Left-wing group loses major bid to have Mastercard create Orwellian commission designed to deny access to charge services for politically incorrect groups.
By John Friend
A radical left-wing activist group was dealt a major blow by credit card company Mastercard on June 25 after a nearly unanimous majority of its independent shareholders voted to reject the establishment of an Orwellian “human rights” group with in the company to monitor payments to conservative and rightwing groups and individuals.
The left-leaning non-profit activist organization SumOfUs had been lobbying Mastercard to set up the committee to keep track of right-wing groups and individuals utilizing the services of the company in an effort to shut down payment processing for those deemed to be “radical.” In today’s terms, anyone who is right of antifa is often called “racist,” “white supremacist,” or even “Nazi” by their insane standards.
SumOfUs and other radical leftist organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), have previously been successful in lobbying online payment processors like PayPal and Stripe to shut down the accounts of conservatives, rightwing activists and politically incorrect organizations.
“White supremacist groups can raise money internationally like never before, and the media are starting to talk about it,” SumOfUs declared in its public petition to encourage Mastercard, PayPal, Visa, and other large financial services companies from doing business with groups they deem to be “far-right extremists” and “hate groups.”
“But it’s not ‘the Internet’ or ‘social media’ that’s to blame—it’s a handful of wealthy corporations, including digital payment giants like Mastercard, PayPal, and Visa.”
The petition, which has received over 127,000 signatures as AFP goes to press, goes on to argue that companies like Mastercard “have made supporting hate groups and violence easier than ever through online donations,” and that the large financial services companies “are refusing to take responsibility.”
Despite their hysterical rhetoric, violence is at an historic low in the United States, even though groups like the ADL and SPLC want Americans to believe otherwise. In fact, even “hate crimes” are at all-time lows, leaving far-left groups to resort to creating new categories such as “hate incidents” that are not even crimes. For example, when someone calls someone else a bad name, that can be reported to the SPLC, which would log the tip as a “hate incident,” despite the fact that it is not a crime and law enforcement would not investigate that.
The group successfully lobbied Mastercard to bring their proposal—to set up an internal “human rights committee” to work to shut down payment processing for individuals and organizations determined to be “far-right”—to a vote at the annual Mastercard shareholders meeting, which took place on June 25. However, just 4.8% of shareholders voting at the meeting supported the SumOfUs resolution.
Mastercard had previously voiced skepticism of the proposal, with the board of the company telling shareholders that the company does “not believe that establishing a separate human rights committee is necessary to properly exercise its oversight of this important area,” according to reports.
Despite the setback for SumOfUs, large financial services companies as well as social media giants have already banned or censored conservative and right-wing organizations and activists from utilizing their platforms to spread their message and raise funds online. Even more mainstream independent journalists and broadcasters, such as Alex Jones and Paul Joseph Watson, as well as conservative-leaning organizations including the Proud Boys, have been subjected to this tyrannical agenda to shut down free speech and deplatform those deviating from the politically correct narrative promoted by the dishonest political and media establishment. AFP has not been immune from attacks, as our readers know.
Others such as conservative comedian Steven Crowder, commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, and Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson—who spoke recently at the Trilateral Commission’s European Regional Meeting—have been censored and demonetized. Central to that agenda is the deplatforming of demonized individuals and organizations deemed to be “far-right” by groups such as SumOfUs, the ADL, and the SPLC and the restriction of their ability to utilize online payment platforms.
John Friend is a freelance writer based in California.
