All of Us Are Sexually Frustrated Lesbians: Protest and Accountability in Queer Israeli Activism Against the Occupation

• In Event: Conflict and Protest

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamic between intersectional accountability and protest in texts published by activist organization Kvisa Sh’Chora. Kvisa Sh’Chora (Black Laundry) was an organization that emerged from a group marching at 2001 Tel Aviv Pride under the banner “there is no pride in the occupation”. This paper examines texts published by the organization, and ways they deal with the positionality of being both privileged and marginalized in different ways.

Previous scholarship establishes that too often, activists with one type of privilege use it against activists without it (hooks, 2014). Worse, this often happens mutually (Stryker, 2022), for example, a queer activist being ableist towards a disabled transphobic activist. Neoliberal feminist scholars have criticized these understandings for tearing apart activist groups (Vardeman and Sebesta 2020).

Kvisa Sh’Chora’s texts focus on an alternative, that while not always implemented, might highlight a path for other organizations. The organization’s texts state that all types of injustice are “the same”, counting among others misogyny, racism, ableism and queerphobia. The organization states this not to erase accountability, but to explore it. The texts explain that since most anyone involved is both marginalized in some way and privileged in another way, they are all responsible for unlearning their bigotry and fighting for marginalized groups they are not part of.

Author

• Dean Leetal