seats, making it the largest party in the council. For the first time since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Labour Party was out of power in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. Fortuyn's victory made him the subject of hundreds of interviews during the next three months, and he made many

statements Statement or statements may refer to: Common uses *Statement (computer science), the smallest standalone element of an imperative programming language *Statement (logic), declarative sentence that is either true or false *Statement, a declarative ...

about his

political ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

. In March he released his book ''The Mess of Eight Purple Years'' (''

De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars ''De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars'' (, English: ') is a political non-fiction book released by the Dutch political commentator and aspiring lawmaker Pim Fortuyn in 2002, two months prior to his assassination. In the book, Fortuyn sharply critici ...

''), which criticised the current political system in the Netherlands and was used as his

political agenda In politics, a political agenda is a list of subjects or problems (issues) to which government officials as well as individuals outside the government are paying serious attention to at any given time. The political agenda is most often shaped by ...

for the upcoming

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. Purple is the colour to indicate a coalition government consisting of left parties (red) and conservative-liberal parties (blue). The Netherlands had been governed by such a coalition for eight years at that time. On 14 March 2002, Fortuyn was

pied A piebald or pied animal is one that has a pattern of unpigmented spots (white) on a pigmented background of hair, feathers or scales. Thus a piebald black and white dog is a black dog with white spots. The animal's skin under the white backgro ...

by a left-wing activist from the

Biotic Baking Brigade The Biotic Baking Brigade is a loosely connected group of activists famous for throwing pies in the faces of such figures as Bill Gates, San Francisco mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom, anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps, economist Milton Friedman ...

in The Hague. As a result, Fortuyn began to express a fear of being injured or assassinated and accused members of the Dutch political establishment of encouraging violence against him.

Assassination

On 6 May 2002, at age 54, Fortuyn was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

by gunshot in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

,

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

, by

Volkert van der Graaf Volkert van der Graaf (born 9 July 1969) is a Dutch convicted murderer who assassinated politician Pim Fortuyn, the leader of the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, on 6 May 2002. Van der Graaf shot Fortuyn outside a radio studio in Hilversum shortly ...

. 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 A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, in which he was running. The attacker was pursued by Hans Smolders, Fortuyn's driver, and was arrested by the police shortly afterward, still in possession of a handgun. Months later, Van der Graaf confessed in court to the first notable political assassination in the Netherlands since 1672 (excluding

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

). On 15 April 2003, he was convicted of assassinating Fortuyn and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He was released on parole in May 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, the standard procedure under the Dutch penal system. The assassination shocked many residents of the Netherlands and highlighted the cultural clashes within the country. Various conspiracy theories arose after Pim Fortuyn's murder and deeply affected Dutch politics and society. Politicians from all parties suspended campaigning. After consultation with LPF, the government decided not to postpone the elections. As Dutch law did not permit modifying the ballots, Fortuyn became a posthumous candidate. The LPF made an unprecedented debut in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

by winning 26 seats (17% of the 150 seats in the house). The LPF joined a cabinet with the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

and the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

, but conflicts in the rudderless LPF quickly collapsed the cabinet, forcing new elections. By the following year, the party had lost support, winning only eight seats in the 2003 elections. It won no seats in the 2006 elections, by which time the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

, led by

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

, had emerged as a successor. During the last months of his life, Fortuyn had become closer to the Catholic Church. To the surprise of many commentators and Dutch TV hosts, Fortuyn insisted on Fr. Louis Berger, a

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

from

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, accompanying him in some of his last TV appearances. According to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Berger had become his "friend and

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.Driehuis Driehuis is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Velsen, and lies about 8 km north of Haarlem. History It was first mentioned in 1680 as Drie Huysen, and means "three houses". Driehuizen dev ...

in the Netherlands. He was re-interred on 20 July 2002, at

San Giorgio della Richinvelda San Giorgio della Richinvelda ( Standard Friulian: ; Western Friulian: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pordenone in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about northeast of Porden ...

