The Ford Foundation, an American charitable organisation, which casts itself as a group engaged in advancing human welfare is in reality is a cesspool of intolerant and bigoted left-wing extremists, whistleblower emails quoted by Christopher Brunet on his Substack KarlStack revealed.
These left-wing ideologues and extremists, the whistleblowers claim, go to great lengths to propagate their communist views while advocating cancel culture and harassment against those who dare to voice opposing views and dissenting opinions.
The Ford Foundation Fellows’ ‘unofficial’ listserv, which is a private channel and open to existing and past Ford Foundation Fellows, is dominated by radicals who use the platform to push for persistent groupthink that is in line with extreme left-wing ideologies, one of the whistleblowers’ who is the member of the group for over two decades and has first-hand experience of discussions happening in the listserv said in an email.
“The group consists of academics whose membership in the Fellowship Programs claims to ‘seek to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students’. This couldn’t be further from the truth,” the whistleblower said.
Those who do not conform to the left-leaning worldview and dare to present opposing ideologies are viciously attacked, discredited, criticised, accused of “provocation” or “racism”, and sometimes even doxxed, just because their views did not jibe with that of the left-wing bullies.
Similarly, another whistleblower also shared what has been going on unabated on the Ford Foundation’s listserv. The whistleblower asserted that the Fellows listserv is dictated and hijacked by a coterie of radical left-wing extremists that attacks anybody who does not agree with their tenets. It is the hotbed of critical race theory and anti-racist ideologies that is promoted by leftwing academia around the world and funded by the Fellowship Program.
The whistleblower highlighted the risks associated with voicing unpopular opinions and evil practices employed by the left-wing bullies to discourage others from raising such views. “If you speak up and people do not like your ideas, you risk being looked up online, on Linkedin, etc. and your profiles are shared with the listserv,” the whistleblower added.
The usual suspects that dominate the listserv and control the narrative all come from post-modern, critical theory disciplines and are at the forefront to block out criticism and dissent. “This listserv is a “progressive” authoritarian feeder into society and a major culprit in the recent attacks on our Constitution,” the whistleblower was quoted as saying on the KarlStack.
Yet another whistleblower came out in open about the rampant left-wing extremism being promoted on Ford Foundation’s listserv. The person in question thought of using it as an opportunity to engage in intelligent conversation with “educated people”.
However, the person was in for a rude awakening as she was pilloried, denounced and ridiculed, with left-wing ideologues telling her off and pontificating that she had never suffered or faced injustice. She was also told that she was abusing the fellowship by her “hurtful”, “ignorant”, “racist” words and that she should be removed from the listserv. Questions were also raised on her mental health.
In addition to this, someone in the group also notified her university that she held racist views, after which a colleague was sent to question her and report back. “I have not been allowed to teach since, and have been passed over for all open positions in Chemistry and Biochemistry for which I am qualified. I did continue to try to get a rational discussion going, but the abuse was so personal and virulent, I finally quit trying – I was SHUT UP, to my shame,” she lamented.
“The Ford Fellowship is simply ANTI WHITE, and in my view ANTI AMERICAN because they wish to divide our nation according to our skin colour, and give power to those who agree with their political agenda. That is ANTI DIVERSITY and UN-AMERICAN. I am very sad that American tax dollars go to support this government-created, government-sanctioned political activist organization,” the whistleblower said in her email.
Condemning the behaviour in strong terms, the whistleblower said Ford would turn over in his grave for the kind of ideologies that are nurtured and propagated at the Ford Fellowship, adding that the National Academies should rethink the structure, leadership, and mandate of the organization.
The fourth whistleblower quoted on KarlStack reminisced about an incident from 2018 when a fellow member was viciously attacked for having conservative views. The victim was called a troll, provocateur etc. and was harassed for vocalising her thoughts. In order to save herself from the attacks, she had to resort to self-censor by leaving the group, the whistleblower said.
She was called a troll, provocateur, etc. and was harassed for her views. She left the listserv, and like so many others, self-censored to avoid such attacks. The exchange that happened to this individual should be made public and condemned. This listserv should be exposed and the Fellowships Program left-wing authoritarian agenda should be made public.
These revelations bring under the spotlight the Ford Foundation, which has continued to largely operate as a charity organisation for years now. However, the latest account of the group by the whistleblowers reveal that it is nothing but an echo chamber of left-wing extremism, where not only contrasting opinions are trashed but those voicing them are subjected to severe and unsparing attacks.
The shenanigans of the Ford Foundation in shoring up left-wing causes in India
The revelations made against the Ford Foundation by the whistleblowers are shocking but not entirely surprising since the group has a storied history of bankrolling the causes championed by left-wing supporters, including that in India.
In 2015 the Government of Gujarat while investigating Teesta Setalvad’s embezzlement case came across funding by Ford Foundation to her entities. It was found that her trust had violated FCRA norms. Sabrang Communication and Publishing Pvt Limited, with which Teesta is associated, received $ 2.9 lakh from Ford Foundation as a grant to “address communalism, caste-based discrimination in India, including media strategies”.
Later, a letter was issued by the Gujarat Police, following which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) expressed its intention of probing the activities of the Ford Foundation. This probably set off a chain of events, most of which happened in the background and was later revealed by Wikileaks.
As per the leaked emails, Ford Foundation claims that they got embroiled in a controversy over its funding to Sabrang Trusts managed by Teesta Setalvad. The letter titled Ford Foundation in India: Notes to John Podesta dated May 26, 2015, also mentions their funding to Arvind Kejriwal’s NGO before he got into politics as a possible reason for Government’s action.
This was confirmed by none other than one of the leading luminaries of the Indian left-wing firmament, Ms Arundhati Roy. In an interview with Sagarika Ghose, Roy talked about one of the articles that she wrote for The Hindu in which she alleged that NGOs of Kejriwal and Sisodia had received over $400,000 from Ford Foundation in three years of time. Roy claimed that the group of ten people who were the top ‘management’ of the movement had well-funded NGOs. She said that three core members of the team had won Magsaysay Award which is also funded by Ford Foundation.
