Then and Now: Part Seven

The Aftermath of the Assassination of Pim Fortuyn

The seventh installment of our series on Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders includes two videos focusing the events immediately after the assassination of Pim Fortuyn. Many thanks to our Flemish correspondent VH for the translation and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling of Video 1.

Video 1: First responses to the murder of Pim Fortuyn

May 6, 2002: As soon as it became known that Pim Fortuyn was shot, people gathered in front of his house in Rotterdam.

Political opponents — in what is supposed to be a democracy — including the center-right VVD had not only engaged in a massive demonization campaign, but even resorted to violence and murder.

Unlike the left wing, the right-wing electorate did not respond with violence. Even so, Fortuyn’s supporters were scoffed at as having “underbelly” feelings, being racists, and even Nazis.


A transcript of Video 1 is at the bottom of this post.

Video 2: Angry crowd gathers in The Hague after Pim Fortuyn’s murder

Not much is heard in this video; it just shows the anger:
- - - - - - - - -

After the murder of Pim Fortuyn, in the evening a crowd gathered at the parliamentary buildings in The Hague to express their anger.

They considered established politics indirectly responsible for the murder of the only politician who dared to speak out and say what they for decades had not been allowed to say.

Although an underground parking garage was set on fire, and politicians perhaps feared this would result in a major uprising, later that night everybody present went home again.

Transcript of Video 1: First responses to the murder of Pim Fortuyn

00:00		Response to the murder, filmed near Pim Fortuyn’s house in Rotterdam, May 6, 2002.
00:04		Shortly after the news of Fortuyn’s murder became known…
00:10		…flowers were laid in front of his house in Rotterdam. Emotions ran high.
00:15		Madam, may I ask you something, are you are very upset? “Shocked.”
00:22		Would you have expected this? “Not at all, no.”
00:26		Do you know Mr. Fortuyn? “Well I am his neighbor, I live around the corner there.”
00:30		Did you ever come to speak to him? “No, I never spoke to him.”
00:34		Did you sympathize with him? “Yes.”
00:38		And what will happen now, do you think, with the Netherlands? “I have no idea…
00:40		…but because those kinds of posters you see there, these kind of things happen.”
00:44		“That is really witch-hunting, and twisting words, and I can’t stand that.”
00:49
00:58		“Hey, this is what you must film! … Hey! F****** dogs!”
01:06		“He is gone isn’t he, Pim!”
01:10		“This you must film, this!… Because of those f****** dogs…”
01:14		“…they have shot him dead …This you must film!”
01:19		“Only now there are police…”
01:23		When you heard it, what did you think? “Terrible… really terrible.”
01:29		“That man wanted to do something. Now he is in his grave.”
01:34		“Just look how many police there are here, normally there is not even a sh** in front of that door.”
01:38		“He had no protection, he had nothing else, had to pay for everything himself.”
01:42		“Look at them filming there, he is lying down there at the RVU [Hilversum TV/Radio studios]. “Under a little white sheet, he is.”
01:49		Will it ever be all right with the Netherlands? “No, it will never be all right here again… never again.”
01:53		“It will never again be all right here.”
01:57		This is terrible. “Yes, it is terrible, yes. It hasn’t settled yet, I don’t know how to respond.”
02:02		I also don’t know yet how the Netherlands will react. Because this just can’t … It just can’t.
02:06		I hope people will remain somewhat calm, but everyone is all upset.
02:10		It is simply not comprehensible… and of course they don’t yet know who did it.
02:15		I even don’t know if he [Fortuyn] is alive, or dead, I came down here straight away … I have no idea.
02:20		What can you do against this? “It is a dream, a bad dream, we are just waking up like this.”
02:24		What can you do against this? “I think we first should let it settle and then see what happens with this.
02:28		But this is simply is not done in the Netherlands. This can’t be anymore.
02:32		It now is over here in this country. In 20-25 years my entire country is messed up.
02:36		In Rotterdam you can not even walk outside peacefully in the evenings.
02:40		My mother lives in The Hague, I just see her neighborhood…
02:44		…it is becoming very impoverished. It is terrible. I do not recognize my country anymore.
02:49		I no longer dare to walk out at night. That’s unbelievable, isn’t it?
02:53		That you simply can’t do that? … Thanks to the PvdA [Socialists, Labor], because they have brought all that in.
02:59
03:05		What do you think of Pim Fortuyn being shot?
03:10		“Huh? … Well, I think that’s good for him. That will teach him.”
03:16		But he is dead, though. “Dead?…”
03:20		“…Then he will soon be in eh …
03:24		You don’t find it terrible? “It doesn’t hurt me. It does not matter to me.”
03:28		“As far as I’m concerned, he may die. That is good for him.”
03:34		But is that not a bit futile and hard? It is about politics, if you don’t agree with someone,
00:38		that does not mean you must shoot him dead? That is perhaps so in other countries, but not in the Netherlands?
03:44		“Yes, maybe, but that is the way it is.”
03:48		When you are raised like that boy, it will end up totally wrong with you. Yeah, then that is our problem.”
03:52		And our problem too. “Yes, also your problem, but if you don’t like someone, well…”
03:56		“…that one also doesn’t like you, and then he just does what he can to you, doesn’t he?”
04:01		But even if you even have no respect for the dead, you cannot live in this country?
04:05		“Ehm… Yes you can. You can live where you want…
04:10		…doesn’t matter. Even if I don’t have any respect, isn’t it true?”
04:14
04:22		Madam, tears in your eyes? “Absolutely, sir…”
04:26		“…I find this so awful, so terrible, that this could happen in the Netherlands.”
04:30		“They should be ashamed of themselves… really. And when I… You know what is the worst?”
04:34		“That those youths there, those Moroccans… are laughing, and say: it’s Allah.”
04:38		“Where will this lead to?… And this was the man who dared to say this.”
04:44		“I find this terrible… If I were a Moroccan here, I would feel so rotten… I would feel rotten.”
04:53		“And why are you laughing then?” [We are not] “And say it is Allah?” [Who… I?]
04:57		“Here, look, he laughs!” [I don’t laugh] “No, you don’t say that…”
05:01		“…you live in the Netherlands, we respect each other.” [But you act so pathetic.]
05:05		“Have respect for each other, boys… I really find this terrible. And I mean that.”
05:11		With each minute, the number of people that come here increases. They are amazed and baffled.
05:15		Some cry, some but are staring ahead at the house of Pim Fortuyn.
05:20		For a second time he has ensured a landslide within a short time span.
05:24		But this time it was not wanted. Nobody had wanted this.
05:31