, in the

province of Pordenone The province of Pordenone ( it, provincia di Pordenone; ; vec, provincia de Pordenon) was a province in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy. Its capital was the city of Pordenone. The province was subdivided from the province ...

in Italy, where he had owned a house.

Views

Islam and immigration

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." In August 2001, Fortuyn was quoted in the ''Rotterdams Dagblad'' newspaper saying, "I am also in favour of a

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

with Islam. I see Islam as an extraordinary threat, as a hostile religion." In the TV program ''Business class'', Fortuyn said that Muslims in the Netherlands did not accept Dutch society; he believed that the religion of Islam was fundamentally intolerant and incompatible with Western values. He said that Muslims in the Netherlands needed to accept living ''together'' with the Dutch, and that if this was unacceptable for them, then they were free to leave. His concluding words in the TV program were "... I want to live together with the Muslim people, but

it takes two to tango It takes two to tango is a common idiomatic expression which suggests something in which more than one person or other entity are paired in an inextricably-related and active manner, occasionally with negative connotations. The tango is a danc ...

." Fortuyn also maintained that he did not object to Muslim immigrants because of their race or ethnicity, and was not against a multi-racial society, but opposed what he saw as lack of integration and unwillingness to adapt to Dutch standards of modernity and

social liberalism Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

within Muslim communities. Rotterdam kunstwerk beeld Pim Fortuyn

On 9 February 2002, additional statements made by him were carried in the ''

Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized ...

''. He said that the Netherlands, with a population of 16 million, had enough inhabitants, and the practice of allowing as many as 40,000 asylum-seekers into the country each year had to be stopped. The actual number for 2001 was 27,000, down slightly on the previous year. He claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue a restrictive immigration policy while also granting citizenship to a large group of illegal immigrants. He said that he did not intend to "unload our Moroccan hooligans" onto the Moroccan King Hassan. Hassan had died three years earlier. He considered Article 7 of the constitution, which asserts

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

, of more importance than Article 1, which forbids discrimination on the basis of religion, life principles, political inclination, race, or sexual preference. Fortuyn distanced himself from

Hans Janmaat Johannes Gerardus Hendrikus "Hans" Janmaat (3 November 1934 – 9 June 2002) was a politics of the Netherlands, Dutch politician of the Centre Party (Netherlands), Centre Party (CP) and later founder of the Centre Democrats (Netherlands), Centre ...

of the

Centrum Democraten The Centre Democrats ( nl, Centrum Democraten, CD) was a political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 1984 by members who split out from the Centre Party (CP), the Centre Democrats was joined one month later by the only CP Member of Parliamen ...

, who in the 1980s wanted to remove all foreigners from the country and was repeatedly convicted for discrimination and

hate speech Hate speech is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation". Hate speech is "usually thoug ...

. Fortuyn proposed that all people who already resided in the Netherlands would be allowed to stay, provided the immigrants adopted the Dutch society's consensus on human rights as their own. He stated: "not integrating means leaving" and "the borders have to be hermetically closed". He said "If it were legally possible, I'd say no more Muslims will get in here", 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', lesbians' and minorities' rights. When asked by the Dutch newspaper ''

Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized ...

'' 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 standards 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.

Fortuyn used the word ''achterlijk'', literally meaning "backward", but commonly used as an insult in the sense of " retarded". After his use of "achterlijk" caused an uproar, Fortuyn said he had used the word with its literal meaning of "backward". Fortuyn wrote ''Against the Islamization of Our Culture'' (1997) (in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

).

Fortuynism

The ideology or political style that is derived from Pim Fortuyn, and in turn the LPF, is often called

Fortuynism Fortuynism is the political ideology of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. Observers variously saw him as a political protest targeting the alleged elitism and bureaucratic style of the Dutch purple coalitions, as offering "openness, directness and c ...

