insurgents fighting U.S.-led coalition 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." In regards to U.S. relations with Israel, Cagan had described U.S. funds as going "to help maintain the deadly Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories." Cagan co-founded the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, a socialist group that left the Communist Party, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 1997, she was an organizer for the 14th annual World Festival of Youth and Students. Cagan is a member of the New York Committee to Free the Cuban Five, an advocacy group seeking the release of five Cubans convicted in 2001 of spying on Cuban American exiles and U.S. military bases for Fidel Castro. 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." In 2004, Cagan was included in Out magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential LGBT people. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her partner, author and activist Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz (d. 2018), founding director of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice. Works References External links Leslie Cagan Papers, by the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives Archive of commentary by Leslie Cagan, by Z Magazine Video interview with Leslie Cagan, featured on the 2004 documentary film, Waging Peace Audio speech by Leslie Cagan, following the 2008 U.S. presidential election Video speech by Leslie Cagan, via Free Speech TV Audio interview with Leslie Cagan, by WBAI's Beyond The Pale 1947 births Living people 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers Activists from New York (state) American anti–Iraq War activists American anti–nuclear weapons activists American anti–Vietnam War activists American anti-war activists American campaign managers American civil rights activists American feminist writers Jewish American community activists American political writers American abortion-rights activists American socialists Anti-corporate activists Jewish American writers Jewish feminists Jewish socialists Jewish women writers American lesbian writers American LGBT rights activists LGBT Jews New York (state) socialists New York University alumni People from the Bronx Writers from Brooklyn American women non-fiction writers LGBT people from New York (state) American socialist feminists