Palestine Is on the Thoughts on the NYC Dyke March


The Fogo Azul drumline pounded an intoxicatingly joyous heartbeat, reducing by way of the stress of  “Dykes In opposition to Genocide,” the thirty second annual Dyke March in Manhattan on Saturday night, June 29. Within the days main as much as the march, the organizing committee revealed and subsequently retracted a press release on its social media relating to the protection of Jewish lesbians who have been involved about attending. Nonetheless, a number of thousand individuals — many exhibiting unwavering help for Palestine — joined the procession from Bryant Park to the Washington Sq. Park Fountain.

The Dyke March committee’s retracted assertion expressed that antisemitism was not tolerated underneath any circumstances, earlier than emphasizing the necessity to “middle the dire plight” of Palestinians, acknowledging the ache felt amongst Jewish individuals following rising antisemitism, and “mourn[ing] the mindless lack of Jewish life” throughout and after Hamas’s October seventh assault. 

The assertion drew intense responses from LGBTQ+ activism organizations reminiscent of Act Up NYC, which underscored that its march bloc would middle Palestinian liberation, and the queer jail abolition group Black & Pink, which canceled its contingent on the march totally.

The organizing committee issued an accountability submit shortly afterward, clarifying that the retracted assertion hadn’t been revealed with a committee-wide vote. The committee didn’t instantly reply to Hyperallergic’s request for remark. The march went on as deliberate, starting at 5pm exterior the New York Public Library’s flagship constructing. 

On the march, Mattie, a co-leader for Act Up NYC’s march bloc, informed Hyperallergic that the bloc “made the sturdy intention to indicate up, be loud, take area, and middle Palestinian liberation”; to focus on its endorsement to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) motion; and to hammer in its message of “cash for AIDS, not battle.”

“Black trans organizers and Black dyke organizers have been on the entrance of making our liberation actions,” Mattie mentioned, talking as a person. They referred to as upon individuals to middle and hearken to organizers reminiscent of Qween Jean, who led the march in a sizzling pink costume and a Palestinian flag emblazoned with the Black Energy fist and the phrases “Free Palestine.”

All through the march, Rivianna Hyatt and Michelle Blassou took turns carrying a paper mâché and recycled soda can sculpture of an olive tree above their heads. The pair informed Hyperallergic that that they had debated attending the march after studying the retracted assertion from the committee, however opted to come back out anyway to “deliver their identification of being a dyke into help for Palestinian resistance.” 

Hyatt and Blassou mentioned that they had attended a number of Dyke Marches throughout the US and Canada and that the NYC iteration “is at all times the very best,” however Hyatt expressed that they couldn’t perceive why the committee revealed the assertion and that it conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

Amid the swaths of individuals en path to Washington Sq. Park, a whole bunch carried indicators that includes statements alongside the strains of “Jewish Dykes for Palestine.” One marcher, a 28-year-old Brooklynite named Sadie who had the identical textual content written on the backs of her thighs, expressed to Hyperallergic that “Jews are secure right here.”

“There won’t be a sense of security for Zionists right here, and there shouldn’t be,” Sadie continued. “I don’t purpose to make Zionists really feel secure right here, however I’m a Jew and I hope that Jews can really feel secure right here as a result of genocide isn’t a Jewish worth.”

Relating to the organizing committee’s conflicting messages, Sadie mentioned that “two or three individuals from a committee publishing a press release with out everybody being on board with it” isn’t a motive to cancel Dyke March. “It’s extra symbolic for me to indicate up and to indicate solidarity [with Palestine] no matter what the committee is saying than it might be for me to remain dwelling,” she mentioned. 



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