[Previous entry: "L'ennui du fin-de-guerre, darling"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Salam resurfaces, sort of"]

07 May 2003: "RIP Fortuyn+1"

Yesterday was the anniversary of the assassination of Pim Fortuyn. The fact that I'm writing this entry a day late (two days counting time zone differences) should serve to indicate how important this event was to me.

The website of Radio Netherlands Wereldomroep (the Dutch answer to BBC World Service) has an article on Fortuyn's legacy by the political editor, Rutger van Santen. However, despite the fact that RNW operates in six different languages, they've only run the article in Dutch. So, in something of a No Cameras exclusive, I've provided a translation.

The paltry legacy of Pim Fortuyn

A year after the cowardly murder of Pim Fortuyn, cynics will undoubtedly remark that "old" politics have recaptured their position in the the political life of The Hague, and thereby also in the rest of the Netherlands.

Around the Binnenhof* the shaping of a new coalition government is again taking place behind closed doors in the usual fashion, and again this process is being conducted by representatives of established parties in a comfortable position of power.

The attitude that "old politics have reclaimed their place" implies as a rule that a year ago—as a result of the meteoric rise of Pim Fortuyn—there was such a phenomenon as "new politics," and also that these "new politics" were something terrific.

This is, however, very much open to debate. That there were many things wrong with the political culture of the Netherlands is beyond dispute. This culture has long been sclerotic and lacking in transparency, and suffered from it. Politicians paid, and continue to pay, little attention to the people who elected them. As a result of the traditional politics of consensus, they lead the country in a manner which is opaque and unappealing.

But upon close scrutiny, Pim Fortuyn's arsenal of political style and competence mainly turned out to consist of inconsistent muscle-talk and often uncoordinated dipping into the malodorous underbelly of the Netherlands. Fortuyn was a loud-mouth who did not react well to criticism delivered upon his own opinions, which were not always coherent. He was particularly adept at playing to the widespread dissatisfaction about the regular course of politics.

Dissatisfaction regarding, for instance, the immigrant population of the Netherlands and the way they integrated into society, and revulsion of the self-satisfied political order, the "pocket stuffers" in The Hague. And there existed, to a certain extent, a distaste on the part of large groups in Dutch society towards the hedonistic luxury lifestyle of others.

This dissatisfaction and distaste had lurked beneath the surface for quite some time—"the embarrassment of riches"—but Pim Fortuyn was the right man at the right time to act as a catalyst and to channel those emotions in the direction he desired.

Unfortunately, Fortuyn never had the opportunity to demonstrate what he might have achieved. Volkert van der Graaf, an environmental activist, used six bullets to murder the party leader at the Mediapark in Hilversum. The murder rightly caused an enormous commotion in the Netherlands, but also led to the entrance of 26 brand new members of parliament on Fortuyn's posthumous ticket.

The new parliamentary faction was handled with kid gloves by the remainder of the established political order, and was immediately invited to take part in the first Balkenende cabinet. Subsequently, Fortuyn's disciples proceeded, mildly put, to make a complete mess of things. Due to violent disagreements of a structural nature—within the cabinet, within the parliamentary faction and within the party itself—the cabinet fell apart after 87 days, and new elections had to be held. These elections led not only to the whittling down of the number of seats held by the late Fortuyn's followers to more realistic numbers, but also to the restoration, to a certain extent, of the traditional political relationships^†.

Now—a year after the murder of Pim Fortuyn—the only visible reminder of the turbulence of the past year is a heavy turnover in the representatives of the Dutch political parties; no fewer than six of the nine party leaders of a year ago have departed the Binnenhof.

But the traditional relationships have been restored, and a veil has been drawn over the points of dissatisfaction in society (though these have not been resolved). However, as a result of the occurrences of the past year it will be far more difficult—for any politician—to break through the glass bubble surrounding the inner world of The Hague. And the rest of the legacy of Pim Fortuyn mainly consists of polite lip service.

au currant
Black Decaf
The Illiterati
Cointelpro Tool
Norman Geras
A Fistful of Euros
Harry's Place
Plastic Gangster
Blogfonte
Tim Newman
€urosavant
Crooked Timber
Gallowglass
Mr. McGillicuddy
eameljenet
Civax
101-280
Colby Cosh
Peaktalk
Mick Hartley
Oliver Kamm

Miscellanea:

Care to contribute
to the coffee fund?