Posted on 05/07/2002 9:49:00 PM PDT by Kermit
An animal lover assassinated by a vegan ...a nationalist, he will be buried abroad
PIM FORTUYN told The Times last week that he was driven above all by a love of The Netherlands. But the murdered Dutch nationalist has chosen to be buried in a small village in Italy.
Mr Fortuyn was a well-known animal lover who was never without his lapdogs Kenneth and Carla. The man suspected of killing him is a vegan animal rights activist who believes that protecting animals civilises people.
Mr Fortuyn’s views on immigration were reviled by many in The Netherlands. Yet thousands turned out to mourn him yesterday, and his fledgeling, leaderless party may well emerge from next Wednesday’s election as the largest party in the Dutch parliament.
And so, this openly gay nationalist remains in death as maverick as in life. After two funeral services — one in Rotterdam, one in Italy — he will be laid to rest in a small village near Venice, where he had a holiday home.
Bruno Ambrosio, an old university friend who is now a stonemason in Provesano di San Giorgio della Richinvelda, said that Mr Fortuyn had visited the village for more than 15 years and had bought his villa 18 months ago.
Signor Ambrosio, who is sculpting his friend’s tombstone in the local frescoed parish church of San Leonardo, told The Times: “We often talked about it, as if he had a premonition he would die. He wanted something simple, in black and white marble — no bust or statue on it, just an inscription with his name and his dates of birth and death.”
This, said Signor Ambrosio, was a reflection of the man himself. “He was a simple man, very straightforward, just like the people round here,” he said. “I think that is why he took to us.” He said the politician had always stayed alone in the house. “We knew he was gay, but he never brought anyone, no boyfriends or anything of that kind.”
A 32-year-old white Dutchman is expected to appear in court over Mr Fortuyn’s murder today. He has not yet been named by police, but the Dutch media have identified him as Volkert van der Graaf, an extreme vegan who is said to have worked for a group called Ecology Offensive, which campaigns against bio-industry and animal testing.
Mr van der Graaf has insisted that he pursued his goals purely by legal means, and the murder is said to have come as a complete surprise to his wife, who has taken their baby and left their home in Harderwijk, near Amsterdam.
A search of the house turned up bullets of the same calibre as cartridges retrieved at the scene of the crime, the justice ministry said.
Mr Fortuyn told one green organisation that he was “sick to death of your environmental movement” and had pledged to try to overturn a new ban on breeding animals for fur, but one of his colleagues said the Pim Fortuyn List did not have a “very developed policy” on animal rights.
Joost Eerdmans, a candidate in the election which will go ahead as planned next week at his party’s insistence, added that Mr Fortuyn’s love of his dogs was well-known. “They were his life, since he didn’t have a partner. He loved animals. There is no mistake about that.”
I think that theory can be put to rest, some people are their own worst example.
This is how moral equivalency is advanced: see, both the killer and his victim are full of contradictions; they are kind of... the same... yeh, in fact they have a lot in common.
The same as with Israelis and Palenstinians. No wonder Islam attacks us: the Western world is gone mad, having decided to self-destruct.
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