A Minnesota rapper and activist is urging Americans to follow France's lead and "raise hell" after returning from a visit to a Saint-Denis high school alongside Greta Thunberg, as radical groups in the United States organize protests in the nation's capital modeled on the violent French unrest.
Rafael Gonzalez Jr., who performs under the name Tufawon, traveled to Saint-Denis and demonstrated alongside high-profile figures including Thunberg outside the Lycée Paul Éluard, according to reporting from Fox News Digital. On returning, Gonzalez published statements on social media urging activists to become more radicalized and to take influence from the French, including a call for white Americans to "raise hell."
Fox News Politics reported that the rapper defended "solidarity" with France's radical activists and pushed for protests to come to the United States. The visit and subsequent posts come after riots across France that left more than 2,400 people arrested and 1,000 police officers injured, according to VOZ.
French Unrest Sets Off Alarm Bells in Washington
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said 1,200 people had been arrested and more than 150 police officers injured during the unrest on Saturday, 17 October, according to IBTimes UK. The scale of the violence has drawn attention from American lawmakers and analysts, who are watching for signs that the tactics could be replicated domestically.
Those fears appear to be materializing. CodePink, the anti-war group, has promoted a Washington campaign against U.S. military spending and has coordinated a three-day mobilization targeting Congress on 10-12 November, IBTimes UK reported. The planned demonstrations come after the U.S. midterm elections on 3 November.
CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans, in an interview reported by Fox News Digital, urged Americans to look at protests in France as examples of mobilization. CodePink has framed the campaign as peaceful civil disobedience opposing U.S. military spending.
The group receives a significant portion of its funding from sources linked to tech billionaire Neville Roy Singham, according to IBTimes UK, a financial relationship that has drawn intense scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers who allege the nonprofit uses foreign-linked funds to promote anti-American narratives. CodePink and Singham have denied those accusations, maintaining that the group operates independently.
'Red-Green Alliance'
Heritage Foundation foreign policy expert Mike Gonzalez described the synergy between the overlapping movements as a "red-green alliance," a phrase reflecting his political assessment of the groups' shared interests, according to IBTimes UK.
S., VOZ reported. Far-left groups in the United States are using the French events as a model and organizing protests in the capital.
The domestic protest push comes alongside direct participation by activists in the French demonstrations. Tufawon's visit to the Saint-Denis high school with Thunberg placed him among the international figures lending visibility to the French movement.
It is not yet known whether the planned Washington demonstrations will mirror the scale or tactics of the French unrest. IBTimes UK noted that the existence of a planned U.S. protest does not establish that organizers intend to reproduce the violence seen in France.
For everyday Americans, the developments raise questions about who is funding and organizing the planned demonstrations and whether the post-midterm period will see a repeat of the chaos that gripped French cities. Lawmakers have already signaled scrutiny of CodePink's funding streams, and the coming weeks will show whether that pressure produces answers before the November mobilization begins.
Our Take
Here's what the legacy media won't say plainly: a Minnesota rapper flew to France, stood with Greta Thunberg outside a high school, came home, and told white Americans to "raise hell." That's not activism. That's an invitation to chaos, and it's being amplified by a network of groups with deep pockets and foreign-linked funding that lawmakers are already investigating.
The French riots weren't a summer of love. More than 2,400 arrests. A thousand cops injured. That's the model Tufawon and CodePink want imported to Washington after the midterms. Patriots should be paying attention to who is organizing, who is paying, and what they're planning for November 10th through 12th.
The First Amendment protects the right to protest. It does not protect a coordinated campaign to replicate violence on American streets. If CodePink and its allies want to oppose military spending, they can do it peacefully and lawfully. But when the playbook is written in the streets of Saint-Denis, Americans have every right to ask who's holding the pen — and why.
