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Dissident Project wants to tell the evils of communism. The new project aims to get young people who have escaped from socialist and communist countries to speak in schools about what it is like to live in leftist totalitarian systems.
The program is promoted and founded by economist Daniel Di Martino. The program’s speakers have been prepared to address student audiences. Dissident Project emphasizes that all have gone through a rigorous audition process and training program to prepare them to communicate effectively with high school and college students.
Dissident Project is a way to teach society and specifically young people how authoritarianism takes hold, what happens when it does, and what America can learn from current and former socialist countries around the world so as not to repeat this political system.
“It was all born because we understood that it was necessary for kids to learn that socialism is a real threat and that there are people their age who are living it and have escaped to the United States; plus it’s something we can’t allow to happen here. There are many schools that are teaching children to hate America, when the truth is that this is the best country in the world,” Di Martino told El American.
Dissident Project on the Evils of Communism
It’s a non-profit project. That means they don’t charge money for the talks. “Dissident Project speakers can join a virtual call or even travel to your school to present to your students at no cost,” their website explains.
To do so they have the backing of Young Voices, which funds and supports Dissident Project. “We are a non-partisan organization. In schools they educate about The Holocaust, but not about communism; they educate about Nazism, but not about communism and that’s wrong because it’s an ideology that has killed millions of people throughout history all over the world. It is the most lethal ideology in our history.”
In addition, Di Martino said the important thing to remember is that communism is an ideology that continues to do harm in the world. “It is the ideology that is still standing. There are countries today that are dominated by communism. We need to teach young people about the evils of communism and the best way to do that is with people who have lived through it and are close to their age.”
The project wants more people to join in to talk about their experience in communist systems. “We want to have the most diverse stories possible and tell the effects of socialism. We are looking for people from Cuba, Nicaragua, China, Angola, etc.,” he said.
He added: “We want to give as many talks as possible this year, the good thing about this organization is that after we start it, all the additional funds we raise are funds to finance an additional talk. Next year we want to do an event with people coming from socialist countries, maybe a summit.”
He maintained that it is necessary to promote the ideas of freedom in defense of democracy and society, so that no one falls into the clutches of communism. “Communism came to the United States and is in schools and universities. We cannot let this ideology destroy the country we escaped to because all the spokesmen of this project come from socialist countries and we do not want to have to emigrate again.”
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.