In August 2001, Fortuyn was quoted in the Rotterdams Dagblad (newspaper) as saying, among other things, "I am also in favour of a cold war with Islam. I see Islam as an extraordinary threat, as a hostile society." This was based in his experience with Islamic intolerance for him and the homosexuals lifestyle.
On February 9, 2002, he made further controversial statements in a Dutch newspaper, this time the Volkskrant. He said that the Netherlands, with a population of 16 million, had enough inhabitants, and therefore, the practice of allowing 40,000 asylum-seekers into the country each year had to be stopped. He claimed that if he became part of the next government, he would pursue an exceptionally restrictive immigration policy. Furthermore, he considered Article 7 of the constitution, which asserts freedom of speech, of more importance than Article 1, which forbids discrimination. However, he distanced himself from Hans Janmaat of the Centrumpartij, who in the 1980's wanted to remove all foreigners from the country and was repeatedly convicted for discrimination and hate speech. Fortuyn proposed that people who already resided in the Netherlands be able to stay. He rejected all violence and was not against immigrants as a group, but he would not allow any more Muslims to enter the country if this were legally possible.
When asked by Volkskrant whether he hated Islam, he replied, "I don't hate Islam. I consider it a backward (see note) culture. I have travelled much in the world. And wherever Islam rules, it's terrible. All the hypocrisy. It's a bit like those old Reformed Protestants. The Reformed lie all the time. And why is that? Because they have norms and values that are so high that you can't humanly maintain them. You also see that in Muslim culture. Look at the Netherlands. In what country could a leader of such a large movement as mine be openly homosexual? It's fantastic that it's possible. That's something that we can be proud of. And I want to keep it that way."
Fortuyn was author of the 1997 book Against the Islamicization of Our Culture.
'Note' The Dutch word he used to express "backward" bears the more negative connotations of the word "retarded".
On May 6, 2002, at age 54, he was assassinated by an animal-rights activist named Volkert van der Graaf. The attack took place in a parking garage outside a radio studio in Hilversum, where Fortuyn had just given an interview. This was nine days before the elections for the lower house of Parliament, for which he was running. The attacker was pursued by witnesses and was arrested by the police shortly afterwards, still in possession of a gun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn(IB) On economic policy, Fortuyn supported Margaret Thatcher/Ronald Reagan style policies, wanted to cut taxes on the wealthy to spur growth, and supporting cutting government benefits and welfare to the poor and immigrants, instead suggested drafting those on public assistance into the military or social work.
Theo van Gogh
Van Gogh was a member of the Dutch republican society Republikeins Genootschap which advocates the abolition of the Dutch monarchy, and a friend and supporter of the controversial Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn who was assasinated in 2002. He was also a staunch supporter of President Bush, and the American-led invasion of Iraq, although he has revised his stance to a more neutral one in 2004, the year he was assassinated.
As a newspaper columnist, he was known for being provocative and politically incorrect. He caused resentment in the Moroccan community by consistently referring to them as "geitenneukers" (goatfuckers), which he justified by reference to alleged remarks on the permissibility of bestiality in a book on Islamic law by the Ayatollah Khomeini. In addition, van Gogh incurred the anger of leading members of the Jewish community by making comments about what he saw as the Jewish preoccupation with Auschwitz and by making jokes like "What a smell of caramel today. Today the crematoriums burn only diabetic Jews". When he was criticized by the Jewish historian Evelien Gans, he wrote in Folia Civitatis magazine: "I suspect that Ms Gans gets wet dreams about being fucked by Dr Mengele" and expressed the wish that she would sue him so that she would have to explain in court why his remarks were false.
Van Gogh's film Submission
Working from a script by Hirsi Ali, van Gogh created the 10-minute movie Submission. The film is about violence against women in Islamic societies. It shows four abused women, naked under see-through dresses with Qur'anic verses in Arabic unfavourable to women, painted on their bodies. After the movie was released, both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali received death threats. Van Gogh did not take these very seriously and refused any protection.
Van Gogh's murder
Van Gogh was murdered in the early morning of Tuesday November 2, 2004, in Amsterdam in front of the Amsterdam East borough office (stadsdeelkantoor) on the corner of the Linnaeusstraat and Tweede Oosterparkstraat streets. He was shot with eight bullets from a HS2000 (a handgun produced in 2000 in Croatia) and died on the spot. His throat was slit, and he was then stabbed in the chest. Two knives were left inplanted in his torso, one pinning a five-page note to his body. The note threatened Western governments, Jews and Hirsi Ali (who went into hiding). The note also contains references to the ideologies of the Egyptian organization Takfir wal-Hijra.
The alleged killer Mohammed Bouyeri, a 26-year-old man of Dutch and Moroccan nationalities, was apprehended by the police after being shot in the leg. Although born in Amsterdam, well-educated and apparently well-integrated, Bouyeri became a Muslim extremist and has alleged terrorist ties. In the Dutch media the suspect is called Mohammed B., since it is common practice in The Netherlands to abbreviate the surnames of crime suspects (or even convicts) in order to protect their privacy. He is also charged with attempted murder of a police officer and bystander, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiring to murder others, including Hirsi Ali.
Until his death Van Gogh was working on a movie (0605) about the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn. The film is set for premiere on December 15, 2004 on the internet through a Dutch ISP, which also financed the movie.
Van Gogh was cremated on November 9, 2004 in Amsterdam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director)
(IB) Netherlanders responded to the murder of Van Gogh by among other things, burning down mosques, Muslim elementary schools, and Christian churches, and holding formal "Citizenship Discussions" - in Dutch only - all around the country in public places to define "what it means to be Dutch".
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