Day One: The Playbook Deployed

The Playbook #

In The FRSO Cover-Ups: Sexual Misconduct and the Pattern of Protection, we predicted how FRSO would respond to this information being published.

FRSO executed the exact tactics we predicted within a day of the document being circulated on social media. If you’re an FRSO member or in FRSO’s orbit and ask FRSO members questions after you read our main document, you can expect it to go something like this.

Discord #

On 11/13/25 at 8:21pm, a Dallas organizer, who we will call E, shared our document in the Discord of the Dallas Anti-war Committee (DAWC), one of FRSO’s front groups.

Josh Rudd, an FRSO member and leading member of DAWC, deleted the post, and messaged them directly to speak privately:

11/13/25 9:45pm

Hey, I just wanted to reach out about the post you sent in the Discord. I’d be down to call sometime tomorrow or this weekend to chat about this. But for now I removed the post just because we follow the St. Paul Principles as an organization and public call outs of others in the movement like this are not something DAWC engages in as a point of unity.

11/14/25 10:12 am

I’m still very down to schedule a time to call so I can hear your thoughts, I think calls tend to leave less confusion than messages do. I’m gonna link the St. Paul Principles here for ease.

I think this goes against the SPP in two important ways.

First and most directly this goes against point 3, which is about keeping criticism within the movement. There is an exception for folks who are causing genuine harm within the movement, however nothing alleged about this group locally has indicated even any allegation of potential harm to people in the movement.

Second, I think this goes against the final principle, which is about not collaborating with or assisting the cops. I think this doxing campaign that’s targeting local organizers and placing a red scare target on their back is collaborating with the FBI and ICE, particularly since they’re doxing an immigrant.

https://sites.google.com/view/tcc4j/st-paul-principles > >

Note that Josh doesn’t address any substance of the document.

They first invoke the St. Paul Principles to shut down criticism of FRSO. The St. Paul Principles are not universal edicts of organizing. They were a specific set of principles to maintain unity between the various factions in the coalition around the RNC in 2008. Josh weaponizes them to suppress criticism of FRSO.

Further, Josh talks about the St Paul Principles demand “keeping criticisms within the movement.” We, in fact, tried to do that. We attempted to address our issues internally, going all the way to the Political Secretary of FRSO, the top of the organization. The Political Secretary stonewalled us and demanded blind faith. Only after it was clear we’ve exhausted all options inside FRSO did we decide to leave and go public.

Additionally, we cannot keep criticisms “within the movement” when FRSO has made it very clear that we are not part of the same movement. FRSO creates character assassination campaigns around members that left, and attempts to isolate us from “the movement.” Tequila Sunset attempted to reach out to members of local leadership of FRSO Dallas Kyra and Xavi privately to talk after leaving FRSO. Kyra did not meet with him. Xavi did but refused to engage in substantive conversation.

Josh also notes that the St. Paul Principles have an exception for “genuine harm within the movement,” and then claims our documentation of extensive harm done by FRSO, both historically and by members of FRSO Dallas, has not “indicated even any allegation of potential harm to people in the movement.” It’s very clear that Josh did not read the document, and it becomes even more clear in the next interactions.

Josh tops it off by snitchjacketing us. They argue our documentation of sexual assault cover-ups is tantamount to “collaborating with or assisting the cops” and “collaborating with the FBI and ICE.” The “immigrant” they claim we are “doxing” is Rick Majumdar, who publicly identifies himself as a member of FRSO! Rick is featured in several posts on the FRSO Dallas instagram. FRSO did a public campaign around him when he was arrested! We did not give any personal information about Rick beyond his name, and the actions he took to help cover up sexual assault. The rest of the people we name are all publicly identified with FRSO.

After Josh deleted the post on the DAWC discord, an ex-FRSO comrade posted it again:

This post was quickly deleted and this comrade was timed out:

Like the previous instance, Josh attempted to take the conversation private:

Phone Calls #

At around 9:30pm on 11/14/25, Josh had a phone call with E. E recorded the call and provided it to us:

We reproduce the transcript below in full with our interjections and analysis. They repeat points we already addressed, so we don’t repeat analysis of those again below. If you prefer to see it independently, we have the full unedited transcript.

