Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund

From National Park
This is a new phase unfolding under the Trump administration, which is called Operation Public Order. Its purpose is to build infrastructure designed to manage dissent and resistance.

At the center of Operation Public Order is a rapidly expanding data and surveillance backbone. Palantir now earns over a billion dollars a year from government contracts alone, with multiple new and expanded federal agreements extending into 2026. These systems are not primarily about investigating crime after the fact. They are built to connect people, events, and locations; identify and flag organizers; map networks; and predict collective action before it fully materializes.

Why this approach? Because resistance movements (especially those standing up to ICE and successfully pushing enforcement out of their neighborhoods) cannot be neutralized through force alone. Instead of overt crackdowns, Operation Public Order relies on preemptive control.

In New Orleans, this looks like coordinated monitoring and information-sharing across local law enforcement, federal agencies, and regional intelligence hubs. The focus isn’t isolated incidents, it’s patterns of civic activity.

What’s being monitored locally includes:
- Protest planning and announcements, including public events, marches, vigils, and rallies shared on social media and community platforms
- Organizers and recurring participants, flagged not for criminal behavior, but for their role in sustaining momentum
- Locations and movement patterns, especially downtown corridors, federal buildings, ports, immigration facilities, and major transit routes
- Permit requests and logistics, used to justify delays, denials, rerouting, or restrictions that reduce visibility and impact
- Online discourse tied to offline action, such as public posts, hashtags, shared graphics, and calls to action
- Coalitions and cross-group coordination, particularly when labor, faith groups, immigrant advocates, and mutual-aid networks intersect
- “Public order” indicators, including projected turnout, traffic impact, counter-protest risk, and police response levels

This information is aggregated and shared not to stop crime, but to shape the environment in which dissent occurs, where it’s allowed, how visible it is, and how costly participation feels.

What does that look like on the ground?
- Protest permits are denied outright or delayed long enough to make organizing impossible
- Demonstrations are rerouted or boxed in, limiting visibility, momentum, and public impact
- Heavy police presence is deployed not just for control, but to discourage turnout before events even begin
- Minor violations are selectively enforced to intimidate, sideline, or exhaust organizers
- Social media and online organizing spaces are monitored, creating a chilling effect meant to make people quieter, less visible, and less willing to engage

The goal is not mass arrests. The goal is deterrence, exhaustion, and silence. This is how dissent gets managed before it gets suppressed (through software, bureaucracy, surveillance, and pressure) so that when resistance fades, it appears voluntary rather than coerced.

Remember to keep causing good trouble!

On this you can support the student activists on the frontlines of resistance. Support DPSF by visiting :

Hope Through Resistance: Supporting Students Organizing for Change By Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund

In a time of escalating state-sponsored violence and attacks on movements for social justice, supporting activists on the front lines is a critical task. Since our founding in 1961, the Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund has provided scholarships to student activists facing political repression.
Through their organizing our grantees bring hope through resistance in times of deepest despair. They honor the lasting legacy of the Fund and the decades of student activists who have come before them.
Please help us raise $75,000 before the end of 2025 so we can fund as many students as possible in the upcoming academic year. We’re still here and our grantees are boldly leading the way! Will you join us by making a generous donation today?

Artwork © Favianna Rodriguez, [2025]. All Rights Reserved

Hope Through Resistance: Supporting Students Organizing for Change By Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund

Stand in solidarity with the upcoming Class of 2025/26 and help protect student activist voices. Read our Spring Report and consider making a donation before June 30 to support their journey. Together, we can make a difference! https://wix.to/DrSxpQD

Protect Student Activist Voices Read our full Spring Report here - we know you will want to support our Class of 2025/26 with a donation today - your gift before June 30 directly impacts the amount of funding we can provide for student activists facing political repression! Go to the Donate button to share your gift today!