Project 2025 Creators Have a Plan to 'Dismantle' Pro-Palestine Movement
If Donald Trump wins next week, the Heritage Foundation has prepared a roadmap for him to crush dissent
Today, the Democrat's right-wing stands as proof of the success of that Goldwater/S. Jackson effort. With too many people ignorant that they in fact are in the "Traditional Conservative" tradition, as the NeoCon branch off the trunk of the "Traditional Conservative Movement's" ideology of militarism (fascism). But the Democrats have heretofore failed to catch up to those who continue that Traditional Conservative tradition, now exemplified by the New Right/National Conservatives. Who, for political expediency to get Trump elected, echo Hitler's "Peace Camp" messaging of the 1930s, with a constant and consistent subtext calling for war against China, Iran, and for the moment, prioritizing genocide of the Palestinians in their all-out support of their fellow fascist ideologues of Israel.
But the Democrat's never catch up to who today fully represent that tradition, the Conservatives and more particularly the New Right, as at least the Democrat's constituency still includes a few people who demand some social welfare spending. Unlike the libertarian infected Republicans. But even that is being duplicitously addressed by the New Right, with their invention of Common Good economics, being used by the very Oligarchs who most oppose that, as a propaganda meme.
And that too is by design, identical to the meme that the Republicans are the "Peace Party, as it was reported how Koch, Thiel, and Sheldon Adelson came together after losing two elections in a row throwing up the most militaristic candidates who they thought could win. So, failing in that, realized they needed to reinvent "Conservatism," to escape the well-earned stigma of war fanaticism to an increasingly war weary populace. They decided on Trump, who could lie and talk out of all sides of his mouth better than anyone. Promising simultaneously, but to different audiences, that he would "End the Endless Wars," and to the mainstream Republicans who always lust for war, that he would build the Greatest Military Ever. That he began to accomplish immediately upon taking office with a $100 billion military budget increase on top of the immense military budget already in existence, joining forces with McCain, Graham in that. This increase was in perpetuity as it was made law under the NDAA, with continuing increases all the time to build the "Greatest Nuclear Force Ever," Space Force, etc.
That was greeted by a libertarian, one-time friend, that "at least he cut taxes." That summarized better than anything could what libertarianism is ultimately about; non-existent taxes for the Oligarchs who fund the libertarian/Conservative Network. Such as Charles Koch and Peter Thiel do, both also immersed in the Israeli and U.S. Military Tech Industrial Complex. For those few libertarian/Conservatives who actually want to end endless wars, and support Trump, and support "endless tax cuts for the Oligarchical War profiteers;" they were best described the way Sir Humphrey Appleby of "Yes, Minister," and "Yes, Prime Minister," was: they have "so much wool in their heads, it's child's play to pull it over their eyes."
While censoring and suppressing any dissent that could be deemed "Woke," such as that once upon a time, the US had slavery.
So I've given up on Americans being able to see through such fascist propaganda and if/when Trump takes office, I'm going silent, as knowing that Trump intends to take that last step to all-out fascism into that domain of 1933 Germany. Trump showed us that last Sunday at Madison Square Garden with the "Tradition" he belongs to. With Tucker Carlson celebrating Hitler as the "Peacemaker" in Europe with a right-wing revisionist historian, doing similar work as Quincy Institute and Trump's "in-flight magazine," The American Conservative, in their joint Kulturkampf of right-wing revisionism against our very collective memory. That's for the immediate purpose of getting Trump/Vance elected by a war-weary public who once knew it was the "Traditional Conservatives" who launched the ultra-militaristic culture we now live within. Simultaneously, however, they constantly identify the "Enemy," internal and external, revealing of their fascist weltanschauung. While the right-wing Democrats are playing that game now too, it comes from the Buckley, Burnham, Kendall, and Goldwater tradition which they created, and which was so hostile to the "liberal" Eisenhower, even while today's Traditional/National Conservatives expropriate Eisenhower for their own odious propaganda purposes. Here is a description of how that is done with right-wing revisionism. It's telling that the Democrats have to do the opposite: to invent a more militaristic history and plant that as a false collective memory in the populace to maintain their standing in the "War Party" as co-equal partners with the Republicans.
https://septet.yeditepe.edu.tr/sites/default/files/OZAN%20AYDIN.pdf
While the tradition and collective memory of a society is mostly comprised of the
events that are experienced by the society itself and its interpretations by the individuals within
or outside of its social group, individual memories and recollections play an undeniably
important role. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four presents an impressive display of how
thoughts, memories and traditions can be manipulated in a regime whose primary focus is to
justify its claims of validity and keep its subjects in line, mainly in order to survive.
. . .
