According to a new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) entitled, “Contagious Disruption: How CCP Influence and Radical Ideologies Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Campuses Across the United States,” the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has played a role in influencing protests that erupted on campuses and in communities across the U.S. following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year.
Founded in 2018, the NCRI operates out of Princeton, New Jersey under the directorship of Princeton psychologist and neuroscientist Joel Finkelstein. The organization works to identify cyber threats to civil society. One of the topics the organization studies is how political extremism spreads and develops on social media.
Among the activist movements that the report explores is the Shut It Down for Palestine (SID4P) movement, which was formed following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
NCRI describes the organization as an “anti-capitalist, anti-police, and anti-government protest movement [that] functions as a hybrid online/real-world network for mobilizing frequent demonstrations as well as gradually escalating direct-action campaigns targeting critical infrastructure and public spaces.”
After establishing itself, SID4P became the lead organization for what NCRI calls “core organizations,” which includes The People’s Forum, the ANSWER Coalition and the International People’s Assembly (IPA).
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“The People’s Forum, IPA, and ANSWER Coalition serve as the conduit through which CCP-affiliated entities have effectively co-opted pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S., advancing a broader anti-American, anti-democratic, and anti-capitalist agenda,” the NCRI wrote, adding that, “These three far-left SID4P Convenors are part of a network linked by close financial, interpersonal, and ideological ties to Neville Roy Singham and his wife Jodie Evans, a power couple within the global far-left movement with close ties to the CCP.”
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Neville Singham and Jodie Evans
Neville Singham is an American businessman and social activist who sold his IT consulting firm, Thoughtworks, for $785 million in 2017. He has consulted for Chinese tech giant Huawei and currently resides in Shanghai. NCRI says he has been investigated by the U.S., Canada and India for his CCP-linked operations.
His wife, Jodie Evans, is an American political activist, author and documentary film producer who serves on the boards of several organizations, most notably the People’s Forum.
According to the report, Singham is responsible for forming the “Singham Network” which is described by NCRI as a “wide range of nonprofits, alternative media outlets, and donor organizations that have been funneling undisclosed funds and disseminating CCP-supported agendas and narratives into the United States since at least 2017.”
Evans has co-authored a book with the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research and Dongsheng News titled, “China is Not Our Enemy,” which is set to be released in January 2025.
The report asserts that “Both the Tricontinental Institute and Dongsheng News have ties to the CCP and have received funding from Singham, with the Tricontinental Institute also receiving partial funding from CODEPINK.”
CODEPINK was co-founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans and has three regional offices across the United States. The organization operates in several other countries around the globe.
It focuses on issues including drone strikes, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, human rights in Saudi Arabia and Palestinian statehood, among others.
“Despite previously advocating for causes that would today acknowledge the Uyghur genocide, highlight China’s human rights abuses, and side with Taiwan in asserting its independence, following her marriage to Singham, Evans notably shifted her stance to openly support the CCP,” the report reads.
READ MORE:
- How the CCP Inflates China’s GDP
- Pro-CCP Sogavare Steps Down as Leader of the Solomons, Dealing Major Blow to Beijing
- ‘The CCP Does Not Represent China’: Falun Gong Practitioners Commemorate 25th Anniversary of Appeal in Beijing
Democracy exploited
The report says that the emergence of organizations such as SID4P highlights a trend “in which the instruments of democracy are being exploited to undermine its foundation.”
In short, the report alleges that foreign entities, including the CCP, exploit the U.S. non-profit system and institutions “that are afforded democratic protections to propagate anti-democratic ideologies and disrupt societal norms.”
The NCRI says that SID4P operates in a hybrid fashion, online and in the real-world, mobilizing supporters for escalating direct-action campaigns in public and online.
“SID4P represents a significant evolution in networked influence and coordinated direct action aimed at disrupting critical infrastructure and inflaming protests across the U.S. and around the globe,” the report says.
The report warns, “As the United States approaches a presidential election, the potential for these movements to catalyze further unrest is not only likely but could even escalate into a scenario where electoral processes are disrupted by widespread riots and protests.”
“By recognizing these movements as threats to national stability rather than as isolated incidents of civil unrest, we can better protect the democratic values and structural integrity of American society and its democratic institutions,” the report concludes.
