I have often made the point that there is basically—no difference between the far left and the far right, If there ever was a clearer indication of that it was Pim Fortuyn, initially a Marxist and communist, who later did a complete U-turn. Although I don’t consider extreme right, he was leaning towards the far right, and we don’t know how far that would have gone because he was killed that day on May 6, 2002. His assassination did change the political landscape of the Netherlands.
Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, academic, and publicist who rose to prominence in the early 2000s. He was known for his charismatic personality, provocative statements, and criticism of immigration and multiculturalism in the Netherlands. Fortuyn founded the political party Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) in 2002, which quickly gained popularity.
His views on immigration, Islam, and the integration of minorities into Dutch society stirred controversy and polarized opinions. Tragically, Fortuyn’s political career was cut short when he was assassinated by an animal rights activist in May 2002, just nine days before the general elections in which his party was expected to perform strongly. His death shocked the nation and sparked a national debate on issues such as tolerance, immigration, and the role of Islam in Dutch society. Fortuyn, an openly gay sociology professor and publicist, rocked the boat of Dutch politics.
Volkert van der Graaf is the individual who assassinated Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn on May 6, 2002. At the time of the assassination, van der Graaf was an environmental and animal rights activist. He opposed Fortuyn’s political views, particularly regarding immigration and multiculturalism.
After the assassination, van der Graaf was arrested and later convicted of murder. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the maximum penalty under Dutch law, at that time. He served his sentence and was released on parole in 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, which is common in the Dutch legal system.
Van der Graaf’s actions had a significant impact on Dutch politics and society, prompting debates about extremism, political discourse, and security measures for politicians.
Van der Graaf was born in Middelburg and by the time he attended university in Wageningen, he was vegan and an idealistic supporter of animal welfare. Van der Graaf was said to be highly intelligent and a perfectionist who was emotionally uncommunicative and intolerant of those with different values from his own.
Although it was a brutal, calculated, and premeditated murder, van der Graaf was only sentenced to 18 years, of which he only served 12. He was released only a few days before the 12th anniversary of Pim Fortuyn’s assassination.
The prosecution and the defence both made appeals against this sentence. Prior to the appeal, suggestions in the media that Van der Graaf may be suffering from Asperger’s syndrome were rejected by workers at the PBC(Pieter Baan Centrum, where he had been detained during the trial), who said they had considered and then declined the possibility. The prosecution argued that the court had not taken account of the political nature of the murder, and asked again for life imprisonment. But he was released on May 2, 2014.
Sources
https://news.sky.com/story/pim-fortuyn-politicians-killer-is-freed-early-10407206
https://murderpedia.org/male.V/v/van-der-graaf.htm
https://nltimes.nl/2014/03/26/fortuyn-killer-released-2nd-may
https://www.vox.com/2016/2/19/11059604/donald-trump-pim-fortuyn
https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/the-forgotten-fortuyn
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27261291
Donation
I am passionate about my site and I know you all like reading my blogs. I have been doing this at no cost and will continue to do so. All I ask is for a voluntary donation of $2, however if you are not in a position to do so I can fully understand, maybe next time then. Thank you. To donate click on the credit/debit card icon of the card you will use. If you want to donate more then $2 just add a higher number in the box left from the PayPal link. Many thanks.
$2.00
History of Sorts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.