. Observers variously saw him as a political protest targeting the alleged

elitism Elitism is the belief or notion that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people perceived as having an intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, power, notability, special skills, or experience—are more likely to be constructi ...

and bureaucratic style of the Dutch purple coalitions or as offering an appealing political style. The style was characterized variously as one "of openness, directness and clearness",

populism Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term developed ...

or simply as charisma. Another school holds Fortuynism as a distinct ideology, with an alternative vision of society. Some argued that Fortuynism was not just ''one'' ideology, but contained liberalism, populism and

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

.

During the 2002 campaign, Fortuyn was accused by some of being on the "extreme right", although others saw only certain similarities. While he employed anti-immigration rhetoric, he considered himself neither a radical

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

nor a defender of traditional authoritarian values. On the contrary, Fortuyn claimed he wanted to protect the socio-culturally liberal values of the Netherlands, women's rights and sexual minorities (he was openly gay himself), from the "backward" Islamic culture.Rydgren; van Holsteyn, 2005, p. 49. He held liberal views favouring the

drug policy of the Netherlands While recreational use, possession and trade of non-medicinal drugs described by the Opium Law are all technically illegal under Dutch law, official policy since the late 20th century has been to openly tolerate all recreational use while ...

,

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

,

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

, and related positions. Fortuyn was also a member of the

Republican Society The Republican Society (Dutch: ''Republikeins Genootschap'') is a Dutch republican movement, founded on 11 September 1996 in the Prinsenhof in Delft, at the initiative of Pierre Vinken. Its aim is to abolish the monarchy of the Netherlands. F ...

, and favoured a US-style system with an elected president, elected mayors and police commissioners. He also expressed support for the state of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

throughout his political career. The LPF also won support from some ethnic minorities; one of Fortuyn's closest associates was of Cape Verdean origin, and one of the party's MPs was a young woman of Turkish descent. His ideology comprised the following positions: Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 *

Civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

*

Classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system is embedded in a particular political culture. Definition Gabriel Almond defines it as "the particular patt ...

*

Criticism of Islam Criticism of Islam is broadly defined as criticism of the Islamic religion in its beliefs, principles, and/or any other ideas attributed to Islam. Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written disapprovals came fr ...

*

Deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

*

Direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

*

Euroscepticism Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

*

Freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

*

Laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...

*

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

*

Republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...

*

Secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

*

Separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

*

Small government Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice ver ...

*

Women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

Criticism

Fortuyn was compared with the politicians

Jörg Haider Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of ...

and

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated fro ...

in the foreign press. These comparisons were often referred to by Dutch reporters and politicians. An explicit comparison with Le Pen was made by

Ad Melkert Adrianus Petrus Wilhelmus "Ad" Melkert (; born 12 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Labour Party (PvdA) who has served as a Member of the Council of State since 20 January 2016. Melkert studied Political science at the U ...

, then ''

lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the leader of a political party in an election to a legislative body. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government. In open list electoral systems, it is ...

'' of the Labour Party, who said in Emmen on 24 April 2002: "If you flirt with Fortuyn, then in the Netherlands the same thing will happen as happened in France. There they woke up with Le Pen, soon we will wake up with Fortuyn." On 5 May, the day before the assassination, Fortuyn in a debate with Melkert organized by the ''

Algemeen Dagblad The ''Algemeen Dagblad'' () or ''AD'' () (English: "General Daily Paper") is a Dutch daily newspaper based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. History and profile ''Algemeen Dagblad'' was founded in 1946. The paper is published in tabloid format and is ...

'' newspaper claimed that he was

demonized Demonization or demonisation is the reinterpretation of polytheistic deities as evil, lying demons by other religions, generally by the monotheistic and henotheistic ones. The term has since been expanded to refer to any characterization of indivi ...