E: Hello?

Josh Rudd: Okay. Perfect. Sorry. I was having connection issues.

Josh Rudd: Hey. I’m Josh. I don’t know that we’ve met in person before. Have we?

E: We might have. Probably not.

Josh Rudd: Okay. What was your name again? Is it E?

E: Yeah.

Josh Rudd: Okay. Perfect. So, yeah, I I I would like to, you know, start off with just, like, hearing sort of from your perspective, you know, what’s going on, what what what your concerns are, what your thoughts are, all that. You know, where you’d like to see this what you’d like to get from this conversation, basically.

E: Well, I just wanted to make it aware to people in DAWC since DAWC is, like, basically FRSO, that, like, people there in the leadership were, like, involved in covering up sexual assault. I think people should be, like, aware of that, and I’m, like, really concerned about that. And, also, just, like, some of, like, the other harm that has come to, like, the people who are mentioned in, like, the document. I don’t know if you read it.

Josh Rudd: Oh, so I have a couple things, but what are what what do you mean in particular?

E: Like, Dan’s sort of, like, weird behaviors, especially towards, like, younger women and, like, other fem presenting people and, like, how he, like, encouraged that one person to drink until she had alcohol poisoning. I think that’s, like, really, like, concerning, and I don’t know. I just, like like, if I was in an org like that or, like, org who those people were, like, in charge of me or, like, in charge of keeping me and my, like, people safe, I would, like, want to know. So I was like, I guess, like, people should just know that. Right?

Josh Rudd: So, I mean, there’s a couple things here.

E: Yeah. Go ahead.

Josh Rudd: That I just wanna, like, make sure to say is that, like like, FRSO and DAWC, like, are are completely different organizations. So, like, there are people in DAWC that are in a bunch of different orgs. Like, there’s people who are in CodePINK and in JVP and in PYM and in FRSO and in DSA and in RRC. But, like, none of those orgs control DAWC. DAWC is, you know, completely run by its members.

Josh, a member of FRSO and leading member of DAWC, obfuscates the relationship between DAWC and FRSO. While several organizations participate in DAWC, it is locally led by FRSO. The Steering Committee of the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN), of which DAWC is a member organization, is composed of entirely FRSO members - Tom Burke (who is discussed in our document extensively), Meredith Aby, and Ryan Delaney.(1) (1)Leadership Proposal from the 2025 AWAN conference.

Josh Rudd: So, like, that I think that’s a really important part. In terms of you know, I I’ve I’ve seen this document.

E: Have you read the whole thing? I I know it’s a long read.

Josh Rudd: Yeah. I I had a chance to look over it a few days ago.

And yeah. I I mean, so are there, like, particular points that you think are, like, important to talk about? Like, you know, what, I I wanna hear, like, where you’re coming from, what you’re wanting to see happen.

E: Like yeah. Exactly.

Well, I mean, I I already said, like, the sexual assault cover up is really worrying to me and just, like, behaviors of numerous well, people who are in DAWC, and FRSO I guess, and NLGs, like, behaviors towards, like, fems, women, and younger people. And I just want, I don’t know, like, the org to take some accountability for that because, like, the those are, like, its members, its public facing leadership, etcetera.

Josh Rudd: Okay.

So I had a chance to look through the document. I I don’t know sort of, like, all the context surrounding everything, honestly. I I saw it pop up in the feed, uh, a few days ago. So, like, I I can speak from the DAWC perspective because, like, I I’m not gonna be, like, able to speak for FRSO. Like, I can point you towards you know, I don’t know if he was able to speak on the behalf of them.

This call was on 11/14/25. The document was shared on social media on 11/13/25. Josh repeatedly says they read the document “a few days ago.” Unless Josh received the document from the future, that’s not possible. Josh did not read the document.

