Activist Expelled from Jewish Voice for Peace
Open letter from Ann Menasche, a leading organizer for the San Diego chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace who was undemocratically kicked out for her radical feminist views
Recently, an acquaintance of mine from the socialist group Organizing Committee for a Democratic Revolutionary Left, Ann Menasche, was expelled from the San Diego chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace in a highly undemocratic, secretive fashion by two members who disagreed with her gender-critical views and advocacy of women’s sex-based rights. A socialist, civil rights attorney, and lifelong antiwar and social justice activist, Ann is a founding member of the radical feminist organization Feminists in Struggle. Two years ago, Ann was also fired from her job with a California civil rights organization, Disability Rights California, merely for making the point that abortion rights pertain to females as a sex, and is currently suing her former employer. Below is an open letter Ann wrote to the national Jewish Voice for Peace organization concerning her expulsion from the San Diego chapter:
We, the undersigned, supporters of Palestinian liberation, express our outrage and deep disappointment at the effective removal of Ann Menasche, a lesbian, and a long-time socialist, feminist, Green Party member, and anti-war activist, from San Diego’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter and her exclusion from its activities. Ann was removed from the active JVP Signal group and excluded from a 12/7/23 Hanukkah protest to demand a permanent ceasefire, a protest that she had initiated and was centrally involved in organizing. JVP leaders even went to the great length of a last-minute change in location of the Hanukkah event—risking a lower turn-out and loss of press coverage—to prevent Ann from attending the event.
The de-facto expulsion had nothing to do with San Diego JVP’s assessment of Ann’s quality as an activist. One of the JVP leaders involved in this action against her described Ann as “a clearly powerful and seasoned organizer.” Rather, the sole reason for Ann’s removal and exclusion was her gender critical views, which were never even expressed within JVP, including her support for the rights of women and girls based on sex, the rights of lesbians based on sex/sexual orientation, and her leadership in a left-wing, multi-issue radical feminist group called Feminists in Struggle. The JVP leaders labelled Ann’s views “anti-trans.” She was told she would be excluded from the chapter unless she recanted and apologized for those views. Ann declined to do so.
The entire process involving two leaders of the San Diego chapter and Ann took place on Signal behind the backs of the rest of the chapter members. Ann was given no opportunity to defend herself and appeal their decision to local membership nor to any national JVP body.
San Diego’s two JVP leaders wrote, “For the safety of our trans members who plan to attend Thursday’s action, we’re asking that you do not attend, unless you agree to engage…on this thread and/or over the phone to discuss a repair process that would involve publicly apologizing for these and any other public statements denying trans rights, and affirming trans rights and liberation are inextricably linked to Palestinian rights and liberation.”
Ann explained that she supports “the right of trans people and all gender nonconforming people, gay or straight, to dress and express themselves as they like, be free from violence and harassment and from discrimination in employment and housing.”
“What I have a problem with,” Ann continued, “is claims to rights that run up against the rights of women as a sex and the rights of lesbians as a sexual orientation.”
Ann asked the two JVP leaders to clarify what trans rights they were referring to and what specifically she was required to believe. They failed to answer her questions. Instead, the two leaders insisted that Ann could only rejoin the chapter “once repairs are made,” i.e., if she renounced her views.
We are frankly baffled by JVP’s claim that the safety of trans JVP members is placed at risk merely by being present in the same crowd as Ann, peacefully protesting together against the ongoing genocide against the people of Gaza. Excluding people like Ann for her gender critical views from JVP events makes no more sense than excluding members of the Muslim community who may not support same sex marriage with the claim that their presence is “unsafe” for lesbian and gay JVP members. Both harm the ability to build JVP as a force to be reckoned with.
In addition, not only are the topics that Ann has opined on outside of JVP entirely irrelevant to the pressing need to stop a genocide, but they are also a matter of legitimate debate within the Left. There is worldwide discussion in left wing, progressive, feminist, and LGBT circles of gender identity issues including medical transition for minors, the right of lesbians and gay men to socialize with and date only those of the same sex, and the impact of self-ID policies on the rights of the female sex to safety, privacy, and equal rights and opportunity. Liberal countries such as Sweden have begun to severely restrict child medical transition as having risks exceeding the benefits.1 In the UK, the Labour Party no longer promotes self-ID.2 The Prison Service under the liberal government of Scotland just issued a policy that transwomen who have hurt or threatened women and girls will no longer be placed in women’s prisons.3 That members of JVP would have a range of views on this and other topics is only reasonable.
