UC Berkeley’s bloody protest of TPUSA allegedly funded by far-left nonprofit
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Last month, a band of demonstrators marched across West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles in the national anti-Trump #NoKings protests, carrying a banner that read: “DEFEAT TRUMP’S FASCIST TAKEOVER. Stop ICE raids and deportations by any means necessary.”
In one corner, four bold letters stood out: “BAMN,” an acronym for “By Any Means Necessary.” The rest of the banner spelled out clues to the group’s full name in smaller print: “Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigration Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary.”
That organization – one of 266 groups with combined annual revenues of $2.9 billion identified by Fox News Digital leading the #NoKings protests – would soon reappear at this week’s flashpoint on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
On Monday night, the group proudly broadcast videos on its Instagram channel of its leaders stoking an angry mob on the streets again, this time on the Berkeley campus, staging a protest that turned into a bloody brawl outside a Turning Point USA event, leading to the arrest of several people.
‘NO KINGS’ ORGANIZER DISCOURAGES VIOLENCE FOLLOWING COAST-TO-COAST ARRESTS
A flyer circulated before the demonstration urged participants to “End Fascist Turning Point’s Youth-Oriented Campaign of Incitement to Violence!” It announced a rally outside Zellerbach Hall an hour before doors opened for the event.
Ronald Cruz, a licensed attorney in California, is listed in state bar records as a counsel for “United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund.” Tax records show it has been federally tax-exempt since March 2022. Cruz didn’t return a request for comment.
What’s more, under a label for “Storage Used,” both documents note the files are “Owned by UEAA Legal Defense Fund.” By Any Means Necessary and the United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund didn’t respond to a request for comment.
On its official “Donate” page, the leaders of “By Any Means Necessary” confirm the connection. They instruct visitors on how to make a tax-deductible donation, enthusiastically noting, “You can make a contribution to our 501(c)(3) affiliate, United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund (UEAALDF)! Money goes toward our legal cases and broader organizing and education.” With one click, visitors are directed to the “UEAALDF website” at “ueaa.net,” legitimizing the activist network under the guise of charity.
While the organization’s balance sheet is small, with reported tax-deductible “public support” totaling $99,348 over five years from 2018 through 2022, the most recent year available, the implications are significant.
As experts note, the case illustrates how organizations leverage nonprofit status to claim moral and legal legitimacy while allegedly fomenting organized street violence, sectarian division and communal hate, activities outside the boundaries of “charitable” purpose.
MILLIONS EXPECTED TO FLOOD STREETS AT ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS TARGETING TRUMP ACROSS ALL 50 STATES
In the wake of the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in September, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance called for closer scrutiny of nonprofits that receive tax benefits while allegedly promoting political violence.
The convergence of tax-exempt organizations, campus unrest and politically motivated violence underscores an emerging challenge in the nonprofit sector. Groups like “By Any Means Necessary” allegedly exploit the credibility and financial protections of charitable status while acting as de facto political operatives, often in coordination with broader ideological movements like Students for Justice in Palestine, first established at UC Berkeley by Palestinian American academic Hatem Bazian.
The metadata and cross-linked digital trails for the UC Berkeley protest reveal a well-coordinated infrastructure beneath the seemingly spontaneous protests, raising questions about accountability, transparency and the weaponization of the tax code for political warfare.
ANTI-ISRAEL RADICALS FROM ‘GLOBAL INTIFADA’ MOVEMENT JOIN ‘NO KINGS’ PROTESTS
The contrast between “By Any Means Necessary” activists marching relatively peacefully in last month’s #NoKings protest and the violent clash their protests helped incite at UC Berkeley this week highlights how some groups exploit nonprofit status to appear charitable one day while allegedly fomenting chaos, sectarianism, hate and violence the next day.
The UC Berkeley protests also raise questions about malign foreign influence. On its “Affiliates” webpage, “By Any Means Necessary” includes a link to the website for the “International Trotskyist Committee for the Regeneration of the Fourth International,” which is organizing “militants” who support early 20th century Soviet communist leader Leon Trotsky and the rise of a global “revolutionary Marxism.” The committee includes the Revolutionary Workers League and the Revolutionary Internationalist League, both self-declared communist groups.