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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shortly after President Donald Trump took his oath of office across town, at the U.S. Capitol, Johng Delacruz, 31, a local Filipino-American nurse, set out from another corner of the nation’s capital, on Meridian Hill near 16th Street NW, and joined a cacophony of drums, chants, gestures and conversations that left little ambiguity about the ideological slant of the meeting.
A man hoisted a ready-made sign that read: “SOCIALISM DEFEATS FACISM!” Below the message is the name of the organization that paid for the sign’s production: Democratic Socialists of America.
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A ready-made neon green sign read: “WORKER’S RIGHTS & PEOPLE’S NEEDS. NO WAR & GENOCIDE”, stamped “Peoples Power Assembly”,
Another slogan, “FIGHT TRUMP’S AGENDA,” bore the attribution to the Freedom Road Socialist Organization in smaller letters.
Filipino-American nurse Johng Delacruz expressed his support for socialism (Asra Nomani, Pearl Project)
A pre-printed banner carried by a group of protesters read: “EMPLOYEES SHOULD HAVE POWER, NOT BILLIONAIRES!” Among them, the Party for Socialism and Liberation received the honor.
“I am proud to identify as a socialist who supports socialist movements,” Delacruz told me without hesitation. “I believe this is the future of humanity and the right side of history. Well, ‘left’ if you like,” he added with a laugh.
But you wouldn’t know that from the media reporting on this so-called professional ‘resistance’ against Trump, with the Guardian reporting only that “anti-Trump protests sweep the world on Inauguration Day.” Only the voice of America to describe the demonstrators as ‘anti-Trump demonstrators’ and NBC News writes that “progressive groups” held marches across the country – not a word about the self-proclaimed socialist dreams of many of the groups.
Nearby, three activists bundled in winter clothes carried a banner in the blue and red colors of Puerto Rico’s flag, also above their heads. Called the Diaspora Pa’lante Collective, it advocated Puerto Rico’s independence – and a socialist government to lead it.
A man and a woman dressed in black masks dramatically pushed a mock guillotine decorated with the ominous message: “COME GET SUM.”
Lacy MacAuley described herself as an anarchist and expressed her support for socialism (Asra Nomani, Pearl Project)
These were not fringe gatherings of hobbyists. Among them was Medea Benjamin, the wealthy co-founder of Code Pink, who marched with a cardboard heart-shaped sign painted bright pink.
“The media does not provide full and fair coverage of these types of movements,” Delacruz told me. “It aims to uphold the status quo of the capitalist system, if you will. If we believe that socialism is the antithesis of capitalism, then of course it won’t cover that. I think at best it will say antithesis. -Trump protesters from various grassroots movements, if that. But I seriously doubt they will heed the specific calls and demands we have.”
Understanding these requirements is critical. The groups here weren’t just protesting Trump – they were promoting socialism, Marxism and communism. Many of these organizations also have a pro-Russian stance, rooted in a propaganda tradition pioneered by the Soviet Union: agitprop. Agitprop is short for ‘agitation and propaganda’ and combines political messages with provocative action to influence and mobilize. I call these types of protests “agitprop actions.”
The journalists I spoke to at the meeting admitted that they rarely identify the groups behind the protests. “The public doesn’t really understand socialism,” one reporter told me. “They listen away when they hear the word.” It is easier to reduce the activists to concepts that their readers can understand.
On the eve of the protest, I stayed up until 3 a.m. researching the ideologies of the 205 groups nationwide involved in the January 20 protests as part of reporting for the Pearl Project, a non- profit investigative reporting project of which I co-founded. Mine analysis: 27 were Palestinian, Muslim, Arab or Islamist; 63 self-identified as socialist; and 115 fell into what I call “adjacent” categories.
The protest industry is a complex and often opaque network of organizations, funding streams, and ideological agendas that work together to orchestrate demonstrations, shape public narratives, and influence political outcomes, as an effective “agitprop” operation. Understanding this ecosystem is critical because it reveals the motivations, alliances, and strategies behind what often seems like spontaneous grassroots activism.
A walk through Meridian Hill Park revealed these agendas more clearly. The groups’ slogans defended socialism and anti-imperialism in countries like the Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela, Cuba – and here in the US.
Protests are far from isolated events often coordinated efforts involving global actors, local chapters and significant financial support. Through the Pearl Project, I want to investigate and expose the mechanisms of this industry – by identifying the players, tracing their funding and analyzing their impact. By shedding light on how protests are organized and sustained, and now positioning themselves as the “resistance” against the Trump administration, I hope to provide transparency and give the public a deeper understanding of the forces driving the shaping political discourse and activism.
A walk through Meridian Hill Park revealed these agendas more clearly. The groups’ slogans defended socialism and anti-imperialism in countries like the Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela, Cuba – and here in the US. Their supporters did not hide their intentions.
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The 205 national ‘supporters’ of the groups do not hide their agenda. Based in Salt Lake City, “Mormons with hope for a better world” says it is “committed to anti-racism, intersectional feminism, trans and queer liberation, disability justice, individual bodily autonomy, reproductive justice, socialism, anti-imperialism and decolonization.” Leaders of Qiao CollectiveAccording to one media outlet, they want to “build a bridge between the US left and China’s rich Marxist, anti-imperialist political work and thinking.” The “Project for a Revolutionary Marxist International” has his agenda in his name.
As the march turned from 16th Street NW to Massachusetts Avenue NW, Lacy MacAuley, 46, became a focal point for cameras. She wore a disco outfit for a nearby “dance-off protest” and put on a mask over her sunglasses that read: “TRUMP IS SO NOT THE VIBE.”
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“I’m an anarchist,” she said, smiling. “I identify as one. That means I question and oppose hierarchies and people’s dominion over others.” While MacAuley criticized socialism for often becoming “too centralized,” she added, “It thinks in the right direction.”
By the end of the day, the protest ended at Dupont Circle. The smell of marijuana lingered in the air as the protesters dispersed. One protester pushed his sign into a trash can and the message peeked out: “WE FIGHT BACK NETWORK.”
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