Ode to Noor van CrevelWhat decisiveness, what courage and what fearlessness!
Noor van Crevel about 70 years old, photographer Gon Buurman
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Dear Noor,
I am grateful to you!
50 years ago, in 1974, you and several other women founded the first Blijf van m'n Lijf house here in Amsterdam. You wanted to address abuses women face and chose a shelter for abused women and their children. You squatted a building on Stadhouderskade and opened the doors. From day one the house was full. Stay of my Life was opened!
What decisiveness, what courage and what fearlessness! At a time when the world was blind to violence against women and prevailing opinion denied women's abuse, you dared to go against the grain. You flouted those short-sighted beliefs and stood unwavering.
What you do must matter and what you do must be good. With this you inspired your fellow activists and you were willing to constantly do things that had not been done before. And with success!
“None of this would have come about without your activism and has sprung from the seed planted by you.”
Now, 50 years later, wife abuse is no longer denied. Unfortunately, it is unabated. Governments make policy and violence behind the front door is no longer a private problem. Blijf van m'n Lijf Amsterdam has grown into the organization where I work; Blijf Groep, leading in the Netherlands. Countless women and children have stepped into a safe situation. Aid has been developed and knowledge about the violence and the damage it causes has increased enormously through scientific research. None of this would have come about without your activism and has come from the seed planted by you.
So much has changed. There are systems and structures that were lacking in your time. These provide footholds and opportunities but at the same time they are limiting and oppressive. Your original determination, holding on against the current is therefore still needed. I sometimes envy how you took direct action back then, without waiting for approval or permission. It is that mentality, the ability to just do it, that I admire and miss in today's world!
Stay of my Life is no longer the name we fight under, but everyone, really everyone, knows this name! It remains a behemoth, a symbol of the fighting spirit and independence in thought and action that you have put down.
Noor, what started on Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam has grown into something big and meaningful! Thank you for that.
Jolanda
About
Ode by Jolanda Vader to Noor van Crevel.
Noor van Crevel founded the first Blijf van mn Lijf Huis in Amsterdam. The city offered a breeding ground for this initiative and she found supporters here. The fearlessness and decisiveness suits Amsterdam and the initiative was embraced by the city and the municipality.
Noor van Crevel
Noor van Crevel (The Hague, April 4, 1929 - Amsterdam, May 6, 2019) was a social worker and feminist, one of the founders of the lesbian action group Purple September (1972) and of the first Blijf-van-m'n-Lijf Huis (1974), and co-founder of the Jewish Blanes Foundation.