Moreover, there is an urgent need to build a mass, united movement in the U.S. that could not only end this current catastrophic war against the civilian population of Gaza and save many thousands of Palestinian lives, but end U.S. military and political support of the apartheid state of Israel altogether. That would be a huge step forward for the Palestinian liberation struggle.
Like the targeting of communists in the McCarthy era, witch-hunts against and expulsions of left-wing activists from movement groups because they hold dissident views on gender only serve the enemies of the struggle. Such witch-hunts divide our forces and deprive the movement of some of its best activists and leaders. The time to end these destructive authoritarian practices is now.
SIGNERS:
Note that all organizations & affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.
Adriane Bracciale, San Diego tenant’s rights attorney and socialist feminist
Carol Bouldin, Member of Green Alliance for Sex Based Rights, Feminists in Struggle, & San Bernadino County Green Party
Beth Chopp, retired Civil Engineer, feminist and environmental activist
Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author
Cindy Sheehan, anti-capitalist, anti-empire, anti-war activist, California
Dan Kovalik, human rights lawyer, Pittsburgh
David Keil, Boston May Day Coalition
David Morrison, County Council, Green Party of San Diego County
Denice Traina, Co-chair, Georgia Green Party
Fran Luck, Host/Producer, Joy of Resistance, Multicultural Feminist Radio @WBAI
New York
Hugh Esco, Georgia Green Party
Jeff Melton, Bloomington, IN, copy editor, social psychologist, and political
commentator
Katherine Acosta, Wisconsin filmmaker and feminist writer
Kathy Scarbrough, NJ, member of Feminists in Struggle, co-editor of
MeetingGroundOnline.org.
Laura Kamienski, Pennsylvania socialist feminist, paralegal student, and expert in
women’s self-defense
Laura Wells, Green Party of California
Linda Thompson, Green Rainbow Party of Massachusetts
Lowell B. Denny III, member, Black Alliance for Peace, former chair, Hawaii Club- CPUSA
Martin Eder, life-long socialist, college educator, School of Education graduate level professor, labor and immigrant rights organizer, Community radio General Manager, San Diego
Matt Meyer, Secretary General, International Peace Research Association, former chair Fellowship of Reconciliation
Max Dashu, feminist historian, and educator, Oakland
Richard Whitney, Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois, United National Antiwar Coalition, World Beyond War – Illinois, former Green Party Candidate for governor of Illinois
Romi Elnaga MLIS, Louisianna resident, member, Green Alliance for Sex-Based Rights
Steve Bloom, New York State Green Party, founding member Organizing Committee for a Democratic Revolutionary Left
Tina Beacock, retired VP, Chicago Teacher’s Union
Thano Paris, member of Black Alliance for Peace, former member of Atlanta Palestine Solidarity, and Movement to End Israeli Apartheid, Georgia.
Tina Minkowitz, International Human Rights lawyer, New York
Vanessa Beck, former Coordinating Committee and Research Team Co-chair of Black Alliance for Peace; founding member of BAP Baltimore branch
1 https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/02/16/as-spain-advances-trans-rights-sweden-backtracks-on-gender- affirming-treatments-for-teens
2 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/uk-trans-rights-labour-party/674944
3 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/05/trans-inmates-with-history-of-violence-against-women-to- be-mostly-kept-out-of-female-scottish-jails
As you can see, I am one of the signers of this letter. As Ann puts it, “Excluding people like Ann for her gender critical views from JVP events makes no more sense than excluding members of the Muslim community who may not support same sex marriage with the claim that their presence is ‘unsafe’ for lesbian and gay JVP members.” There is no place for the sort of sectarianism and authoritarianism displayed by the two Jewish Voice for Peace members discussed in this letter in peace and social justice movements if we are to succeed in building the sort of mass movements we need to effect meaningful change in the world—in this case, helping stop a genocide.