Josh Rudd: But from the DAWC perspective, like, where we’re coming from is we absolutely want to address, like, concrete material harm. And so, like, I I think that that’s an important part to sort of investigate and kind of go into. Um, in regards to, like, the post itself, you know, this is something that’s happened before with other groups that are in coalition with us, like PYM. And this is something that we have as a point of unity within DAWC from our founding, which is that we follow the Saint Paul principles. And so, like, these kinds of, like, public call out posts, you know, just that that’s not how DAWC organizes.

I understand that, like, other orgs might operate differently, and that that is what it is. But, like, as a point of unity that we have, because we have so many different groups that we work with in coalition, we’re focused on building, like ultimately, our number one goal here is to, like, fight back against imperialism, which is this monstrous, horrible beast that is, you know, killing people. And so, like, that’s our focus.

Translation: issues of organizations’ mishandling of sexual assault are a distraction from our more important work. Daniel Sullivan used similar rhetoric against the Tampa whistleblowers in 2014.“What’s primary here is the possibility that an FRSO person has committed a sexual assault. We take gendered violence and especially sexual assault very seriously. We’ve expelled people for gendered violence before. In this case there were a lot of accusations or complaints against FRSO coming from the same source or sources, and it was a bit difficult to sort them all out. It became clear that we were dealing with an accusation that one of our members had committed a sexual assault I think a week ago Friday or something. The very next day, we reached out to the victim to try to find out what had happened. Unfortunately, so far we haven’t been able to communicate with her. So, that makes things very difficult. It would be very helpful if she would communicate with us so that we can take care of this. We have acted quickly, and we’ve acted quickly despite that many of us are very busy with the Rasmea Odeh that that is going on now and that could see a long time Palestinian activist sent to prison and at the least deported.” - Public Facebook Thread: Tampa Members Expose Dustin Ponder Case (2014)

E: Well, I think that, like, imperialism also resonates in, like, certain behavior patterns that we see, like, internally here, like, in The US. You know? And, like, definitely, like, increased misogyny and, like, violence against women is, like, a form of imperialism, so we have a responsibility to fight it here as well.

Josh Rudd: I absolutely agree. For sure. We’re definitely united on that.

E: And then and-

Josh Rudd: Like, I think we’re, like, fighting against -

E: Can you talk about, like, what happened in, like, with these, like, other statements? Sorry. I’m, like, not that aware.

Josh Rudd: So we made a post in the DAWC announcements, months ago, a while back, when there was, you know, posts publicly going around condemning PYM.

E: Oh, what was that about? Sorry. I’m, like, new, but I just, like, saw this, and I was, like, really worried.

Josh Rudd: Oh, I saw what?

E: Like, the the FRSO accountability thing.

Josh Rudd: Oh, okay. Um, I mean, so the it it was you know, you you can scroll back if you’re interested, um, in sort of the the full details around that. I don’t have that in front of me. But there was, you know, some public condemnation of another org, and there was asked for us to publicly condemn, um, other orgs in our movement. And we we said that that is just not something that DAWC is not going to be engaged in, like, public callouts.

That’s just, like, fundamentally something that we’ve agreed to from the beginning that, you know, that’s not how we are choosing to organize.

The public condemnation Josh is referring to is a statement from the Red Rose Collective (RRC) at University of Texas at Dallas condemning PYM Dallas for harboring rapist Ayed Amir Abusaad, which they made after repeated failures from PYM Dallas to hold Ayed accountable.PYM Dallas responded to RRC’s statement with similar hostility and rhetoric that we see from Josh Rudd. RRC documented PYM Dallas’ response to their statement.

DAWC/FRSO Dallas was unwilling to support this statement because DAWC’s strategy and continued growth relies on tailing PYM.

E: Okay. Can I ask why? Like, I think, like, things like this should be, like, public, don’t you? Like, I don’t know. I just think people have a right to know and to, like, protect themselves from harm.

Josh Rudd: I mean, so, you know, since the beginning, DAWC has agreed to follow the St Paul principles, which, like, that that is what we have, like, fundamentally agreed to. And, like, I guess, you know, other words don’t always operate in that same way. But from our perspective, what we’ve agreed to is that it is not productive for us to tear down others within this movement and to do the work of, essentially, you know, the state and FBI and these, you know, fascist elements. Elements. You You know?

