Summary:
- Introduction and an Ironic Warning
- Ken Pope, a Senior Fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
- A narrow escape to America
- VDC contributor Alison Despathy
- A Panel Discussion
- Second keynote speaker James Lindsay
- 15 Days: The REAL Story of the Pandemic School Closures
- “How do we depoliticize our schools?”
- The current two-file “secrecy policy” in public schools and conclusion.
There is no better time to drive up I-89 to Burlington than when the leaves are changing, and the weather is still warm enough to keep the windows down. The Green Mountain State transforms into the autumn creamcicle with cherries on top, as nature’s diverse colorscape parades through the foothills one more time before we return to Narnia.
A similar feeling came across me as I found my way to the United We Stand Media Fest tucked back in the film room at Main Street Landing. The event was intended to draw a diversity of political persuasions who agree our liberties are in jeopardy as we barrel toward another election pitting members of the duopoly against each other.
Registration to buy tickets included an ironic warning – they would not be available at the door to keep disruptive agents like Antifa from weaseling their way in on the day of. Instead, attendees had to buy tickets so they could register online. Finding my way to the film room felt like making my way to a speakeasy or underground church in the Soviet Union.
At the front of the dimly lit theater was Ken Pope, a Senior Fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Mr. Pope explained to a room filled with white hair and flannel-wearing Vermonters some things they already knew and others they didn’t. Namely, we have been witnessing a communist revolution program with COVID and BLM serving as acts one and two, and the enemy is inside the house – around the country in the form of over 650 subversive Chinese indoctrination schools posing as Chinese history and culture institutes, and inside Vermont by way of the teachers union.
After listening to his description of the Chinese heritage schools, where communism is legally mandated by the Chinese Communist Party-run government to be taught “only in a favorable light”, the anti-American, anti-patriarchy, anti-Christian, pro-LGBTQ themes circulating the halls of Vermont schools become clearer. Less clear is how teachers in Vermont are keeping their jobs with student reading and math scores hovering in the 25% success range.
Luckily, the cost of living has gotten so high, we’re told by Senator Bernie Sanders on a constituent phone call a few weeks ago, town managers are struggling to attract new teachers to Vermont. Of course, he tells us before the call ends that this is all somehow Donald Trump’s fault without ever explaining how. Mr. Pope, on the other hand, credits Neville Royce and Jody Evans with funding US student groups to embrace communism to the tune of $270 million dollars they made as former American capitalists.
Mr. Pope’s Q&A session was followed by a short film testimony from a woman who lived under communist-occupied Hungary. Candidly, she shares that her father was a devout communist who bought the lie long enough to support the takeover, only to find food rationing lines and hopelessness followed. A people’s revolution appeared to win back their freedoms only to be swiftly crushed by Soviet Russian tanks and soldiers who shot and killed some of her friends mere moments after she told them goodbye. She narrowly escaped to America, where she thanked God for the freedoms to travel, speak, and do business, unlike her days in the Eastern Bloc.
A brief speech by VDC contributor Alison Despathy began bleak but morphed into hopeful as she told us it looks like the Hungary of old in Vermont right now, but not to worry. She has participated in multiple victories for parents and civil liberties during her visits to Montpelier. She assured listeners there are plenty of legislators who are willing to develop bills, give speeches, and otherwise support measures to disentangle the communist influence in the state. She also gave credit to Governor Scott for standing against numerous attempts to “drive us off a cliff” at the hands of social engineers.
Attendees were given a panel discussion featuring congressional candidate Gerald Malloy, Soviet Russian ex-pat Raisa Murakhver, pastor Ed Wheeler and Vermont’s first-ever Turning Point USA club chapter president Seth Fewer. Perhaps the most interesting question was answered by the young president who recently won his student body election at Spaulding High School in Barre. When asked about the future for Vermont teens, he noted his winning candidacy indicates a rise in conservatism among Vermont’s Gen Z. If it can happen there, it can happen almost anywhere in Vermont if we give the kids the kind of support they need.
The second keynote speaker was James Lindsay, author of The Marxification of Education, making his fourth or fifth visit to the state. Lindsay, who founded New Discourses and has traveled the world educating citizens and politicians about the inner workings of woke (re: communist) ideology and its history, took listeners down the road from the late 1980s to the present as figures like Paolo Friere and Henry Giroux made it their mission to fulfill Antonio Gramsci’s “long march through the institutions. As it turns out, Ronald Reagan’s warning that it would only take a generation was generous, as Lindsay notes; it took Giroux and company approximately seven years to get one hundred faculty tenured, who then quickly let their colleagues pour in like migrants at the southern border.
The afternoon screening of 15 Days: The REAL Story of the Pandemic School Closures featured former Hollywood filmmaker Hawk Jensen’s portrayal of Natalya Murakhver’s rise from parent turned activist during the COVID lockdowns in New York City. A series of interviews with students as young as elementary school on up to high school reminds us of the genuine insanity and abuses wrought by our governments and, especially, the teachers union headed by Randy Weingarten. Murakhver, like Jensen, saw the pandemic for its communist underpinnings early on and decided to lock arms with anyone willing to stand up for children’s and parents’ rights. Murakhver recalls being flanked by a Democrat mom and Republican dad as they stood in solidarity against the mandates. It was this same spirit that motivated her to join with SPEAKVT and Restore Childhood to air the film in Burlington of all places.
One last panel dealt with the question “How do we depoliticize our schools?” Mrs. Murakhver led pointedly at ending teachers unions, encouraging teachers to withhold dues, while also reconvening family dinners as a place to teach children and assess what they’re learning.
Mr. Pope seconded the idea, noting that only 3-6% of participants in an institution are needed for a meaningful insurgence. He called for deprogramming current teachers, which means having difficult conversations and sharing materials from those featured. Set up screenings of 15 Days and buy copies of books like Marxification of Education to give to other parents or board members. Lastly, don’t coddle your children or rob them of building the strength they need to handle whatever life throws at them.
Clara Morrison, Executive Director of The Right for Vermont Foundation, shared a victory for parents in Blue Mountain district who successfully rejected a teacher’s union contract. She urged Vermonters to learn about Prop 3 and educate others, emphasizing education over politics.
Lindsay stated the need to break the monopoly – compete by building new schools. “Fraud has been committed” against students, parents, and taxpayers, and “someone may need to take it to the courts.”
Marie Teimann, co-founder and President of SPEAKVT for Parents in Education, enlightened everyone about the current two-file “secrecy policy” where schools have a file for students and a separate one for that student’s parent(s), on top of Vermont’s law which establishes twelve as the age of consent. She further urged independent schools.
In all, the room spent little time bashing politicians or tripping over tired talking points, as the mission is ideological more than it is partisan. At stake are freedom and our children’s future. If there is a collective worth listening to, it’s the patriots and freedom fighters who realize we are the last best hope and the time to act is now.
