January 9, 2011

Immigration controversy leads to political assassination

As I wrote on May 8, 2002
More than a few members of Europe's political establishment appear to believe that Pim Fortuyn -- the frank anti-immigration Dutch politician who was assassinated Monday, allegedly by a leftist activist -- had it coming.

... In response to his killing, El Mundo, a leading Spanish paper, cast much of the blame on the victim in convoluted but clearly angry prose: "A criminal response to the incendiary racist calls of these distant heirs of Nazism, introduces a terrible new element in a Europe that is fearful and harassed by demagoguery: that of vengeful violence, which can only engender more violence."

... Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel implied that the dead man had been just too darn democratic for a modern Euro-democracy: "Democratic parties have to campaign in a very cautious way, and in a balanced and serene way to try to orientate the debate toward democratic values.

... The Irish Times editorialized, "It is the very essence of democracy to allow anti-democratic views to be expressed." Apparently, trying to win an election on an anti-immigration plank is inherently "anti-democratic."

... Mainstream newspapers and politicians hinted that Fortuyn was a racist, a fascist or even a Nazi. The Irish Times went on: "Nevertheless the murder will serve to highlight the rise of the far right in European politics and may in the long run gain votes for those involved in simplistic, racially-motivated campaigns. Today, on the 57th anniversary of the defeat of fascism, such trends strike a sad note."

... Norman Lamont, the former Tory chancellor of the exchequer, wrote, "Britain has been fortunate to avoid the rise of extreme Right-wing, hateful politicians like Jean-Marie Le Pen and Pim Fortuyn, the Dutchman who was murdered in Hilversum."

... Aftonbladet, the leading circulation Swedish newspaper, weighed in with, "The brown parties of Europe have a new martyr." Brown was Hitler's color.

To quote from my VDARE article later:

Holland's flamboyant gay immigration reformer had been gunned down on the verge of what later proved  to be a major electoral breakthrough - just after Jean-Marie Le Pen's surprise second place finish in the opening round of the French presidential election had set off a continent-wide two-week campaign of virulent hatred toward immigration reformers.

When reports emerged that the leftwing lawyer who had shot Fortuyn was an animal rights activist, the European Establishment breathed a sigh of relief. The gunman was just some animal rights loony. Vilification of immigration reformers had nothing to do with it.

Whew!

Well, guess what? The assassin, Volkert van der Graaf, finally made his confession in court this last week. And—what do you know! – he says he killed Fortuyn largely for opposing Muslim immigration.

The London Daily Telegraph reported:
"Facing a raucous court on the first day of his murder trial, he said his goal was to stop Mr. Fortuyn exploiting Muslims as 'scapegoats' and targeting "the weak parts of society to score points" to try to gain political power. He said: 'I confess to the shooting. He was an ever growing danger who would affect many people in society. I saw it as a danger. I hoped that I could solve it myself.'"

The Boston Globe noted:
"Van der Graaf said that he had sensed an increasingly unpleasant and anti-Muslim atmosphere in society after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States—a time when Fortuyn's star was beginning its meteoric rise. Van der Graaf said Fortuyn, 54, had tried to use that atmosphere for his own aggrandizement. 'I saw him as a highly vindictive man who used feelings in society to boost his personal stature. The ideas he had about refugees, asylum seekers, the environment, animals. . . . He was always using or abusing the weak side of society to get ahead.'"

Reported Expatica.com:
"Van der Graaf claimed, according to the Algemeen Dagblad, he was greatly influenced by politicians who compared Fortuyn with Austrian far-right leader Jorg Haider and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini."

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Muslim "immigration" is the worst thing that could ever happen to Europe. Europeans will truly rue the day they allowed it. Wait and see.

Le Sigh said...

If you wanted people to discuss the events in Arizona, wouldn't it be better to mention it directly rather than cite an incident that happened way back in 2002? Was it for reasons of taste? Heh, don't bother Stevie, you're way past that point.

Anonymous said...

Almost too obvious to point out, but Sudden Muslim Syndrome is never blamed on Democrats, despite a significant portion of homegrown Muslim terrorists being Democrats.

