NETHERLANDS- FORTUJN'S LAST DAYS

Sep 2002

DUR 6'20"

PARAMEDICS TREATING PIM FORTUJN, PEOPLE MOURNING AND CRYING

PIM FORUJN GIVING INTERVIEWS

CLIPS OF PIM FORTUJN

ROTTERDAM STREET SCENES

PIM FORTUJN PRESS CONFERENCE

MUSLIMS PRAYING IN MOSQUE

CLIPS OF PIM FORTUJN

PEOPLE MOURNING PIM FORTUJN’S DEATH

This is not the story I'd come to Holland for, but here he was, dying in a radio station carpark. Pim Fortujn, admired and hated, a man who provoked reaction now a victim of extremes.

Just last Friday I went to his powerbase In Rotterdam to interview a man who was, prophetically, aware of the dangers his views might provoke.

SYNC PIM FORTUJN:
IT IS DANGEROUS FOR ME WITHOUT SECURITY, IN THE BIG CITIES, TO WALK ON THE STREET, THAT’S DANGEROUS FOR ANYBODY THAT IS A LITTLE BIT FAMOUS IN THIS COUNTRY.

Until today, the worst he suffered was a urine soaked cake. His fame came seemingly from nowhere, with no political experience he led a party that demolished the establishment in the Rotterdam city elections just In March. Social Democrat Els Koeper lost her job as deputy mayor and her political faith.

SYNC ELS KOEPER:
WHEN I UNDERSTOOD THAT SO MANY PEOPLE, MORE THAN ONE THIRD OF THE VOTERS, CHOSE PIM FORTUJN I SORT OF FELT THAT I LOST MY CITY.

Pim Fortujn's message was as simple as It was for many offensive, there are too many Immigrants, and they’re responsible for the crime, close the borders, Holland Is full.

SYNC ARI VAN VANE:
HE USES NORMAL WORDS AND EVERY MAN CAN UNDERSTAND THEM.

Rotterdam butcher Ari Van Vane loves the way Pim Fortujn talks, at last someone was saying what people like him actually thought. Too many immigrants causing too much crime.

SYNC ARI VAN VANE:
THE MOST PEOPLE, THEY HAVE NOTHING, THEY HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE AND THEY ARE COMMITING CRIME HERE.

Ironically, most of his customers are immigrants. Outside there was real fear about what the Fortujn phenomenon might mean.

SYNC KAREN VAN NANNAN:
EVERYBODY IS GOING CRAZY RIGHT NOW BECAUSE LAST SATURDAY THERE WAS A DEBATE ON TELEVISION AND HE WON ALL OF THE DEBATES, I WAS SITTING ON THE COUCH AND I WAS THINKING "WHAT IS THIS NOW?". THESE STUPID PEOPLE ARE REALLY GOING TO VOTE FOR HIM.

Karen Van Nannan came from Jamaica six years ago, she Is worried the openly gay Fortujn would destroy Holland's image as a tolerant and open society.

SYNC KAREN VAN NANNAN:
I THINK HE'S A HYPOCRITE, BECAUSE HE HIMSELF IS GAY AND WHAT WOULD HE SAY IF YOU'RE GOING TO SAY "I DON'T WANT TO STAND FOR PIM FORTUJN BECAUSE HE IS GAY", I MEAN, HE SHOULD THINK ABOUT THAT. WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT DISCRIMINATION, DISCRIMINATION COMES IN A LOT OF FORMS.

But just how far is this charismatic sociologist willing to go to stop immigration? They needed no help when it came to ideas about Islam, according to Pim Fortujn it's a medieval, backward religion.

SYNC PIM FORTUJN:
YES, IT IS A BACKWARD CULTURE, I HAVE WRITTEN A COMPLETE BOOK ABOUT IT AND YOU CAN READ IT ALSO IN ENGLISH BY MR HUNTINGTON AND YOU DON'T SAY TO MR HUNTINGTON, "HE IS A RACIST!".

SYNC MUSLIM:
WE ARE VERY ANGRY AND WE ARE VERY UPSET AND, ALSO, WE DID SOMETHING. WE DIDN'T JUST ACCEPT IT, WE WENT TO THE COURT.

SYNC INTERVIEWER:
YOU UNDERSTAND THOUGH HOW MANY PEOPLE HERE, MANY MUSLIMS AND MANY FOREIGNERS FEEL OUTRAGED, FEEL SCARED, FRIGHTENED AND SEE YOU AS A VERY DANGEROUS MAN.

SYNC PIM FORTUJN:
YOU HAVE HEARD WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT US AND ABOUT OUR CULTURE? STEADY. YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT OUR CULTURE, ABOUT MODERNITY.

SYNC INTERVIEWER:
I'M TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE THAT WALK AROUND WITH DUTCH PASSPORTS. THEY ARE DUTCH, THEY ARE MUSLIM AND THEY'RE AFRAID OF YOU.

SYNC PIM FORTUJN:
YES, SOME OF THEM, BUT THERE ARE ALSO MUSLIMS IN THIS CITY THAT ARE NOT AFRAID OF ME, WHO ARE FANS OF ME, WHO HAVE VOTED IN THE LOCAL ELECTION FOR ME. WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

With views like that, there was never any problem getting attention, with polls predicting his party would win between fifteen and twenty percent of the vote, a coalition government was a strong possibility and more.

SYNC INTERVIEWER:
WILL YOU BE PRIME MINISTER?

SYNC PIM FORTUJN:
MAYBE, AS THE CITIZENS OF HOLLAND SAY YOU HAVE TO BECOME PRIME MINISTER, THEN I ACCEPT THAT VERY, VERY HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY.

Sadly he will be remembered not as the nation's leader but the victim of Holland's first political assassination of modern times. This was the last time I saw him alive, obviously anxious to get away, but his extreme views had marked him, three days later the would be prime minister was dead.

Pim was the party, so what next? In life he stirred division and emotion, his brutal end may also mark the death of an innocence and tolerance for which Dutch society is, or was, famous.