American activist, writer, and socialist organizer
This article'sfactual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2022)
In 1969, Cagan was among the first participants in theVenceremos Brigade, groups of young adults who visitedCuba and joined Cuban farmworkers to harvestsugar cane.[9] During her journey toHavana, Cagan told anAssociated Press reporter: "All of us support the Cuban Revolution and feel that by going and working with the Cubans we can show that support."[9]
After choosing to skip graduate school, Cagan began her lifetime career of promoting various causes, predominantly in theanti-war movement, theanti-nuclear movement, theLGBT rights movement, thefeminist movement, andnormalization of relations with Cuba.[1][2][7] Cagan has been described byThe New York Times as one of the "grandes dames of the country's progressive movement" and a "national figure in the antiwar movement."[1]
During the late 1960s–early 1970s, Cagan was actively involved with theBlack Panther Party.[10] She has protested the conviction and incarceration ofMumia Abu-Jamal, a Black Panther Party member who was sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officerDaniel Faulkner.[11]
In the mid-1990s and early 2000s, Cagan served on the national board of directors ofPacifica Radio (representing Pacifica's New York station,WBAI), including a brief term in the late 1990s as the interim board chair.[17]
In 2002, Cagan was among the founders ofUnited for Peace and Justice, a left-wing coalition of more than 1,300 international and U.S.-based organizations opposed to what they described as "our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building." The organization was founded in the months preceding the2003 invasion ofIraq.[5][17] An opponent ofmilitary intervention,[18] Cagan was strongly opposed toU.S. military forces staying in Iraq.[19] Her view ofIraqi insurgents fighting U.S.-ledcoalition forces: "What I do think is legitimate is that people who are being occupied would find a way to work against that occupation. If you call that an insurgency, then so be it."[5] In regards toU.S. relations with Israel, Cagan had described U.S. funds as going "to help maintain the deadly Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories."[5]
Cagan was a member of the New York Committee to Free the Cuban Five, anadvocacy group seeking the release offive Cubans convicted in 2001 of spying onCuban American exiles and U.S. military bases forFidel Castro.[20][21] In reference to peace activism, Cagan has said, "We have so much to learn from the history of the Communist Party about how this work has been done."[22]
In 2004, Cagan was included inOut magazine's annual list of the 100 most influentialLGBT people.[23]
Phillips, Lynn; Falk, Gay; Fruchter, Rachel; Cagan, Leslie (1970).Birth Control and Abortion: Some Things to Worry About. St. Louis: Lynn Phillips.OCLC77562805.
Cagan, Leslie (1994).Report From Cuba: Hijacked Boats, Action on the Streets, Heightening Tensions with the U.S. New York City: Cuba Information Project.OCLC41340613.
^abMeyer, Matt (2008).Let Freedom Ring: A Collection of Documents from the Movements to Free U.S. Political Prisoners. Oakland, California:PM Press. p. 393.ISBN978-1-60486-035-1.
