Dutch Politics – History of Sorts

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://theconversation.com/a-history-of-dutch-populism-from-the-murder-of-pim-fortuyn-to-the-rise-of-geert-wilders-74483

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

In March 2023, I interviewed Caroline van der Plas shortly after the Dutch Provincial elections. She is the leader of the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), (The Farmer–Citizen Movement).

The BBB was founded in October 2019 by agricultural journalist Caroline van der Plas, Wim Groot Koerkamp, and Henk Vermeer from agricultural marketing firm ReMarkAble, in response to the widespread farmers’ protests earlier that month.

The BBB supports Dutch membership of the European Union (EU) for trading purposes but wants to reduce the power of the EU “to a level of how the EEC was once intended” and opposes federalisation of the EU. The BBB also supports Dutch membership of NATO and called for providing Ukraine with F-16s.

The BBB became the biggest part in the provinces with 19.19 % of the votes.

In November 2023, they won 4.65% of the votes during the Dutch national elections. making it the 6th biggest party nationally. They will be key in the coalition which is yet to be formed.

Van der Plas was born on 6 June 1967 in Cuijk to a Dutch father and an Irish mother. Her father, Wil van der Plas (1937–2014), was a sports journalist and worked for the regional newspaper Deventer Dagblad. Her mother, Nuala Fitzpatrick, is a retired politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), who served as an alderman in the municipal executive of Deventer. Nuala was born in Waterford but grew up in Limerick.

Van der Plas began her career as a journalist, covering the meat industry for Reed Business. She would later shift to communications, providing support to agricultural workers’ associations and the Dutch Association of Pig Farmers.

Originally a member of the CDA, Van der Plas left the party shortly after the 2019 provincial elections. During her membership, she frequently criticised the party for not doing enough to represent the interests of the agricultural sector. In response to the widespread farmers’ protests that took place in the Netherlands in October 2019, she then founded the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB). Her husband sadly passed away in 2019.

The sound isn’t optimal during the interview, due to some technical glitches, but it is clear enough for the main part.