Who’s Behind the People’s Convoy to Washington DC? ~~ STEVE O’KEEFE

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/02/21/whos-behind-the-peoples-convoy-to-washington-dc/

~~ posted for collectivist action ~~

Photograph Source: Anthony Crider – CC BY 2.0

Thousands of truckers are being hijacked by anti-vax loonies and encouraged to parade through red state America in search of any remaining Covid-19 restrictions to protest. The so-called “People’s Convoy” is scheduled to leave Barstow, California, on Wednesday, February 23, and meander eastward, picking up truckers as they go for a final jamboree and road-blocking in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 – the day of Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address.

Are these the same organizer’s that brought us Canada’s “Freedom Convoy,” blocking the streets of the capital, Ottawa, for weeks and blocking border crossings to the U.S.? No, those organizers were arrested. Those trucks were confiscated. Those protesters have been debanked and uninsured. This is a whole new crop of American Made truckers in search of the last remaining Covid restrictions.

Freedom Fighter Nation

The U.S. version is called the People’s Convoy and is being run by Freedom Fighter Nation, a hastily assembled organization headed by Leigh Dundas, “human rights leader and defender of freedom” and seller of vitamins. Dundas came to the right wing’s attention with her unhinged performance at an Orange County, California, school board meeting. Her anti-mask antics earned Dundas an invite to speak at the Insurrectionist Extravaganza on January 6th, 2021, in Washington DC.:

Leigh Dundas on Jan 6 at Capitol

In case the video is taken down, here are the actual words spouted by “human rights leader” Leigh Dundas at the rally:

“You are far better off fighting on your feet – being prepared to die on your feet – than living a life on your damned knees. Fight on! Fight for your country! Fight for your president! Fight for everything that is important to you and never forget that what you are fighting for is freedom, and without it you have nothing. Now let’s get to it!”

Oh yeah, Dundas got to it! She is filmed marching toward the Capitol that day, screaming the word “traitor” at law enforcement officials, even ascending the steps of the Capitol. I could find no images of her inside the Capitol, and to my knowledge, she has not been arrested for her participation that day.

About Human Rights Leader Leigh Dundas, Esq.

Other than her day job selling vitamins, attorney Dundas keeps busy forming one fringe group after another. This is a standard tactic of Dark Money moguls who launder donations through an endless string of LLCs, 501(c)3s and 501(c)4s. Here are some of the generically-named groups started by or associated with Dundas:

* People’s Convoy, donations collected by Advocate’s for Citizen’s Rights

* Advocates for Citizens’ Rights, processes donations for People’s Convoy

* Freedom Fighter Nation, Dundas’ new group pushing the People’s Convoy

* American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom, collects donations for Freedom Fighter Nation

* Advocates for Physicians’ Rights, an anti-vax physician group

* America’s Frontline Doctors, an anti-vax group in Houston, Texas

* Free Speech Foundation, parent company of America’s Frontline Doctors

Leigh Dundas is President of Advocates for Citizen’s Rights, legal counsel for America’s Frontline Doctors, and the founder of Advocates for Physician’s rights. They all share the same mailing address, which is a box at a UPS Store in Ladera Ranch, California. Getting mail at the same box is an organization called “TRUMP 2020 LLC” and another one called “Promises Made Promises Kept.”

The American Foundation for Civil Liberties and Freedom

Yes, it sounds a lot like the ACLU, but don’t get them confused! The AFCLF is the 501(c)3 nonprofit handling the donations for ThePeoplesConvoy.org. The AFCLF is headquartered in a box at the Mail Chute in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Prior to collecting all the donations for the People’s Convoy, the AFCLF is associated with only one event: a “stop the steal” rally in Tobanga, California. For only $100 to $250 per person, you could listen to a “forensic expert” prove fraud in a state Trump lost by five million votes.

The AFCLF is run by New England SuperLawyer Christopher Marston, CEO of The Exemplar Companies. “Exemplar’s focus is on Revolutionaries, Game-Changers, and Impact Businesses worldwide, and its parent company, Exemplar Companies, Inc, is an inaugural Delaware Benefit Corporation operating on a Quad-Bottom-Line.” That’s according to Marston’s LinkedIn bio, which also shows him on the board of the Center for Integral Wisdom, whose mission is “to evolve the source code of culture by evolving the memes and distinctions that are at its core based on ‘The Universe: A Love Story‘ principles,” and the VeraSage Institute, “a think tank dedicated to promulgating and teaching value-based pricing, economics, and human capital development to professionals and businesses around the world”

The People’s Convoy

Now that we know the starting organizational and financial structure of The People’s Convoy, let’s take a look at some of their plans. The anti-vax group launched a media offensive on Valentine’s Day, February 14. Newsmax’s Eric Bolling told convoy “national organizer,” Maureen Steele, that he hoped to join the convoy as it approaches Washington, DC. Meanwhile, convoy “co-organizer” Brian Brase sat between two Newsmax platinum blonde anchor “ladies” wearing a T-shirt that read, “The Constitution is My Valentine,” a shirt that’s only available from patriot outfitter, American As Fuck Nation.

The People’s Convoy is being intentionally vague about the exact route they plan to take from Barstow, California, to Washington DC. The map shown by Steele on Newsmax was quickly shared around the Internet with the addition of Pepe the Frog wearing a rainbow fright wig (in the lower left-hand corner). Pepe the Frog is a well-documented white supremacist meme.

That completes the starting line-up for the People’s Convoy, but already the event is attracting a rogue’s gallery of anti-vax zealots and stop-the-steal insurrectionists, as documented by the Twitter account, @az_rww. They include such luminaries as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his Children’s Health Defense organization, anti-vax Dr. Ryan Cole of Global Covid Summit, and anti-vax pilot Josh Broder of U.S. Freedom Flyers. Thanks to the support of Ted Nugent, the People’s Convoy may soon be getting a theme song. Allow me to suggest his 1975 classic, Stormtroopin’.

Stay tuned to CounterPunch for further updates on the People’s Convoy.

STEVE O’KEEFE is the author of several books, most recently Set the Page on Fire: Secrets of Successful Writers, from New World Library, based on over 250 interviews. He is the former editorial director for Loompanics Unlimited.