. In it he said that he often had to tell journalists that the image created of him in the media was incorrect. Columnist Jan Blokker wrote that " ter reading ..I realized once again that Professor Pim may really be called the Jean-Marie Le Pen, the Filip Dewinter, the Jörg Haider and the new

Hans Janmaat Johannes Gerardus Hendrikus "Hans" Janmaat (3 November 1934 – 9 June 2002) was a politics of the Netherlands, Dutch politician of the Centre Party (Netherlands), Centre Party (CP) and later founder of the Centre Democrats (Netherlands), Centre ...

of the Netherlands." Prime Minister

Wim Kok Willem "Wim" Kok (; 29 September 1938 – 20 October 2018) was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002. In the run-up to the 2002 election,

GroenLinks GroenLinks (, ) is a green political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and t ...

leader

Paul Rosenmöller Paul Rosenmöller (born 11 May 1956) is a Dutch television presenter, politician, and former trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks ('GreenLeft') and was party leader from 1994. S ...

claimed Fortuyn's policies were "not just

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

but

extreme right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

". Fortuyn often responded to criticism by stating that his views were misunderstood or distorted by the media, and in turn rejected comparisons and expressed his personal distaste for radical far-right politicians in other European countries. He explicitly distanced himself from Jean-Marie Le Pen and criticised some of his policies, including Le Pen's downplaying of the Holocaust. In domestic politics, Fortuyn also distanced his views from hard-right Dutch politicians such as

Hans Janmaat Johannes Gerardus Hendrikus "Hans" Janmaat (3 November 1934 – 9 June 2002) was a politics of the Netherlands, Dutch politician of the Centre Party (Netherlands), Centre Party (CP) and later founder of the Centre Democrats (Netherlands), Centre ...

and

Joop Glimmerveen Johann Georg (Joop) Glimmerveen (14 November 1928 – 25 December 2022) was a Dutch far right politician. He was active on the far right from 1971. Early life Born in Utrecht, Glimmerveen was educated in Hilversum and Amsterdam before starting w ...

(who called for the mass expulsion of foreigners from the Netherlands) by maintaining that if he came to power, he would pardon existing illegal immigrants if they had lived in the Netherlands for over five years and offer them a path to citizenship if they could be assimilated into society. In an interview on the Dutch talk show ''Jensen!'' that was broadcast shortly before his death, Fortuyn accused members of the Dutch government and political establishment of putting his life in danger through repeatedly demonizing him and his beliefs.

Legacy

Fortuyn changed the Dutch political landscape. The 2002 elections, only weeks after Fortuyn's death, were marked by large losses for the liberal

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

and especially the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

Labour Party (whose parliamentary group was halved in size); both parties replaced their leaders shortly after their losses. The election winners were the

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing popu ...

, and the Christian democratic

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

(CDA) whose leader

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

went on to become Prime Minister. Some commentators in the mainstream political class speculated that Fortuyn's perceived martyrdom created greater support for the LPF, hence that party's brief surge to 17% of the electoral vote and 26 of the 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament. Others opined that voters who would have otherwise supported the LPF had Fortuyn not been murdered voted for the CDA as Balkenende had not joined in with other party leaders in attacking Fortuyn. Balkenende later claimed to have shared some of Fortuyn's opinions and pledged to implement some of his policy ideas. Although the LPF was able to form a coalition with the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

and the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

, it was bereft with internal strife and quickly lost steam. The

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

cabinet of

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

fell within three months, due to infighting within the LPF. In the following elections, the LPF was left with only eight seats in parliament (out of 150) and was not included in the new government. Many of the LPF's successive leaders were not regarded as charismatic as Fortuyn and as the next cabinet under Balkenende continued many of the former coalition's policies, it became harder for the LPF to present an alternative image to the government. However, political commentators speculated that discontented voters might vote for a non-traditional party, if a viable alternative was at hand. Later, the right-wing

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

, which has a strong stance on immigration, proposing to deport criminal, unemployed or not assimilated non-western immigrants, won nine (out of 150) seats in the 2006 elections and peaked at 24 in 2010. Grave of Pim Fortuyn

The Netherlands has made its asylum policy more strict. Opponents of

Fortuynism Fortuynism is the political ideology of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. Observers variously saw him as a political protest targeting the alleged elitism and bureaucratic style of the Dutch purple coalitions, as offering "openness, directness and c ...

