Resistance, Pre‑Packaged

Sweater Girl is back with another lesson. This time she’s teaching Gene Sharp tactics. I really need to research her background. Yes, Trump leans into authoritarian theatrics, but the people amplifying these tactics aren’t fighting for socialism, and the funding streams behind them aren’t exactly grassroots. There’s an infrastructure here—front groups, donor networks, polished manuals—dressed up as spontaneous resistance. The aesthetics say “community,” but the playbook says something else entirely.

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If We’re Going to “Learn About Otpor,” Let’s Start With the Facts

The video opens with a provocation—What if we weren’t afraid to get arrested? It’s time to learn about OTPOR!—but skips over the basic context of the organization being invoked. Angela Baker’s recommendation fits a pattern I’ve seen before: presenting Otpor as a neutral protest model while leaving out the political landscape that shaped it. Blueprint for Revolution, the book she cites, was written by Srđa Popović, one of Otpor’s leaders. The group received support from the National Endowment for Democracy, USAID, and pro‑democracy funding networks that included George Soros’ foundations, which Soros later acknowledged supporting during the 2000 uprising against Milošević. None of this automatically discredits the material, but it does mean the playbook isn’t organic or context‑free.

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COINTELPRO 2.0: Project Esther, EO 14243, and Palantir

The pattern is familiar, and the escalation is predictable. I warned about this recently, and now it’s unfolding exactly as anticipated.

From my May 22 post:

Just as I anticipated, the blame is being directed at China. Marco Rubio, currently serving in the Trump administration, has previously targeted various leftist organizations for their funding connections to Neville Roy Singham, who has been accused of having ties to the Communist Party of China. These allegations originated from front groups linked to Stratfor, often referred to as the “Shadow CIA,” as well as the State Department and U.S. Intelligence. Additionally, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) receives backing from the Israel lobby. Recall my previous post about Project Esther, which linked antisemitism to Marxism. Expect a crackdown on leftists and other antiwar activists who are protesting the Gaza war.

On May 28, the Heritage Foundation—architect of Project Esther—officially embraced the narrative linking pro-Palestinian activism to Chinese influence.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther is more than a framework—it’s a blueprint for ideological suppression masquerading as national security policy. By tying anti-Zionism to antisemitism, then layering in foreign influence accusations, the initiative sets the stage for a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Under the guise of national security, any challenge to U.S. policy—whether in opposition to the Gaza war or broader leftist movements—can be framed as a foreign threat. This justification makes mass surveillance not just palatable but necessary.

Enter Palantir—the data engine that makes ideological suppression scalable. While Heritage Foundation shapes the narrative and justification for crackdowns, Palantir provides the technical apparatus to execute them. As I warned in my earlier post, EO 14243 and Trump’s Data Consolidation: The Hidden Agenda Behind Big Tech Surveillance, Palantir is embedding digital IDs across DHS, IRS, and Social Security, consolidating surveillance under the guise of fraud prevention. These tools, once presented as safeguards against fraud, now serve a far clearer purpose: streamlining the targeting and suppression of leftist dissent. Heritage Foundation supplies the blueprint—Palantir builds the machinery.

This isn’t new. The playbook remains the same—COINTELPRO weaponized bureaucratic surveillance to neutralize Black liberation and leftist movements under the guise of national security. Now, Project Esther will leverage EO 14243’s infrastructure to fuse ideological suppression with the mechanics of automated surveillance. Just as COINTELPRO framed activists as subversives to justify government crackdowns, Project Esther weaponizes accusations of extremism and foreign influence to achieve similar ends. The targets have shifted, but the machinery of repression remains intact.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Who funded the anti-BRI “Made in Ethiopia” documentary?

WSWS: Made in Ethiopia—or anywhere else in the worldXinyan Yu (National Fellow at New America*), Max Duncan (Reuters in China), Eastern Industry Park

Related:

Industrial park showcasing Chinese extensive investment participation in Ethiopia

In addition to the 12 industrial parks built by the government and managed by the Industrial Parks Development Corporation and regional governments and the Diredawa Free Trade Zone, there are also industrial parks built and managed by private investors in various areas of Ethiopia. One of these private industrial parks is Eastern Industry Park. The industrial park is located in Dukem area, and 153 companies are engaged in production activities in the park. 95% of the companies are owned by Chinese investors, while the rest are owned by companies from India, England, and other countries. These producers are contributing significantly in terms of job creation, foreign exchange earnings, technology, and knowledge transfer.

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U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices + More

American taxpayers are footing the bill for Ukrainian NGOs focused on smearing proponents of a diplomatic solution as “Russian disinformation” agents.

U.S. Funds Ukraine Groups Censoring Critics, Smearing Pro-Peace Voices

Related:

U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War + Supporting Front Orgs

Pro-Russian “disinformation” network

Ukraine’s ‘Press Freedom’ Score Increases Despite Martial Law, Banned Media

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U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War + Supporting Front Orgs

U.S. Helps Pro-Ukraine Media Run a Fog Machine of War

As Congress debates major new funding to support the Ukrainian war effort, U.S. taxpayer dollars are already flowing to outlets such as the New Voice of Ukraine, VoxUkraine, Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine and many others. Some of this money has come from the $44.1 billion in civilian-needs foreign aid committed to Ukraine. While the funding is officially billed as an ambitious program to develop high-quality independent news programs; counter malign Russian influence; and modernize Ukraine’s archaic media laws, the new sites in many cases have promoted aggressive messages that stray from traditional journalistic practices to promote the Ukrainian government’s official positions and delegitimize its critics.

Related (front organizations):

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