A Trump in the Netherlands
In 2001 a new politician, Pim Fortuyn, appeared in the political arena in the Netherlands. He had been a student of me at the Free University of Amsterdam many years ago. Together we had made pamphlets to promote the democratization in the university system what was really needed at that time. Later he wrote his dissertation in Groningen and became professor at the Erasmus University, but he also provided commercial advice and was publishing in a weekly.
He became very popular in the media with statements such as “the Netherlands, with a population of 16 millions, had enough inhabitants, and the practice of allowing as many as 40,000 asylum-seekers into the country each year had to be stopped.” He claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue restrictions on immigration and citizenship to illegal immigrants.
This was new in the Netherlands because the parties in the government did not dare to say such things. Therefore he was invited for many TV shows. Fortuyn maintained that he did not object to muslim immigrants because of their race or ethnicity, but for what he saw as lack of integration and unwillingness to adapt to Dutch standards of modernity. He formulated his point of view very explicitly in the TV interview presented below.
He became very popular in the media with statements such as “the Netherlands, with a population of 16 millions, had enough inhabitants, and the practice of allowing as many as 40,000 asylum-seekers into the country each year had to be stopped.” He claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue restrictions on immigration and citizenship to illegal immigrants.
This was new in the Netherlands because the parties in the government did not dare to say such things. Therefore he was invited for many TV shows. Fortuyn maintained that he did not object to muslim immigrants because of their race or ethnicity, but for what he saw as lack of integration and unwillingness to adapt to Dutch standards of modernity. He formulated his point of view very explicitly in the TV interview presented below.
He became as popular as Trump in America
Due to his frequent presence in the media, the Dutch population also got to know his opinions and especially the less privileged people, living in the neighborhoods where the asylum seekers came to live, were very enthusiast about the fact that there finally was a person who saw the problem in their neighborhoods: that their social life became disrupted by the many foreigners who spoke different languages and had different habits.
Pim Fortuyn definitely was not one of them by his openly shown homosexual life style, his high education and financial situation but he was the only politician who dared to say what the lower class people were thinking. It became clear that he was very popular under a large part of the population, therefore also a political party was interested in him. After a short participation in this party, he created his own party LPF (List Pim Fortuyn). In the polls it immediately became clear that this party would get a very large number of votes and would completely disrupt the present political system. In the local election in Rotterdam his party became the largest one. The same was expected for the national election which would take place a few weeks later.
Due to his frequent presence in the media, the Dutch population also got to know his opinions and especially the less privileged people, living in the neighborhoods where the asylum seekers came to live, were very enthusiast about the fact that there finally was a person who saw the problem in their neighborhoods: that their social life became disrupted by the many foreigners who spoke different languages and had different habits.
Pim Fortuyn definitely was not one of them by his openly shown homosexual life style, his high education and financial situation but he was the only politician who dared to say what the lower class people were thinking. It became clear that he was very popular under a large part of the population, therefore also a political party was interested in him. After a short participation in this party, he created his own party LPF (List Pim Fortuyn). In the polls it immediately became clear that this party would get a very large number of votes and would completely disrupt the present political system. In the local election in Rotterdam his party became the largest one. The same was expected for the national election which would take place a few weeks later.
The incredible death of Pim Fortuyn
Pim Fortuyn was assasinated by an environmental and animal rights activist on May 6, 2002, nine days before the general election. In court at his trial the assasin said that he murdered Fortuyn "to stop him from exploiting muslims as scapegoats and targeting the weak members of society in seeking political power.”
The murderer was arrested near the scene of the crime after a pursuit by witnesses. His home and work addresses were soon circulated on websites used by Fortuyn's supporters. Angry supporters gathered in several cities.
Also in the surrounding of the government buildings there were riots. It was not clear whether this murder would lead to a general uproar against the government and the politicians who were seen by Fortuyn´s followers as his murderers. His support became clear during his funeral as one can see on the picture below.
Pim Fortuyn was assasinated by an environmental and animal rights activist on May 6, 2002, nine days before the general election. In court at his trial the assasin said that he murdered Fortuyn "to stop him from exploiting muslims as scapegoats and targeting the weak members of society in seeking political power.”
The murderer was arrested near the scene of the crime after a pursuit by witnesses. His home and work addresses were soon circulated on websites used by Fortuyn's supporters. Angry supporters gathered in several cities.
Also in the surrounding of the government buildings there were riots. It was not clear whether this murder would lead to a general uproar against the government and the politicians who were seen by Fortuyn´s followers as his murderers. His support became clear during his funeral as one can see on the picture below.
The end of the story was that his party became the largest one in the elections. His party members also became ministers in the government but their incompetence quickly led to the fall of that government and slowly the normal political situation returned.