Dem Donor Behind Vast Pro-China Propaganda Network: REPORT
Nick Pope on August 5, 2023
Neville Singham, a tech millionaire and Democratic donor, reportedly provides significant funding to an expansive pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda network, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Singham’s money is financing the Chinese government’s propaganda efforts through a complex web of shell companies and nonprofits that stretch around the globe, according to the Times. Singham has also donated thousands of dollars to left-wing politicians like Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Massachusetts and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, campaign finance records show.
Singham’s millions have found their way to organizations like a think tank in Massachusetts, a venue space in New York, a South African political party and media organizations in Brazil and India, according to the Times. Each of these groups essentially blend left-wing talking points with CCP propaganda narratives, such as those that dismiss Taiwan’s claim to independence and downplay the ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims in the Chinese mainland, the Times’ investigation found.
Singham reportedly made use of several nonprofit organizations to funnel funds to organizations across the world, meaning that his financing of a pro-CCP propaganda network may have been tax-deductible, according to the Times. None of the various nonprofits the Times identified registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a requirement for organizations that seek to shift American public opinion at the behest of foreign governments, according to the Times.
Other outfits linked to Singham have uploaded content on YouTube, posting videos that have been viewed millions of times, according to the Times. These groups recycle and echo each other’s content, and are also amplified by Chinese state media, all of which contributes to an artificial consensus that China is a benevolent and unfairly-maligned country on the world stage, according to the Times.
Singham claims that he does not work for or at the direction of the CCP, according to the Times. However, Singham reportedly shares office space with a company that informs foreigners about “the miracles that China has created on the world stage.”
In addition, several Singham-backed organizations share personnel with that same pro-CCP company, according to the Times.
Singham has donated to some of the most left-wing congressional politicians in the U.S., including Sanders, Jayapal, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rep. Chuy Garcia of Illinois and Rep. Barbara Lee of California, campaign finance records show.
Associates indicated that Singham is an admirer of Maoism, the strain of communism that gave birth to the modern CCP, according to the Times. Singham also once praised Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela as a “phenomenally democratic place,” according to the Times.
Singham’s wife, Jodie Evans, runs Code Pink, a pro-China organization that advocates for American pacifism and left-wing causes while defending the CCP’s detention of Uyghur Muslims, according to the Times. Other leftist organizations and advocacy groups have grown skeptical of the Singham network, but have avoided publicly criticizing the Singham-affiliated network for its apologist tendencies.
Other left-wing organizations fear that leveling such criticism will undermine activism pertaining to climate change and gender theory, according to the Times.
The offices of Jayapal, Sanders, Garcia, Omar, Lee and Code Pink did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Singham could not be reached for comment.
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