Edited by: Fern Sidman

A nationwide student walkout on November 9th, organized in protest against Israel, has drawn attention and controversy due to its ties to an organization with links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The New York Post reported that The People’s Forum, a group primarily funded by Neville Roy Singham, known for his sympathetic views towards China and support for socialist causes, co-coordinated the walkouts. The event, which took place in Brooklyn, received backing from the Community Education Council for District 14 (CEC 14), headed by president Tajh Sutton, the Post report added.

CEC 14 actively promoted the walkout, circulating a toolkit containing protest signs, chants, and media talking points. The toolkit also included templates for social media posts that encouraged participants to tag the People’s Forum. Notably, the Post report said that the People’s Forum’s media platform, BreakThrough News, which has previously posted controversial YouTube videos such as “Israel’s Goal Was Always Ethnic Cleansing” and “Journalist Rips Palestinian ‘Terrorism’ Narrative to Shreds,” covered the event in Brooklyn. The organization filmed students from Fort Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge, who utilized the protest toolkits and participated in the walkout, according to the Post report.

“We looked at the toolkit provided to us and we decided 11:30 would be probably the best time, and then I decided that I really wanted to make it bigger so I spread it to the clubs,” explained one Fort Hamilton High School student in the BreakThrough News video covering the protest, as was noted in the Post report.

The resulting video, shared by both BreakThrough News and the People’s Forum, garnered over 1.7 million views. However, the walkout was not without controversy, as chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” included in the toolkit, left one Jewish student from Fort Hamilton too afraid to attend school the next day, as was reported in the Post. In Bensonhurst, students protesting at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School reportedly yelled, “F–k the Jews!”

Critics have raised concerns about the influence of the People’s Forum and its ties to the CCP, pointing to the organization’s role in shaping the narrative around the walkout. As was indicated in the Post report, Ted Oehmke, a freelance writer focused on Chinese disinformation, commented, “If you look at the teaching materials and talking points they give students, you see that they’re telling them what to think.”

The involvement of a group with ties to the Chinese Communist Party in organizing and promoting an anti-Israel student protest adds a geopolitical layer to the growing controversy. It underscores the complexity of global narratives and the potential influence of external actors in shaping domestic discourse on sensitive issues. As the fallout from the walkout continues, it raises questions about the role of foreign entities in influencing local activism and the potential impact on educational environments.