Nobody denies that Kok et al. were right to be worried about developments in Dutch society after 9-11 and the Dutch elections of 2002. Nobody denies their special reponsibility in terms of leadership. In their own view, they might well have been right in opposing Fortuyn. (I didn’t vote for him or his party either.) But they should not have corrupted the information. [140]
After the 2002 elections, Kok, Melkert and Rosenmöller have left politics. Kok is now at the bank ING and Zalm helped appoint Melkert to the position of Dutch representative at the Worldbank. Have Dutch society and Dutch politics recovered from the Fortuyn ordeal by now ?
It must be observed that there were no other politicians who stood up to defend Fortuyn where he was obviously being demonised. It is basically this group that now has taken over command. Thus, the current Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende kept silent. It later turned out that he had a deal with Fortuyn not to attack each other since they both wanted to replace the sitting coalition. But neither did he defend Fortuyn against the slander. The current leader of the social democrats, Wouter Bos, also gave his silent support to the lies by Melkert. He now admits that some mistakes have been made, though he apparently still supports Kok and Melkert and apparently does not mind that they have tried to fool the public, while it has already been discussed in Dutch newspapers that Melkert might be a candidate to become a European Commissionar. The sad observation remains that while key politicians have stepped down, they have been succeeded by the same breed, the ones who kept silent while Fortuyn was demonised. The Dutch situation still is a mess and science still gets censored.
It is not just the politicians. The 17% who voted for Fortuyn’s party did not become a member of that party. They complain that the government did not provide bodyguards but if they had paid contributions, Fortuyn could have hired those himself. The Dutch have a strange relation to their wallet.
The rest of the world is amazed over the events in Holland, that had such a fine reputation of liberty and tolerance and openness of mind and that uncritically followed Bush and Blair on Iraq, talks about dress codes, the banning of books (even of medieval writers), the return of the death penalty, the closing of “coffee shops”. Some political commentators conclude that the current Dutch government is slowly executing Fortuyn’s agenda. It is hard to judge this, since that agenda was also fuzzy and inconsistent at points. While Holland now seems to get the toughest immigration laws in Europe, it is difficult to call this Fortuyn’s agenda, since that was not Fortuyn’s main point. Also, if you would take immigration and integration serious, I would suggest that my analysis on unemployment is very important for that. It may also be noted that some people continue demonising Fortuyn. Anyway, the real thing that the world should be amazed over is not so much the closing of the Dutch mind but how it came about that this mind is closing.
The point is that Holland still needs to focus on the real questions. If you agree, boycott Holland.
(PM. There is one thing about Fortuyn that needs retelling. After his murder, his party commissioned a statue. This statue was transported to its destination in an open truck in upright position, in proud demonstration. The driver however misjudged a tunnel and in full speed the statue was beheaded. There he was, his person and ambition murdered and his memory turned hilarious… But, that this story is hilarious means that we basically respect Fortuyn as a good man. Otherwise it would be ridiculous. That the story is worth retelling, will contribute to his memory.)
On the European Enlargement
It is good to see the attention that the European Enlargement gets in the media these days.
Of special note is Timothy Garton Ash (2004), that May 1 2004 is the beginning of a new century. This article strikes the proper balance between realism and the idea that we should have a big party. A nice touch are his jokes. Question: “Rebbe, is it possible to create socialism in one country ?” [141] Answer: “Yes it is, but then you must go live in another country.” Question: “Are the Soviets our friends or our brothers ?” Answer: “Our brothers – you can choose your friends.”