ASRA NOMANI: Woke Army Retreats in D.C. Protest, Focuses on ‘STANDING’ Over Gaza

On the eve of Inauguration of President-elect Donald TrumpA multibillion-dollar network of socialist and Islamist organizations scaled back their plans for a massive, citywide “resistance,” retreating to a quiet park in a corner of Washington, DC, called Meridian Hill. They are now predicting a crowd of 2,000, a far cry from the 50,000 people originally planned for the National Mall, the Washington Monument and Constitution Avenue NW.

But the network of well-funded organizations, which I call the army awakeis pressing ahead with protests in 84 cities, renamed in emails sent Sunday afternoon to supporters with the message “SUPPORT THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE. WE STRIKE BACK,” following Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas. In the nation’s capital, the ANSWER Coalition, a self-proclaimed Marxist organization based in DC, got a permitwhich I got, for the smaller Meridian Hill protest after withdrawing their application for the city’s largest protest.

THE PROFESSIONAL PROTEST MACHINE BEHIND THE ANTI-TRUMP ‘PEOPLE’S MARCH’

Although the media describes these protests as grassroots movements, they are anything but. The ANSWER Coalition’s operations are highly coordinated and funded by professional activism networks, much like Saturday’s “People’s March,” which my reports revealed was organized by a for-profit professional protest logistics company, Movement Catalyst LLC, which executes events with military precision.

These professional organizers create a polished veneer of “grassroots” spontaneity for protests that are, in reality, meticulously crafted political theater and not grassroots but rather AstroTurf. They posted almost identical emails around 4pm on Sunday, calling on their followers to their protests on Monday.

For years, I have been following these organizations as part of my reporting for Project Pearl, a nonprofit journalism initiative named after Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, who was murdered in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002 in identity policy name. and sectarianism. Democracy thrives on transparency and the public deserves to know when protests are driven by ideological agendas disguised as grassroots movements.

Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation created the ANSWER Coalition, short for “Act Now to Stop War and End Racism,” after 9/11. He has consistently defended authoritarian regimes, including socialist governments in Russia, China, Venezuela, North Korea and Cuba. Brian Becker, the leader of the ANSWER Coalition that obtained permission for the Meridian Hill protest, is a strong supporter of Marxism and socialism.

The organization’s history includes inflammatory anti-American incidents, such as a protest last summer against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi, president of the Richmond chapter of American Muslims for Palestine, spray painted “HAMAS IS COMING” on a statue at Union Station. The National Park Service withdrew the ANSWER Coalition’s permit after the protest turned violent, with protesters burning American flags and clashing with police.

Michael Litterst, a spokesman for the U.S. National Park Service, told me today that the ANSWER Coalition “cancelled” its request for the citywide protest. He directed questions to the ANSWER Coalition about why it canceled its application. The ANSWER Coalition did not respond to a request for comment.

The permit reveals the intricate planning behind this supposed “grassroots” protest that the media will likely consider spontaneous:

• 7 a.m.: “Load equipment on upper level of Meridian Hill Park.”
• 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: “Speeches and possible acoustic music.”
• 12:30 to 12:45: “Organize for the march.”
• 12:45 pm: “March goes out (south on 16th Street to H Street at Black Lives Matter Plaza),” near the White House.
• 12:45 pm to 4 pm: “Remove equipment from Meridian Hill Park.”

The equipment list reveals the professionalism behind these protests: a stage, 20 tables, 40 chairs, 200 portable signs, banners, a sound system, a podium, and propaganda materials, including literature and bumper stickers. The ANSWER Coalition said it plans to bring a “secure, opaque bucket to collect donations.”

Behind the banners and megaphones lurks a well-funded operation attempting to reshape the narrative of popular resistance to serve its own ideological goals.

The Park Service permit reminded organizers in bold letters: “Climbing on, removing, or damaging in any way any statue, seat, wall, fountain, light poles, elevator towers, or other architectural features” within the park is prohibited.

The history of the ANSWER Coalition raises questions about its ability to maintain order. But Litterst, the U.S. National Park Service spokesman, told me: “DC courts have previously indicated that denying or limiting permits for First Amendment demonstrations based on contemplated acts of violence are appropriate only when and where the threat is real, substantial and beyond the reasonable control of law enforcement.”

Last week, the a website Created just days after Trump’s election, protest organizers said they had about 50 groups “backed.” Now, that number has increased to 205 groupsand it is clear from the names on the growing list that their origins are far from grassroots. I have added the new names to a public Project Pearl databaseand, according to my new analysis, 58 of the groups call themselves socialist organizations, 25 are Islamist, Muslim, Arab or Palestinian, and the remaining 122 are socialist and Islamist-adjacent. They constantly seek to destroy Israel as a State.

The “reds” in tomorrow’s alliance include well-funded protesters: the ANSWER Coalition; Code Pink, an anti-Israel group funded by Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American billionaire with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, according to the New York Times; he Party for Socialism and Liberationadvocating the dismantling of capitalism and aligning the United States with socialist regimes; the People’s Forum, a socialist group that serves as a representative of Singham’s pro-China agenda, as also documented by The New York Times; and Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the US.

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

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The “green” of this axis includes: Students for Justice in Palestine, founded by UC Berkeley scholar Hatem Bazian, and which now foments many of the anti-Jewish protests on college campuses, now banned on many campuses; Palestinian Feminist Collective, committed to “Palestinian liberation and beyond“; Palestinian Youth Movement, dedicated to a “strategy of mobilization, agitation and confrontation“; the Palestinian Community Network of the United States, which organized days of protests in Chicago to disrupt the Democratic Party convention; and the American Muslim Society, which created a “survival pack” with a resource from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose co-founder, Nihad Awad, said he was “happy” about the October 7 Hamas raids in Israel.

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The ANSWER Coalition’s stated purpose for the protest in Washington is to “present popular resistance to the Trump Administration,” but its true agenda is more insidious: dismantling American democracy and promoting authoritarian socialist ideologies. From Beijing to Caracas, the ANSWER Coalition and its Awakened Army allies take inspiration from regimes, like Hamas, that repress dissent and restrict freedoms.

As the Awakened Army marches from Meridian Hill Park to Black Lives Matter Plaza, it is crucial that Americans remain vigilant. Behind the banners and megaphones lurks a well-funded operation attempting to reshape the narrative of popular resistance to serve its own ideological goals. Understanding these forces is the first step toward safeguarding democracy.

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