, such as

Paul Rosenmöller Paul Rosenmöller (born 11 May 1956) is a Dutch television presenter, politician, and former trade unionist. Between 1989 and 2003, he was member of the Dutch House of Representatives for GroenLinks ('GreenLeft') and was party leader from 1994. S ...

,

Thom de Graaf Thomas Carolus "Thom" de Graaf (;''Thomas'' in isolation: . born 11 June 1957) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and jurist. He is the Vice-President of the Council of State since 1 November 2018. De Graaf attended the C ...

, and

Ad Melkert Adrianus Petrus Wilhelmus "Ad" Melkert (; born 12 February 1956) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Labour Party (PvdA) who has served as a Member of the Council of State since 20 January 2016. Melkert studied Political science at the U ...

(all labelling Fortuyn as a right-wing extremist), ocumentary"A Democracy in Shock" (2002). RTL Nieuws. have objected to what they think is a harsher political and social climate, especially towards immigrants and Muslims. However, other commentators such as

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; ; Somali: ''Ayaan Xirsi Cali'':'' Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī;'' born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, ar, أيان حرسي علي / ALA-LC: ''Ayān Ḥirsī 'Alī'' 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist and former politicia ...

,

David Starkey David Robert Starkey (born 3 January 1945) is an English historian and radio and television presenter, with views that he describes as conservative. The only child of Quaker parents, he attended Kendal Grammar School before studying at Cambr ...

and Douglas Murray have retrospectively defended some of Fortuyn's beliefs. Former Dutch Prime Minister

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

also stated that he later agreed with some of Fortuyn's criticisms of multiculturalism and the purple coalition under

Wim Kok Willem "Wim" Kok (; 29 September 1938 – 20 October 2018) was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002.multicultural society, and whether they need to better assimilate newcomers. The government's decision in 2004 to more strictly expel asylum seekers whose applications had failed was controversial. Fortuyn had advocated for a one-time amnesty for those asylum seekers who had resided in the Netherlands for an extended period. In 2004, in a TV show, Fortuyn was chosen as

De Grootste Nederlander ''De Grootste Nederlander'' ('The Greatest Dutchman') was a public poll held in 2004 by the broadcasting company KRO of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting, ''Publieke Omroep''. The series has the BBC's ''100 Greatest Britons'' TV format. During t ...

("Greatest Dutchman of all-time"), followed closely by William of Orange, the leader of the independence war that established the precursor to the present-day Netherlands. The election was not considered representative, as it was held by viewers' voting through the internet and by phoning in. Theo van Gogh had been murdered a few days before by a Muslim, which likely affected people's voting in the TV contest for Fortuyn. The program later revealed that William of Orange had received the most votes, but many could not be counted until after the official closing time of the television show (and the proclamation of the winner), due to technical problems. The official rules of the show said that votes counted before the end of the show would be decisive, but it was suggested that all votes correctly cast before the closing of the vote would be counted. Following the official rules, the outcome was not changed. Plek moord Pim Fortuyn

Right-wing politicians gained greater public influence after Fortuyn's death, such as former Minister for Integration & Immigration

Rita Verdonk Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk (born 18 October 1955) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and later founder of the Proud of the Netherlands (Trots) party and businesswoman. Verdonk atten ...

, the prominent

critic of Islam Criticism of Islam is broadly defined as criticism of the Islamic religion in its beliefs, principles, and/or any other ideas attributed to Islam. Criticism of Islam has existed since Islam's formative stages. Early written disapprovals came f ...

, Member of the House of Representatives

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

who in 2006 formed the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nine ...

(which became the second largest party in the House of Representatives in 2017) and

Thierry Baudet Thierry Henri Philippe Baudet (; born 28 January 1983) is a Dutch far-right politician, author and self-declared conspiracy theorist. He is the founder and leader of Forum for Democracy (FvD), and has been a member of the House of Representativ ...

