Pim Fortuyn
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Pim Fortuyn, (February 19, 1948 – May 6, 2002), was a controversial, openly gay, charismatic populistic right-wing politician in the Netherlands. He was assassinated for his anti-immigration positions during the 2002 Dutch national election campaign by Volkert van der Graaf, who confessed in court to murdering Fortuyn
Fortuyn was the centre of controversy for his views on Islam and his anti-immigration positions. He called Islam "a backward culture" and said that if it were legally possible he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants.
He was labelled a far-right populist by his opponents and in the media, but he fiercely rejected this label and distanced himself clearly from far-right politicians such as Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Blok (now Vlaams Belang), Jörg Haider of Austria or Jean-Marie Le Pen of France whenever compared to them. While Fortuyn compared his own politics to centre-right politicians such as Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, he also admired former Dutch Prime Minister Joop den Uyl, a socialist. Fortuyn could be considered a nationalist, on cultural rather than racial grounds. There are also parallels to cultural protectionism as seen in Canada and other nations in the West.[1] [May 2007]
