The lessons of Pim Fortuyn

Radio Netherlands ^ | January 17 2003 | Hans Andringa

[knighthawk]

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[Shermy]

A positive piece from RN about Fortuyn?

[The KG9 Kid]

I was watching the polls on TeleText in Holland a few weeks back, and saw that LPF was already on the way to becoming about 3% of the government losing dozens of seats in the Dutch Parliament.

Everyone had high hopes for LPF, but the party just wasn't the same without Fortuyn. I'd heard that during the brief moments they were in charge, LPF placed ministers with zero experience in places of high authority, and the rest of the parties had a jolly time in watching themselves trip over their own mistakes and inability.

Now the old guard will be back in charge again doing what they do best: Nothing.

[knighthawk]

Yes and no. The LPF regrouped, but the former muslim (Hirsh Ali) went to the VVD (she used to be with the PvdA). The man who now lead the LPF is Mat Herben, a close friend of Fortuyn and his former spokesman.

The LPF wil not be big, but still could play an important role. The VVD and CDA want to form a coalition, but are too small, and may need the LPF again. The other option is a CDA-PvdA coalition.

[happygrl]

It seems like only a short while ago that we were reading your passionate posts about Pym Fortune and the breath of freah air he was to Dutch politics. You gave us a vision of the posssibility of a generational change in the Netherlands because of his ideas and forthrightness.

Those who follow your posts remember that shocking day last spring when Pym was murdered. We all grieved.

This op-ed piece is not encouraging to us. It was not merely Pym's style which was the watershed, it was his ideas.

Is there still the possibility that LPF can play a vital role in Dutch politics ?

[knighthawk]

Yes, I was amazed too. Today the NOS, the Dutch national tv, tried to convince people all day the LPF is not worth voting for. And showing that almost all previous LPF voters turned away in a bid to aid their masters, the PvdA.

I get sick when I turn on the tv, it's like watching the commie run media in the CCCP.

[knighthawk]

Yes, the LPF mess up. From the 26 seats they will hold on to about 8 or so.

As you said, without Fortuyn it's not the same. But the LPF accomplished more on immigration and integration in 80 days then the PvdA-VVD-D'66 did in 8 years, thanks to Nawijn.

The Netherlands are going to become a Germany, in a short time people will be sorry for voting the old parties again.

[VOA]

A positive piece from RN about Fortuyn?

More likely than seeing a positive portrayal in the US mainstream media.

While the gay "lifestyle" is not my "cup of tea", I really feel sympathy for
conservative gays.

For gay folks, once the term "Republican" or "conservative" are attached to
their names, it's a death sentence.
Sometimes literally...

[The KG9 Kid]

The thing that made me angry was that the Groen party is looking at picking up +10 seats to be the fifth-highest party in The Netherlands, and it was one of their wackos who killed Fortuyn in the first place.

I mentioned that, and noticed that I didn't hear anything from my Dutch hosts about the 2000 Florida elections this trip.

Schorem moet naar de Bijlmerbajes.

So are you back to voting CDA? ;]

[knighthawk]

The LPF is still the main target of the NOS (the national tv broadcaster) and most newspapers. So I guess they are still afraid lots of people will vote for the LPF. They wouldn't spend so much time hitting at us if we were unimportant.

I still believe in what he said. And I still back the LPF. At the links on the original article there is a link called 'Pim Fortuyn portal', It leads to the LPF forum I hang out at. It's the busiest political site in the Netherlands, and we am rallying the people and I am busy fighting disruptors (both the leftists and VVD/CDA trolls).

The LPF can be important if the CDA and VVD want to form a coalition, but they will have little to say. The positive thing is that Fortuyn's ideas have found their way with other parties, mostly with the VVD, which copied most of the LPF's program.

So many people still believe in what he said, and will vote LPF. And believing is what matters, not how big we are.
The LPF already made a difference, that is what counts.
As long as people believe and remember him, Pim Fortuyn is not really dead.

[The KG9 Kid]

All political parties are 'cult of personality parties' in Holland.

There are something like seventeen seperate parties, and they're all identified by who their top guy is.

It's the only way to tell any difference between them, usually.

[WOSG]

Sad indeed. Dutch voters reward violence and terror with their support for these leftists ... evil is as evil does!

[knighthawk]

While the gay "lifestyle" is not my "cup of tea"

Same here. But it was the things he said. I remember the evening when he was shot. In The Hague hundereds of people were protesting in the streets. I bet a lot of them were the same people who would beat up gays if they would meet on the street. But now they were angry, outraged, and sad because Fortuyn was killed. The world is a strange place.

[WOSG]

If you think back to the US in 1994, this 'falling apart' is what the lamestream media hoped to effect on Newt and the GOP new majority. To some extent, with Clinton's political skills, it worked ... and yet, we balacned the budget, cut taxes, reformed welfare, and a lot more, despite the Democrat administration ... and team GOP seems to have learned from 1994-1996 in the last few years.

I hope LPF and the European right wing parties likewise learn from the USA. I think the only difference between Europe and USA is *not* the cultural divide, but the relative power of different elites in USA and Europe, that effectively has handed that continent over to the lefties and the wobblies.

[knighthawk]

Pim Fortuyn said what people thought. Read the article about why people agreed with him.

Fortuyn didn't have lots of things that other politicians had to succeed. He was flamboyant and gay, two things never seen in Dutch politics. But he could debate like no other, and dared to speak out. People truly believed he could, and would change things.

That was his personality.
That was what people made him their leader.