Word: fortuyn
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...controversial policies—revolving largely around implacable opposition to further Turkish immigration and the potential repatriation of immigrants already within Austria—have served as a ready model for future right-wingers. In fact, only the nationalities involved have changed from campaign to campaign. Pim Fortuyn became Mayor of Rotterdam after attacking the prevalence of gangs of Caribbean youths; the British National Party won an unprecedented 16.4 percent of the vote in the rundown industrial town of Oldham in 2001 for its anti-Pakistani policies. Le Pen, of course, focused his campaign on the criminal tendencies of North...
Many fear that Fortuyn is likely to sow more fear than he dispels. "People basically voted against their own neighbors," says Rotterdam psychotherapist Danny de Vries. "This is a very worrying situation." The Turkish community in the city's Afrikaner neighborhood tried to mobilize the Muslim vote by setting up a polling station in a mosque, but turnout...
Would that it were that simple. Like others of his ilk, notably Austrian Jörg Haider, Fortuyn has surely profited from a sense of public frustration over the cozy consensus among established Dutch political parties. He has played incessantly on distrust of Muslims, and his promises to beef up police evidently appeals to urban dwellers who feel unsafe on their own streets. "Everyone in my local pub voted for him, because there is a small gang of Moroccan kids that terrorize the neighborhood," says Cathy Brouwer, a human-resources worker in Rotterdam. "They somehow think Fortuyn is the answer...
...Fortuyn may have plenty of charisma, but he doesn't yet have much of a political operation. His success in Rotterdam, though, will no doubt help him add to the some 30 candidates - including doctors, lawyers and one police chief - on his Fortuyn List. The ultranationalist Vlaams Blok in neighboring Belgium, which had the strongest showing in 2000 local elections in Antwerp, has been isolated by a cordon sanitaire agreement among other parties. Whether Fortuyn should get the same treatment is already being passionately discussed in the coming months...
...vexing newcomer may yet fade back into obscurity if he is unable to master his quarrelsome tongue. But Fortuyn's strong showing last week suggests that he may not be standing outside when those endless Dutch coalition talks begin this spring...