Said’s Perspectives on Memory and Tradition
In his article, “Invention, Memory and Place,” Edward Said describes collective memory
as “not an inert and passive thing, but a field of activity in which past events are selected,
reconstructed, maintained, modified, and endowed with political meaning” (185). Indeed, the
collective memory of a society is known to take over the individual memories of those who live
in it, when influenced deeply enough. This condition is exemplified specifically in times of dire
situations, such as times of warfare. The effects of the Nazi propaganda machine on German
society would be a striking example of that, as Germany found itself in another large-scale allout
war in a matter of years following its defeat in the First World War, with the experiences of a
collapsed economy, heavy reparations for the war and the struggles under the Treaty of
Versailles were still fresh in the memories of the individuals lived under the new rising power of
fascism. These hardships and difficulties pushed the German society to come together around a
leader who promised them release from the chains they were bound with by the treaties after the
Great War. This, indeed, was not happening solely in meetings in town squares, but also in the
intelligentsia of the Germany of the time. Before moving from history towards the scope of this
research, Said provides a picturesque description of how collective memory functions in a
society, by stating the following:
Memory and its representations touch very significantly upon questions of identity, of
nationalism, of power and authority. Far from being a neutral exercise in facts and basic
truths, the study of history, which of course is the underpinning of memory, both in
school and university, is to some considerable extent a nationalist effort premised on the
need to construct a desireable loyalty to and insider's understanding of one's country,
tradition, and faith. (176) (TP-see Trump's and Hillsdale's 1776 Project.)
The manipulation of history, and the collective memory of the society that history is
concerned with, is a concept that creates the framework of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Yet,
as shown above, according to Said, it is impossible to distance historical study from the aims of
the institutions, and governments, in any case. For Said, the concepts of memory and history
have a role to play in increasing the loyalty of the people living within that society, by providing
51
them with a sense of belonging in a community. Elsa Bouet provides a similar approach to the
matter, stating “the study and teaching of history does not only lie in being a neutral collection of
facts and truths, but in a bias study of the past, to ensure social cohesion” (Bouet, 36). (TP-Fascist at its core, as Kendall and Carey worked so zealously at to suppress any speech which might interfere with the fascist consensus they worked to build.) Indeed,
this idea has manifested its merit in multiple occasions, and Said takes this another step further,
stating that “national identity always involves narratives-of the nation's past, its founding fathers
and documents, seminal events, and so on. But these narratives are never undisputed or merely a
matter of the neutral recital of facts” (177).
The word “narrative” here stands out, as Alon Confino claims that it is beneficiary in
writing history (391). As he also points out, a fixed narrative, one that follows a linear movement
and argument, looks “at the past to prove a belief, not to test a hypothesis” (Confino 391).
. . .
With tradition, which Said claims to be “using collective memory selectively by manipulating certain
bits of the national past, suppressing others, elevating still others in an entirely functional way”
(179), the achievement of unity becomes a much more obtainable goal for any government or
institution aiming to connect people to each other.
Taking the aforementioned into consideration, one can come to the conclusion that both
invented traditions and the misguidance of the collective memory can lead to a society’s
detachment from its core humanitarian values, in line with the state’s aims to manipulate them or
keep them in line. In Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, this becomes the everyday reality for all
the citizens of Oceania, as their victimization becomes apparent through the protagonist’s point
of view. The Party’s structured efforts to strip people from their individuality, namely the Two
Minutes Hate sessions and the existence of the Records Department, are among the most ruthless
dehumanization protocols to be found in English dystopian literature.
. . .
Hobsbawm provides the example of the Nuremberg party rallies for invented traditions
(4), and considering the timeline in which Nineteen Eighty-Four was created, it becomes a
possibility that Orwell may be influenced by the heavy symbolism which predominantly
occupied the Nazi gatherings, while describing the Two Minutes Hate sessions. Regardless of his
influences, Orwell’s power of observation is manifested splendidly in the portrayal of the Two
Minutes Hate, as the gathering of the Party members in a room on a regular basis and giving
them an outlet to direct all their hatred for the opponents of the current regime provide a
picturesque example for Hobsbawm’s earlier description for the ‘invented tradition’, “a set of
practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic
nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition” (1). The
opponent, Goldstein in the case of Nineteen Eighty-Four, becomes the scapegoat for everything
that the individuals might think that the Party fails to provide, and his previous affiliation with
https://septet.yeditepe.edu.tr/sites/default/files/OZAN%20AYDIN.pdf
Project 2025 Creators Have a Plan to 'Dismantle' Pro-Palestine Movement
If Donald Trump wins next week, the Heritage Foundation has prepared a roadmap for him to crush dissent
The architects of Project 2025 at the conservative Heritage Foundation have drafted a plan to break the pro-Palestinian movement in the U.S., in anticipation of a victory by Donald Trump victory in next week’s presidential election.