Like, we don’t need to be doing that work and, like, tearing apart the anti imperialist movement.

Josh uses the same tactics of invoking the St. Paul Principles and snitchjacketing.

E: Well, I think, like, harassment and, like, abuse is what tears apart anti imperialist movements.

Josh Rudd: And, like, I I agree that, like, those are things that absolutely need to be rooted out. And, like, those are things that need to be handled internally and rooted out within the movement. And when there are cases of, like, actual abuse and, like, actual harm that’s being done. Like, that is an exception to the Saint Paul principle that, like, knows in there that we agreed to as well.

E: Yeah. So, like, there’s, like, concrete evidence of, like, abuse and SA cover up in the document. So I think, like, that is an exception. Right?

Josh Rudd: I didn’t see that. I mean, what are you what are you talking about specifically?

Josh didn’t see that because they didn’t read.

E: Well, I I don’t remember the guy’s name. Like, Mick something admitted to, like, covering up, like, sexual assault and, like, the whole cover up thing, like, on video.

Josh Rudd: I mean so Mick is not a part of DAWC, or involved in any way with DAWC. So I I just…

E: Oh, alright. I guess.

I see. I’m just, like, concerned because, like, Mick is, like, a big a part of FRSO. But, like, again, I I didn’t know that DAWC and FRSO were separate. I thought they were because there’s, like, a lot of, like, similar type thing. Like, what is, like, like, the relationship between the two orgs?

Like, is the is there, like, a lot of DAWC leadership that are in FRSO?

Josh Rudd: So like I said, I mean, it’s there’s different organizations. Like, there’s RRC. There’s DSA. There’s FRSO. There’s NLG, Code Pink, JVP.

Like, all these different organizations are people that you know, people are involved in multiple things, but that doesn’t mean that, like, it is connected to any of those organizations aside the fact that we’re, like, in coalition with these groups that we work with.

E: Oh, okay. And then, sorry. I’m just, like, lot on my mind right now.

But it like, you’re in the document as well. Like, do you, like, deny anything that happened in there?

Because there’s, like, texts where you, like, say some and, like, screenshots where, like, you and some of you, like, the other DAWC people say, like, some odd things.

Josh Rudd: Not to my knowledge.

Didn’t read. Josh is documented in the transcript responding flippantly to the Dallas Student Unit’s resignation.

E: Like, not to your knowledge that you’re in there?

Josh Rudd: I haven’t seen that. What are you talking about in specific?

E: I mean, I can find the screenshot. Hold on. But, like, you’re yeah. Sorry. I have to, like, control find.

The document’s really long. Sorry.

But, yeah, I remember seeing your name. You’re Josh R. Right?

Josh Rudd: Yeah.

E: Okay. Like, there-

Josh Rudd: I do need to head off soon.

E: Oh, sorry. There’s just, like, a thing where it was, like I think it was you and, like, Rick talking about, like, when oh my god. What is her name? Ziyan? When she, like, wrote those statements about how she, like, felt abandoned by the movement, and you guys were saying, like, some things about her that were, like, oh, like, she’s trying to wreck organizing in Dallas.

Josh Rudd: I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Oh, wait. About who?

E: About Ziyan. Is that her name?

Josh Rudd: I don’t know her. That was a long time ago. I don’t quite remember conversations around those.

Josh knows about Ziyan. Ziyan was a Kashmiri organizer in Dallas and Austin who was forced to leave the country because her student visa was revoked by ICE. She posted extensively on how she was mistreated in organizing spaces, particularly her experiences with abuse and misogyny. She posted detailed accounts of rampant abuse, sexual assault, and cover-ups in the Austin organizing scene, and her own sexual abuse at the hands of Ayed Amer Abusaad, a current member of Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) Dallas. This was Josh’s reaction to Ziyan’s posts in an internal FRSO group chat:

E: I guess. But, I mean, you did say you read the document, but, like, you are in there along with Jo, I think, and Rick. I don’t know. I would maybe take a reread.

Josh Rudd: Is there something you’re wanting to, like, see from this? Or, like-

E: I mean, I guess I would just, like, want, like, DAWC and FRSO and all the orgs, like, involved to take responsibility.