Kylie said...

From The Grauniad comment section:

"ArbeitMachtBarryFry
9 January 2011 12:48AM
Barack Obama should use this recent shooting as a 'reichstag fire' moment and ban the Republican party as a terrorist organisation. I would completely support this as a move."



Nazi commenter at The Grauniad

Anonymous said...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/13/amexica-war-ed-vulliamy-review

Worth reading maybe?

Doug1 said...

He should get the death penalty.

Wait, what?!!

Anonymous said...

what esackly is your point sir?

the shooter in this case is not a political terrorist but in fact just a plain ole' looney who has completely lost his mind.

he ain't no terrorist!

Anonymous said...

You come off as a very cranky individual notwithstanding your efforts at sounding "neutral" or only as a casual observer or only as someone who is above it all and only amused.

Mike Courtman said...

According to the arguments of pro-immigration liberals, all one has to do is set themselves up as a populist immigration restrictionist of some sort and you will be showered in money and power. Therefore all immigration restrictionists must be shallow opportunists looking for an easy route to wealth and power.

It never occurs to them that it might actually be harder swimming against the current and that the easier route for the power hungry might be to grease up to the establishment.

Anonymous said...

Wheat from the chaff time:

1.) What is Giffords' position on immigration?
2.) Is there any evidence the child-killer of yesterday was angry about her position on immigration?

Anonymous said...

Le Sigh has a point. C'mon, Steve. This isn't the FrumForum. What are your thoughts on the Arizona shooting?

Kylie said...

"If you wanted people to discuss the events in Arizona, wouldn't it be better to mention it directly rather than cite an incident that happened way back in 2002?"

You really don't get it, do you?


"Was it for reasons of taste? Heh, don't bother Stevie, you're way past that point."

Yes, he passed that point once he started posting your often creepy and always tacky comments.

Anonymous said...

Chris Sailer... started up a successful placekicking and longsnapping tutoring business.

This combination of expert coaching, advertising, and channeling has meant that NDHS has routinely had for the last decade field goal kickers who have connected on 50+ yard field goals. That would have been extremely unlikely for any high school a generation ago before all this specialized tutoring and channeling of talent got going.


Chris "Chinese Mother" Sailer?!?

Anonymous said...

Did anyone ever figure out who was rioting in France? Was it Arabs or blacks or both?

The pictures seemed to show a lot of blacks involved in the rioting. Even when the Arabs participated, I noticed it seemed like one black guy would be leading around a bunch of Arabs, almost like they were his lackeys. If I had to guess, I'd say blacks instigated the rioting, but Arabs opportunistically followed suit.

If we have any French commentators here, I'd like to hear from them.

Anonymous said...

> wouldn't it be better to mention it directly rather than cite an incident that happened way back in 2002? Was it for reasons of taste?

Next time read slower. As you can see, the left lied about the motives of the assassin of Fortuyn, and their dissimulation was undermined this very week - well, last week. It's just possible that they might lie again sometime in the future or the immediate past - so steel yerself, young mortal.

Anonymous said...

I think Steve's point is that genuine (non-insane) political terrorists interested in the immigration issue exist...and they are for killing restrictionists. As contrasted with the mentally ill shooter in America a couple days ago, whom the media is trying absurdly to fit into a political frame.

Anonymous said...

Off topic, but there's ironic news today that Mayor Bloomberg, who has been such a huge proponent of standardized testing in education, wants to gut standardized testing for civil service hiring. You see, all those Teddy Roosevelt rules to get rid of the spoils system are now outdated, and test results aren't that informative anyway. It's amazing how the elite can juggle all their contradictory ideas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/nyregion/07civil.html?src=twrhp

Anonymous said...

... Norman Lamont, the former Tory chancellor of the exchequer, wrote, "Britain has been fortunate to avoid the rise of extreme Right-wing, hateful politicians like Jean-Marie Le Pen and Pim Fortuyn, the Dutchman who was murdered in Hilversum."


