Asra Nomani: Amid Washington protests, troops retreat, turn to Gaza to ‘fight back’

On the eve of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, a multimillion-dollar network of socialist and Islamist groups scaled back plans for a massive citywide “resistance” and retreated to a quiet park in a corner of Washington, D.C., called Meridian Hill. They now predict crowds of 2,000, a far cry from the 50,000 originally planned for the National Mall, the Washington Monument and Constitution Avenue Northwest.

But a network of well-funded organizations, what I call Awakening ArmyProtests are advancing in 84 cities, and an email sent to supporters on Sunday afternoon was renamed “Stand with the Palestinian people. We fight back” following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. In the nation’s capital, the ANSWER Coalition, a self-described Marxist organization based in Washington, Get a licensewhich I obtained for the smaller Meridian Hill protest after withdrawing my application for a large citywide demonstration.

The professional protest machine behind the anti-Trump “People’s March”

Although the media describes these protests as a grassroots movement, this is not the case. The Answers Coalition’s actions are highly coordinated and funded by professional activist networks, and like Saturday’s People’s March, My report revealed Organized by Movement Catalyst LLC, a for-profit professional protest logistics company that executes events with military precision.

These professional organizers gave the protests a glossy veneer of “grassroots” spontaneity, when in fact they were carefully choreographed political theater, not grassroots, but AstroTurf. Around 4pm on Sunday, they concocted a nearly identical email calling on followers to attend Monday’s protest.

I’ve been tracking these organizations for years as part of reporting for Project Pearl, a nonprofit journalism initiative named after Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002 Murder and sectarianism in the name of identity politics. Democracy thrives on transparency, and the public deserves to know when protests are driven by an ideological agenda masquerading as a grassroots movement.

After 9/11, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation created the ANSWER coalition, short for Action Now to Stop War and End Racism. It has consistently supported authoritarian regimes, including the socialist governments of Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba. Brian Becker, the leader of the Answer Alliance who received permission for the Meridian Hill protest, is an outspoken supporter of Marxism and socialism.

An email sent by the People’s Forum on Sunday was identical to one sent by the ANSWER Coalition, indicating careful coordination between the groups. (People’s Forum)

The group’s history includes incendiary anti-American incidents, such as last summer’s protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where Zaid Mohammad Mahadawi, president of the Richmond chapter of Muslims for America, said: Zhong spray-painted “Hamas is coming” on a poster. The National Park Service revoked the Answer Alliance’s permit after the protests turned violent, with demonstrators burning American flags and clashing with police.

National Park Service spokesman Michael Litterst told me today that the ANSWER coalition “cancelled” its application for a citywide protest. He asked the ANSWER Coalition why it had canceled its application. The Answer Alliance did not respond to a request for comment.

The license reveals the complex planning behind the alleged protest, which the media may dismiss as spontaneous:

• 7 a.m.: “Loading equipment onto the upper level of Meridian Mountain Park.”
• 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: “Speeches and possible soundtrack.”
• 12:30 to 12:45 p.m.: “Organize a march.”
• 12:45 p.m.: “March exit (H Street from 16th Street south to Black Lives Matter Plaza)” near the White House.
• 12:45pm to 4pm: “Equipment removed from Meridian Hill Park.”

The equipment list reveals the professionalism behind these protests: a stage, 20 tables, 40 chairs, 200 hand-held signs, banners, sound systems, podiums and promotional materials, including literature and bumper stickers. The ANSWER Coalition license says it plans to carry an “opaque secure bucket to collect donations.”

Behind the banners and loudspeakers lies a well-funded operation aimed at reshaping the narrative of grassroots resistance into one that serves its own ideological goals.

The Park Service permit reminds organizers in bold letters: “It is prohibited to climb, move or in any way harm any statue, seat, wall, fountain, light pole, elevator tower or other architectural feature in the park.”

The Answer Alliance’s history raises questions about its ability to maintain order. But Littrest, a spokesman for the National Park Service, told me: “Washington, D.C., courts have previously said that denying or limiting a permit for a First Amendment demonstration based on anticipated violence can only occur if the threat is real, serious, and exceeds It is appropriate when expected.

Last week, on a website Protest organizers, who formed days after Trump’s election, said they had about 50 “support” groups. Now, this number has increased to 205 groupit’s clear from the names on the ever-growing list that their origins are far from the grassroots. I’ve added a new name to Public Pearl Project Public Databaseand according to my new analysis, 58 of these groups describe themselves as socialist organizations, 25 are Islamic, Muslim, Arab, or Palestinian organizations, and the remaining 122 organizations are adjacent to socialist and Islamic organizations. They have always sought to destroy the state of Israel.

The “reds” in the Tomorrow Coalition include well-funded protesters: the Answer Coalition; and Code Pink, an anti-Israel group reportedly founded by Neville Roy Hingham, a Shanghai-based American billionaire with ties to the Chinese Communist Party Neville Roy Singham). new york times;this party for socialist liberationwhich advocates the abolition of capitalism and aligns the United States with socialist regimes; the People’s Forum, a socialist group that acts as an agent for Singham’s pro-China agenda and is also reported in the New York Times; and the Democratic Society of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States ists

It now also includes the “Revolutionary Marxist International Project”.

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The “greens” of this axis include: Students for Justice in Palestine, founded by UC Berkeley scholar Hatem Bazian and currently fomenting anti-Semitic protests on many campuses but now banned on many campuses ;Palestinian Feminist Collective Dedicated to “Palestine Liberation and Others”; the Palestinian youth movement, dedicated to “Strategies of mobilization, agitation and confrontation”; American Palestinian Community Network, which organized day of protest Disrupting the Democratic Convention in Chicago; and the Muslim American Society, which created “survival kit” According to sources at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, co-founder of the Council, said he “happy” Regarding Hamas’s invasion of Israel on October 7.

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The Answer Alliance claims the purpose of the protests in Washington is to “express widespread resistance to the Trump administration,” but its real agenda is more insidious: to dismantle American democracy and promote authoritarian socialist ideology. From Beijing to Caracas, the Answer Alliance and its Awakening allies draw inspiration from regimes like Hamas that suppress dissent and restrict freedoms.

As the Awakening Army marches from Meridian Hill Park to Black Lives Matter Plaza, it is critical that Americans remain vigilant. Behind the banners and loudspeakers lies a well-funded operation aimed at reshaping the narrative of grassroots resistance into one that serves its own ideological goals. Understanding these forces is the first step to safeguarding democracy.

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