Abuse by police is known for many years in many countries. It took a video of police taking many minutes to slowly kill a peaceful innocent Black man for the whole world to erupt in protest, to say enough is enough, structural changes are needed, both inside the institution of the police and to dismantle even any sliver of respect for a colonial past and slave trade.
These police murders have a lot in common with uxoricide, the murder of wives by their husbands (or boyfriends or ex-partners), and sororicide, the murder of sisters (‘honor killings,’ by their brothers or fathers, uncles).
● Almost always the perpetrators are men. It’s not corona isolation, it’s not bad marriages, it’s not stress, and it’s not immoral family that did this. It’s men. And just like not all police or all Whites are racist or abuse, not all men are sexists and violent. But, as a society, we must stop being so impressed with powerful men. We need to teach all girls self-defense and self-respect enough to move away from ruthless men in the family. We must appreciate women so much that they would never marry possessive self-centered men.
● This is a total corruption of their function. Police, husbands, and brothers are there to protect, not to possess and murder.
● Almost always they kill full of anger and hatred, without hesitation, without any respect for the person and the life of the victim.
● These kinds of murders are around for a long time and so cruel that the news will not describe the details. Not seldom is such a woman or girl stabbed dozens of times and her body gruesomely mutilated after death.
● These racist and sexist murders are only the tip of the iceberg. Also all intimidation in general of women by their close ones should be exposed as highly problematic, also when it would not end in murder or suicide.
Why did the world explode from the video of the murder of George Floyd and not by unending gynecide, murder of women? Maybe simply because there are no descriptions and no pictures of the latter murders. The previous Shabbat, a husband stabbed his wife 18 times and then jumped out of the window. The news, at one point, showed a picture of his body sprawled out on the concrete driveway. But what was not shown was what he did to the one he was expected to protect. Just before Shabbat, came the news of a husband suspecting of rendering his pregnant wife brain-dead. Since the COVID-19 lockdown in Israel began, four women were murdered and another four victims of domestic abuse committed suicide.
In Iran, the number of ‘honor killings’ is estimated at about two per day, 600 per year. Even when a father murdered his 14-year old daughter who was violated by a stranger, the world did not erupt in protest.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t advocate us all looking at gruesome footage. I didn’t look at the clip of the murder of Mr. Floyd. My retinas saw enough trauma. Surely, seeing was what did it, as I stated before.
Maybe it’s from good taste or to protect us from feeling disgusted that police hide what these girls and women look like after the assault.
But it is also possible that policemen (!) and male reporters and news editors subconsciously don’t want to expose so much male violence.
It seems that we need publication of pictures to cause a similar worldwide storm of protest and calls for reforms to not only stop racist murder and to end institutionalized racism but to get an uprising against sexist murder and to end institutionalized sexism too. Lives of our dearest are at stake.
Show us the mutilations of the murdered wives next to wedding pictures (including the face of the overly sweet husband) and the gruesome wounds of the girls next to her baby pictures! This just needs to stop.
MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. *
As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. *
This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Of the 15 (!) books he has in mind, the next two are about homosexuality in Judaism and new rabbinics. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2600 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog that also may contain updates to Times of Israel posts, to which one may subscribe, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. *
He's getting ready to publicize books on: "Free Will, "Judaism and Homosexuality, "His parents in the Holocaust, "Judaism, "A New Torah Translation and "A New Hebrew Grammar, "Co-Counseling, "Vegan Facts, "Immortality, and more. *
Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He agrees that in a post-truth world, that's irrelevant, but then this is for the record. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. *
Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. *
Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. *
He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. *
He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. *
He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. *
His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. His posts are spell, grammar, and style polished by AI, but all written by himself. *
To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. *
His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