The plan, dubbed “Project Esther,” casts pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. as members of a global conspiracy aligned with designated terrorist organizations. As part of a so-called “Hamas Support Network,” these protesters receive “indispensable support of a vast network of activists and funders with a much more ambitious, insidious goal—the destruction of capitalism and democracy,” Project Esther’s authors allege.
This conspiratorial framing is part of a legal strategy to suppress speech favorable to Palestinians or critical of the U.S.-Israel relationship, by employing counterterrorism laws to suppress what would otherwise be protected speech, legal experts told Drop Site News.
A demonstrator argues with police officers during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington, D.C. / Source: Probal Rashid / LightRocket via Getty Images Dylan Saba, a staff attorney at the legal advocacy organization Palestine Legal, said the invention of concepts like the “Hamas Support Network” or “Hamas Supporting Organizations,” another term that the authors use to describe pro-Palestinian activist groups, is intended to construct a narrative justifying the use of counterterrorism and sanctions laws to do suppress the First Amendment rights of individuals involved in the pro-Palestine movement, along with their funders and supporters. “They need to make a claim that these organizations are being directed and controlled by Hamas, which they’re not,” Saba said. “So their claim now is that these organizations are effectively serving as a propaganda wing for designated terrorist organizations.”
To achieve its goals, Project Esther proposes the use of counterterrorism and hate speech laws, as well as immigration measures, including the deportation of students and other individuals in the United States on foreign visas for taking part in pro-Palestinian activities. It also advocates deploying the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a law placing disclosure obligations on parties representing foreign interests, against organizations that the report’s authors imply are funded and directed from abroad.
In addition, the document also suggests using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, to help construct prosecutions against individuals and organizations in the movement. The RICO act was originally created to fight organized crime in the U.S., and particularly mafia groups.
Project Esther’s authors envision their campaign unfolding in a series of stages: first, the purging of “propaganda” from school curricula, followed by an intimidation campaign to dissuade students from joining demonstrations, and restrictions on social media communication, gatherings, and other forms of coordination between pro-Palestinian groups. The end of the process leads to a moment when both the U.S. public and a “preponderance of Jewish community perceives HSOs”—short for Hamas Support Organizations—“as a threat to their safety.”
These steps, Project Esther’s authors pledge, will break the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States “within 12 to 24 months.”
Many of the tactics Project Esther proposes represent an escalation of current practices rather than a wholesale departure, legal experts said. Authorities brought charges under the RICO act, for example, against demonstrators protesting against a police training facility in Georgia last year. And only weeks ago, the Biden administration designated Samidoun, a Palestinian prisoner solidarity group, as a terrorist organization.
“They’re not making up new tactics. They’re just talking about comprehensive, deliberate and better resourced types of attacks,” said Diala Shamas, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “This is about equating pro-Palestinian groups with a foreign terrorist organization, which is a tried and true tactic that has used for a very long time. All you need to do is try and paint a nebulous connection with Hamas, and then invoke these expansive laws.”
The document targets several groups, including George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, the Tides Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, whom the report blames for providing “financial resources and other material support such as equipment, training, and advice and consulting services,” to supporters of the Palestinian cause. The document also tags National Students for Justice in Palestine, American Muslims for Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace as key players in the Hamas Support Network.
“People have the right under the First Amendment to express political views, associate with each other, and criticize the U.S. government,” Saba added. “If you find that politically threatening and dislike it, you need to come up with a way to do an end-run around the First Amendment. The end -run that they have crafted for themselves are counterterrorism and material support laws.”
The architects of Project Esther include conservative organizations like In Defense of Christians, the Family Research Council, the Philos Project, the America First Policy Institute, Coalition for Jewish Values, Concerned Women of America, the Latino Coalition for Israel, National Association of Scholars, Regent University, and The Steamboat Institute.
Project Esther is framed around the important goal of fighting antisemitism, even taking its name from a Persian queen reputed to have saved Jewish subjects in the Hebrew Bible.
Yet it makes no mention of right-wing antisemitism, which is often grounded on direct racial stereotypes and overt hostility to Jewish people, and appears concerned instead with combatting “internal political pressure to compel the United States government to change its long-standing policy of support for Israel,” a policy change that the report’s authors deem antisemitic.
Support among Jewish American organizations for Project Esther’s proposals appears to be limited. Many Jewish organizations that were listed initially as supporting Project Esther have distanced themselves from the document following its release, Jewish Insider reported, citing the politically partisan character of the project. Despite these setbacks, Project Esther represents a concrete statement of intent from a major conservative think tank enmeshed with a potential future presidential administration.
“Our intent is to organize and guide all willing and able partners in a coordinated effort that employs all available resources to combat the scourge of antisemitism in the United States,” the report states, adding that it hopes, “this effort will represent an opportunity for public–private partnership when a willing administration occupies the White House.”
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