Ben, youâre right about the âsuicide politiciansâ. Iain Duncan Smith has hired me to do it next friday. Iâll do anything for the cause.
Macca, your point about the immigrant workers is ill-informed. it was not his policy to âremove immigrant workersâ. that is the policy of j-m lepen. pim fortuynâs policy was to close the borders of the netherlands to non-eu immigrants, by legal means, renegotiating the schengen treaty. he was wholely against the idea of deportation, with his manifesto asking for a new âministry for assimilationâ to be set up. he was not against poorer people from within the eu coming to holland to work, and he was not a racist. he was what can only be described as a âhardline liberalâ, somebody who believes so passionately in tolerance and respect as a rule in society, that any intolerant element of society should not be grudgingly welcomed. the problem of crime (as in many places across europe) was spiralling out of control in the netherlands, especially in the port cities, and we should be grateful that the person to take political advantage of this fact was not from the far right.
he was contraversial, unpopular and popular because he brought with him an entirely new style of politics. how many politicians since churchill can you remember as having a distinct reputation as a âthinking manâ, the ability to say what he thinks, rather than what he thinks people want him to say, and a fresh clarity to their views. this âdirectâ âhonestâ approach is usually clamped down by an extremist p.c. media in the uk, so it may be some time before pimâs influence crosses the channels.
itâs ok, in my opinion, to be a demagogue, if youâve spent much of your life thinking out the ideas youâre representing.
he was the sort of politician that could make people feel comfortable with the saying the truth, so that awkward issues could be discussed, instead of shied away form, only to become worse.
this sounds like an obituary, i know. but i was genuinely shocked and extremely dissapointed by what happened yesterday. itâs the most bitter blow to the dutch people, to have a major politician assassinated. his style was a much-needed breath of fresh air, and i was hoping that the habit would rub off onto left wing parties, and all across the political spectrum, so that by the time we were his age, we would not feel as if we had to lie and drop our principles to gain political influence, as is so cringefully the case at the moment.
as some of you have already speculated, his death may see his party gain more votes in next weekâs elections. i just hope it doesnât give cause to the delicate stance of pim fortuyn to waver. any further right, and theyâre in dangerous territory. i also fear, though only time will tell, that if the killer was an immigrant, it will only cause the far-right uprising to increase in vigour. with nationalism comes a strong instinct for revenge (as can be seen in the middle-east conflict) and such an instinct will only spell disaster for the unity of the eu, at a time when it unity needed at its most, with the euro and enlargement.
i fear that the ultra-liberal veil of dutch society may be uncovered to reveal something quite ugly. i just hope the dutch are as great as i like to think they are, and that they donât react to pim fortuynâs assassination by reflex.