Britain would have been more fortunate had it avoided the rise of the extreme left, as well as the far left, and the left and the moderate left as they all vote alike; against the people.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said:

You come off as a very cranky individual notwithstanding your efforts at sounding "neutral" or only as a casual observer or only as someone who is above it all and only amused.

What? The Mighty Steve "neutral," "a casual observer," "above it all"? If you stick around you'll find that Steve Sailer is very opinionated (and NOT in a casual manner). He takes these things seriously. Do you think he'd be so popular if he tried to be hip and indifferent?

Vilko said...

Did anyone ever figure out who was rioting in France? Was it Arabs or blacks or both?
I live in a lousy suburban town east of Paris (lots of housing projects). It was one of the places where the November 2005 riots began. For one month I had to walk for half an hour to catch the commuter train because bus drivers didn't dare driving through the neighborhood. I saw burnt cars now and then, but at no time did I feel threatened (I'm a white cop, and where I live I don't boast about my profession, for obvious reasons).

I don't know about other places, but where I live Arab delinquents have been largely replaced by Black gangs maybe ten years ago. It looks like the Blacks have grown their own variety of the "US gangsta rapper" subculture, unlike Arab youths who seem to be largely under islamic influence (yes, that's where we are here). In the Turkish kebab joints where many people go, you can hear Arab youths chatting, and they always seem to fast during the Ramadan, even the ones who really look like thugs.

Organized criminals didn't like the riots, for they made their business more hazardous. And their imams were against the riots, too, because islamic influence in France is growing without any need of riots. For instance, only 6% or so of the people who live in France eat hallal, but roughly 30% of the meat is hallal. Even riot police units are sometimes served hallal meat which they didn't request!

Anonymous said...

I am betting that the powers that be are already trying to persuade this loon to blame A.R. and the like for his murdering rampage in exchange for leniency.

MDR

Usually Lurking said...

Le Sigh, do you have anything to offer this blog other than snark? I haven't seen you make even one thoughtful contribution. Just a little hint, you're nowhere near as clever as you seem to think you are. Maybe one day you'll grow up and realize how dumb you really were, but maybe not. Now why don't you run along and let the adults have their conversation, mkay?

Steve, please ban the IP address, you'll find that the quality of comments will be improved slightly.

Kylie, stop responding to her in every thread. Your obsession is almost as dumb and annoying as her posts.

american fez said...

Let us simply hope that the current "climate of hate" does not prove to be a Van der Graaf generator. A globe with more Van der Graaf's on the loose would really make my hair stand on end.

Matra said...

The Arizona killings sure are getting a lot more attention from the US media than Omar Thornton got when he shot dead 9 white co-workers in Connecticut last summer.

Silver said...

Re Fortuyn's killer's confession of motive.

Heh, socialists lie about everything because they have to. It's really remarkable how diligently they go about it, too. Nothing but nothing, nothing, nothing can be permitted to stand in their way of toppling "capitalism."

If the consequences didn't stand to be so nasty for everyone else, you could really sit back and savor, say, muslims, thoroughly riding roughshod over everything socialist scum value, and ringing their erstwhile socialist mentors' heads to boot.

Capitalists will sell you the rope you hang them with; socialists will just give it to you.

none of the said...

Matra:

Shooting a congressman and a judge (and a bunch of bystanders) at a political rally gets both media attention and speculation about political motivations, in ways that shooting up your office just never will. The resulting conversation is mostly pretty shallow, because thats what the US MSM are like. But this shooting, like the Ft Hood shooting, is inherently more newsworthy than the run of the post office kind of mass shooting.

Anonymous said...

Illegal aliens are not IMMIGRANTS, they are federal criminals and should not be given my tax dollars. This isn't North Mexico! Agree with me? http://upc.bz/0168

Anonymous said...

>this shooting, like the Ft Hood shooting, is inherently more newsworthy than the run of the post office kind of mass shooting<

Yeah, for a few days they even ignored the other victims - the ones who actually died - in favor of concentrating on "Gabby."

Members of the ruling class are way more important than the run of the red state peasants.

Jacob said...

Therefore all immigration restrictions must be shallow opportunists looking for an easy route to wealth and power.