, leader of the

Forum for Democracy Forum for Democracy ( nl, Forum voor Democratie, FvD) is a right-wing populist Eurosceptic political party in the Netherlands that was founded as a think tank by Thierry Baudet and Henk Otten in 2016. The party first participated in elections i ...

party. These politicians often focus on the debate over

cultural assimilation Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially. The different types of cultural assi ...

and

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

. Supporters of Fortuyn went on to set up the annual ''

Pim Fortuyn Prize The ''Pim Fortuyn Prize'' ( nl, Pim Fortuynprijs) has been an annual political award in the Netherlands which has been held since 2015. It is named after the late politician Pim Fortuyn. According to the organizers, the award is intended for nomin ...

'' which is awarded to opinion makers, politicians or commentators who best convey the ideas of Pim Fortuyn. Winners have included

Ebru Umar Ebru Umar (; ; born 20 May 1970) is a Dutch columnist of Turkish descent. Under the influence of Theo van Gogh, she gave up a career in management and became a columnist, first for van Gogh's website and, after he was assassinated, as his success ...

and

John van den Heuvel John van den Heuvel (born 26 December 1962) is a Dutch crime journalist, television presenter and former police officer. Career Since 1990, he works as crime reporter at the newspaper '' De Telegraaf''. He often appears in the television pr ...

.

Selected publications

* ''Het zakenkabinet Fortuyn'' (A.W. Bruna, 1994) * ''Beklemmend Nederland'' (A.W. Bruna, 1995), () * ''Uw baan staat op de tocht!: Het einde van de overlegeconomie'' (A.W. Bruna, 1995) ( * ''Mijn collega komt zo bij u'' (A.W. Bruna, 1996), () * ''Tegen de islamisering van onze cultuur: Nederlandse identiteit als fundament'' (A.W. Bruna, 1997), () * ''Zielloos Europa'' (Bruna, 1997), () * ''50 jaar Israel, hoe lang nog?: Tegen het tolereren van fundamentalisme'' (Bruna, 1998), () * ''De derde revolutie'' (bruna, 1999) * ''De verweesde samenleving'' (Karakter Uitgevers, 2002) () * ''

De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars ''De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars'' (, English: ') is a political non-fiction book released by the Dutch political commentator and aspiring lawmaker Pim Fortuyn in 2002, two months prior to his assassination. In the book, Fortuyn sharply critici ...

'' (Karakter Uitgevers, 2002), ()

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Merijn Oudenampsen, 2018, ''De Conservatieve Revolte — Een Ideeëngeschiedenis van de Fortuynopstand'', Uitgeverij Vantilt, Nijmegen

External links

*
Dr. W.S.P. (Pim) Fortuijn
Parlement & Politiek * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortuyn, Pim 1948 births 2002 deaths Assassinated Dutch politicians Christian critics of Islam Critics of multiculturalism Deaths by firearm in the Netherlands Dutch civil servants Dutch corporate directors Dutch critics of Islam Dutch educators Dutch political consultants Dutch political philosophers Dutch political party founders Dutch publishers (people) Dutch republicans Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch sociologists Critical theorists Erasmus University Rotterdam faculty Free speech activists Gay politicians Dutch gay writers Islam-related controversies in Europe Islam in the Netherlands Leaders of political parties in the Netherlands LGBT broadcasters from the Netherlands LGBT conservatism LGBT politicians from the Netherlands LGBT rights activists from the Netherlands LGBT Roman Catholics LGBT history in the Netherlands Livable Netherlands politicians Livable Rotterdam politicians Economic sociologists Maastricht University faculty Municipal councillors of Rotterdam Nyenrode Business University faculty Party chairs of the Netherlands People from Velsen People murdered in the Netherlands Pim Fortuyn List politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians Political controversies in the Netherlands Political science writers University of Groningen alumni University of Groningen faculty Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Writers about direct democracy Writers about globalization Writers about communism Writers about activism and social change University of Amsterdam alumni Far-right politics Former Marxists

Early life and education

Career

Professional career

Political career

Founding the LPF

Assassination

Views

Islam and immigration

Fortuynism

Criticism

Legacy

Selected publications

See also

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links