The smearing of Pim Fortuyn

Wed, 08 May 2002 15:15:00 +0000

Pim Fortuyn would have loved all the international attention. The erratic, quirky populist who single-handedly shook up Dutch politics and who was shot and killed last Monday, was always happiest in the spotlight. CNN, the New York Times, even the American government have paid tribute. He would have loved it.

But he would have objected fervently to being swept into one corner with French Jean Marie le Pen, Austrian Jorg Haider and other "hard-right-wingers" or "neo-fascists" who are "flooding" Europe, as the American media have been happy to report with great alarm. In a piece just a day before his death in the New York Times, a reporter made reference to "Mr. Le Pen and others who have modernized their fascism, like Jorg Haider of Austria and Pim Fortuyn of the Netherlands." It's a mischaracterization some European political elites may try to cling to, but they will be wrong.

Salon.com > Diederik van Hoogstraten

The smearing of Pim Fortuyn