From: "Ozgur Budak" <budak-AT-egenet.com.tr> Subject: Ynt: The rat catcher Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 15:19:23 +0300 Thanks for the post I couldn't make the connection with the story of the rat catcher though; did somebody take all children from the town :) Ps: Congratulations to the Feyenoord fans btw for their protests in the stadium. Best Ozgur ----- Original Message ----- From: Erik <jehms-AT-kabelfoon.nl> To: bourdieu <bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu> Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 1:27 PM Subject: The rat catcher > I'm not sure if the story of the rat catcher exists in other European > countries, but is rather well known in Holland. It's about a flute > player who can enchant the rats, which follow him when he plays. He > leads the rats out of town to some place far away whence they never return. > I gave this title to this e-mail but it's uncertain whether this title > is appropriate. I want to tell you about a which hunt which is taking > place in the Netherlands now and which turns the country upside down and > in utter confusion. I've only begun to understand some of the dynamics, > but it's fascinating stuff for anthropologists and sociologists. > It all began about a year ago, when a political columnist named Pim > Fortuyn announced that he was going into politics. A month or so later > he gave an interview and said he was going to become president of the > Netherlands. He was an interesting speaker and got a lot of media > attention. > Then the Moroccan muslim imam El Mumni said in a speech that homosexuals > were a danger for the future of mankind because of procreational limits > and lower then pigs and dogs in the animal kingdom, because there are no > homosexual pigs and dogs (in less ironic words). Pim was a very > flamboyant homosexual and he reacted furiously. He announced that he > wanted to close the borders for muslims if he came in power and that the > islam was a backward culture. Moreover, the country was full, no > immigrants should be allowed anyway. On other subjects he sort of wanted > to reorganize the country into a businesslike structure, where all > sitting politicians would loose their jobs. About two months ago he > published a booklet with his ideas. In the meantime a group of > successful local parties had formed a national combination. They wanted > to give the man in the street more political influence. They choose Pim > as their leader. The booklet was a commercial success, but a political > failure. Once printed it was easy to show how unrealistic Pim's ideas > were. Pim never had the patience to calculate the consequences of his > intuitions. He hoped to get someone else to do it, once he had power. > After a week the booklet was nothing but a collectors item. Recently an > investigation of the Economist proved that the main thesis of the > booklet was totally wrong: the Netherlands are not in a desperate > situation, on the contrary its doing quite well. > Then Pim said in an interview that he wanted to alleviate the > constitutional laws against discrimination. Consternation: the party who > had chosen him as their leader threw him out. Some comparisons were made > with the rising of Hitler in Germany, after all it was only a month or > so before war memorial day. A few weeks later Pim founded his own party > and won with a local party who also had chosen him as their leader, the > local elections in Rotterdam. In the national polls his became the third > party, about 20% of the voters were at his side. He was in the media > everywhere, especially since he seemed to have great tactics in debates: > by rising his voice, ad hominem jokes, radical statements and irrelevant > sidelines he could create confusion, prevent his opponents to make their > point and let his charming smile do the rest. The old bureaucrats were > not used to this political street fighting, they wanted to be serious, > throw with figures and statistics. Pim didn't bother. He was going to > become the queen. Still some leftist politicians were quick learners > however and Pim lost face and the debate quite a few times, which made > him very angry. Like most narcissistic personalities he was very > reluctant to comment on his own words, and that was precisely what his > opponents did or made him do. He threw many a journalist out of his > house, who confronted him with his own statements, even John Simmons > from the BBC. During this interview he showed his inability to speak > decent English, which is very revealing as to his scientific > background. A right wing politician, who knew him personally quite well, > said that Pim would be ridiculed in international political circles. Pim > was not very pleased with all the attacks and complained he was being > demonized, made into a devil. > May 6th, at 6 o'clock: Pim is shot to death after a radio interview. The > killer is apprehended within the hour, arrested, but refuses to comment. > He's a environmental lawyer. Confusion everywhere. People show all kinds > of mourning. The members of his party, personally elected by Pim > himself, looked like the seven dwarfs after the death of Snow-white: 'he > taught us every week and gave us homework, we just finished our homework > and now he's gone', they said. During the days after his death more 7000 > people signed the mourning registers and many thousands took part in > silent marches, in tears. Many who said not to have bothered about > politics before suddenly became interested. People say they feel > something precious has been taken away from them. The party goes on in > the spirit of Pim to preserve the ideas of Pim. Pim is more popular then > Santa Claus, Pim is the messiah of xenophobia. > Tomorrow there will be national elections. The Dutch government has > developed into a karteldemocracy, and was a coalition with capitalists > and socialists during the past 8 years. It 's against this kartel form, > which makes a very slow, but stable kind of government and where the > influence of the political parties has spread through all governmental > institutions, that Pim's attacks were made. Now Pim's mourning has been > another media hype and Pim's followers are looking for revenge. The > National Security Office taps the phones of everybody who has any > connections with environmental movements. Politicians, especially left > wingers, have been accused of being coresponsable for the murder and > fear for their safety. Two lawyers are preparing a complaint against > those politicians for spreading hatred. Journalists are afraid to write > objectively. And Pim's party, a fan club of uneducated inexperienced > people will probably become the biggest party. This means a lot of > trouble. This means that the bureaucrats will take over, because the > government will be powerless. > What me strikes me as very interesting is that the myth of Pim the > saviour is not evident from the facts, but apparently there has been a > myth of a saviour sleeping in the minds of the uneducated man in the > street and the businessmen (which are most of Pim followers). It > accommodates the spirit of revenge (resentment) against left wing > politics and against intellectuals. It destroys in one blow the Dutch > 'polder model' of compromise politics. Looking at remarkable changes in > elections all over the world, I suppose there will be much to study > about the social dynamics. > > have fun, otherwise sorry for the long e-mail > > regards > > erik > > > ********************************************************************** > Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu > Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu > Requests: bourdieu-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu > ********************************************************************** Contributions: bourdieu-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu Commands: majordomo-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu Requests: bourdieu-approval-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
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