Chicago Dyke March & Women Asked To Leave It Offer Different Accounts Of Conflict Over Star Of David Pride Flags

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 27, 2017 10:05PM

Dyke March 2017, Photo by Tyler LaRiviere/Chicagoist

With the controversy over Chicago Dyke March organizers' decision to eject two women carrying rainbow pride flags with Stars of David from the Saturday afternoon rally reaching a national audience, Chicago Dyke March Collective released a new statement on what happened Tuesday afternoon, with a longer explanation for why the women were told to leave.

Dyke March previously released a statement saying the women were asked to leave because the women "repeatedly expressed support for Zionism" (a controversial Israeli political ideology) "during conversations with Chicago Dyke March Collective members." Dyke March organizer Iliana Figueroa also told Chicagoist on Sunday afternoon that the women were asked to leave because their flags symbolized a threat (whether inadvertent or intentional) to Palestinians for some people at the march.

In this new statement, Dyke March organizers say the women were ejected because they expressed "Zionist views that go directly against the march’s anti-racist core values"—in particular, by changing the wording of pro-Palestine chants during the march. The statement also shows that one of the women had texted with an organizer before the event to ask whether her flag would be welcome there, and she was told it would be:

The group in question was heard disrupting chants, replacing the word “Palestine” with “everywhere,” saying: “From everywhere to Mexico, border walls have got to go.” One of the individuals, Laurel Grauer, is the Regional Director of A Wider Bridge, an organization with ties to the Israeli government that was protested for pinkwashing at the Creating Change Conference in Chicago in 2016. It was later revealed that Laurel was aware of Dyke March’s anti-Zionist position from pro-Palestine memes and art that were posted on the Dyke March page, and was also aware of the fact that her flag could be interpreted as being at odds with that position. The night before, she contacted an organizer to ask if her flag would “be protested.” The organizer told her the flag was welcome, but reminded her that the space is one that supports Palestinian rights.

The statement also links to a video interview in which a man says he witnessed the women changing chants and behaving disrespectfully. The video also explains the Dyke March Collective's stance on Zionism, a controversial political ideology that some people believe advocates violent oppression, and others says has actually been misrepresented and distorted in the wake of the Dyke March controversy.

The two women ejected from the post-Dyke March rally, Eleanor Shoshany Anderson and Laurie Grauer, told Chicagoist on Tuesday afternoon that the Dyke March Collective's statement is inaccurate. They never changed the language of chants during the march, they said. If they were unsure about participating in a chant, they simply remained silent, they said.

"That never happened," Grauer said, in response to the claim about her disrupting or changing marching chants. "I would never do that. I understand when you're in a social action or march that there are many things they're standing for, and I agree with a lot. So for the chants I agreed with, I chanted, and for those I didn't, I still marched, and I remained respectfully silent."

Grauer and Shoshany Anderson also dispute the claim that they were marching as a group. They said they separated numerous times during the march and were not together during much of the march's collective chanting. They also reiterated that Dyke March organizers told them to leave specifically because they refused to fold up their pride flags.

"I didn't change any chants," Shoshany Anderson said. "I purposely stayed away from chanting just to avoid embroiling myself in some confrontation like this."

And that's not the reason she was asked to leave, she added. "The chants were not something anyone talked about while they were kicking us out. They very specifically said we could furl the flags, or leave. what they are writing is just plain inaccurate. They were very, very clear that the problem was the Star of David and the choice was to furl the flag, or to leave... Anyone who was there can tell you that our flag was the sticking point, the focal point of everything."

Shoshany Anderson also said that she did not discuss Zionism with anyone at the march or rally. In our phone call, she did however note that she believes the Dyke March Collective's statement that Zionism is an "inherently white-supremacist ideology" is wrong. "There's an ignorance about the nuances of the history behind all of this," she said.

Chicagoist has reached out to the Dyke March Collective for a response, and will update this post whenever possible.

The full statement from Dyke March reads:

On June 24th, 2017, a small group of individuals were asked to leave Chicago Dyke March for expressing Zionist views that go directly against the march’s anti-racist core values. In the days following, articles have appeared in a number of major news outlets that put forward false reports based on testimony that is purposefully misleading. We wish to clarify the circumstances under which organizers and community members alike asked the group to leave.

The group in question was heard disrupting chants, replacing the word “Palestine” with “everywhere,” saying: “From everywhere to Mexico, border walls have got to go.” One of the individuals, Laurel Grauer, is the Regional Director of A Wider Bridge, an organization with ties to the Israeli government that was protested for pinkwashing at the Creating Change Conference in Chicago in 2016. It was later revealed that Laurel was aware of Dyke March’s anti-Zionist position from pro-Palestine memes and art that were posted on the Dyke March page, and was also aware of the fact that her flag could be interpreted as being at odds with that position. The night before, she contacted an organizer to ask if her flag would “be protested.” The organizer told her the flag was welcome, but reminded her that the space is one that supports Palestinian rights.

(Screenshot of text messages sent from Laurel Grauer to CDMC organizer the night before Dyke March)

Upon arrival at the rally location in Piotrowski Park, Palestinian marchers approached those carrying the flags to learn more about their intentions, due to its similarity to the Israeli flag and the flag’s long history of use in Pinkwashing efforts. During the conversation, the individuals asserted their Zionist stance and support for Israel. At this point, Jewish allies and Dyke March organizers stepped in to help explain why Zionism was unacceptable at the march. There was an earnest attempt at engagement with these marchers, and the decision to ask them to leave was not made abruptly nor arbitrarily. Throughout a two-hour conversation, the individuals were told that the march was explicitly anti-Zionist, and that if they were not okay with that, they should leave.

Zionism is an inherently white-supremacist ideology. It is based on the premise that Jewish people have a God-given entitlement to the lands of historic Palestine and the surrounding areas. This ideology has been used to justify dozens of laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel, segregated road systems in the West Bank, and forced removal of Palestinian families from their homes in order to make way for Jewish-only housing, among other violent and discriminatory practices. We recognize that Zionism is not synonymous with Judaism, but instead represents an ideology that uses legacies of Jewish struggle to justify violence.

Chicago Dyke March Collective is a grassroots mobilization and celebration of dyke, queer, bisexual, and transgender resilience. Our priority is to ensure a safer space for those who are most marginalized. We welcome and include people of all identities, but not all ideologies. We believe in creating a space free from oppression, and that involves rejecting racist ideologies that support state violence. We welcome the support we have received from Jewish allies and marchers who are as invested in liberation as we are.

The threats that have been made to Chicago Dyke March and its organizers by Zionists worldwide does not even compare to the violence that Palestinians endure on a daily basis while living under Israeli military rule in the name of Zionism. Palestine is being occupied by Israeli military forces, and at the time of writing, Gaza is currently being bombed. This is what we as a collective are most concerned with. Palestinians deserve to live free from violence, and Dyke March will continue to fight for Palestinians alongside all other oppressed communities around the world.

Dyke March has received statements of solidarity from several local organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace - Chicago, Black and Pink Chicago and Fed Up Fest Chicago. Statements of opposition have also been released by several organizations, including a Change.org petition from A Wider Bridge, the Israeli LGBTQ organization where Grauer works as a regional manager. The petition, which calls for an apology from Dyke March, has over 6,400 signatures.