Josh Rudd: To take oh, I mean, I’m just trying to, like, see what what what is it that you’re wanting to take responsibility for? There’s been, like we talked about a lot of different things. Like, what what is it that you’re, like the what what are are the concerns that you’re seeing, you know, those kinds of things?

E: Like Like like, local leadership taking, like, accountability for, like, being, like, involved in, like, sexual assaults, cover up, and, like, perpetuating harms towards, like, younger fems and, like, women. Even if they weren’t direct Oh my god. I got dropped my phone.

Like, directly involves, like just, like, being like, oh, like, my failure to, like, perceive the situation correctly or, like, check-in on the community. Like because everybody is, like, complicit in their own way, so I guess, like, just recognizing that and, like, taking accountability.

Josh Rudd: I mean, I am a little bit confused exactly. You know? Like so DAWC has not been involved to any of my knowledge or of any allegations. Like, I haven’t seen any allegations whatsoever that, like, DAWC has been involved with any of those things.

Josh hasn’t seen those allegations because they didn’t read.

E: Okay. Well, so the doc makes it I mean, the document makes it sound like that because it’s like or I guess, like, a lot of people in DAWC are in FRSO. So maybe it was, like, FRSO members who are in DAWC did things. But I think also, like, being, yeah, I guess, like, the DAWC even DAWC just making a statement. Like, the DAWC people who are in FRSO, like, were involved in this.

And then just, like, taking accountability for

Josh Rudd: that. Yeah. What what is it specifically that you’re

E: I mean, sexual assault cover up.

Josh Rudd: What do you mean by the cover up?

E: The cover up for member Justin pond- Dustin Ponder. Sorry. And, like, again, I would say, like, you are in this document.

Josh Rudd: Dustin Ponder like, the, like, the that’s not who’s ever been in or, like, at all, any way connected to DAWC.

E: Yes. But members that are in DAWC are involved in covering that up. So.

Josh Rudd: And, like, I also, like no one in DAWC has been connected with Dustin at all in any way at any time in any point. So, like, I’m I see what you’re saying about sort of these things that are being brought up about a different organization and a different place and different people, but, like, I’m I’m wondering what DAWC’s sort of, what your

E: It’s named, like, at the beginning of this moment that, like, Jo is involved in perpetuating a cover up. Right? And Jo’s, like, in DAWC. I know that. I’ve met them.

Josh Rudd: Hasn’t like, Jo doesn’t have any connection or anything whatsoever with any of these people. So, like, I’m wondering, like, what, like, materially you’re wanting to see from that because, like, Jo hasn’t been connected. This isn’t isn’t even alleged to be connected. Like like, what is the sort of-

Jo is alleged to be connected. Josh doesn’t know this because Josh didn’t read.

E: I don’t know then, I guess. Like, I was just sharing information from, like, what I read in the document, and I just, like, was like, oh, like, people should be aware of this because, like. Yeah. I don’t know.

Josh Rudd: I mean, I like I said, I I can point you towards someone who, like, can maybe speak towards FRSO, but, like

E: Alright. We can we can do that. Like, I just don’t know

Josh Rudd: Yeah. Exactly.

E: That would be helpful, I think.

Josh Rudd: I’m not connected in any way.

E: And then, yeah, I just wanted to make people, like, aware because I I sent it in other channels as well. Like, well, like, other servers and stuff. Stuff. I just wanted, like, to make sure people know what’s going on.

Josh Rudd: Okay. I mean, yeah, if there’s, like, any material concerns you’re wanting to see from DAWC, it’s just, like, we’re not gonna be, you know, condemning or doxxing or calling out any, like, individuals or organizations. That is, like, a part of our point of unity that we’ve all agreed to and that, like, everyone who signs into the DAWC Discord server, like, agrees to through, you know, reading the points of unity and clicking.

So it’s like that’s something that’s, like, long seated, and that’s not going to change regardless, you know, unless, like, DAWC membership takes that up as a point that, like, we want to change our sort of founding documents. But, like, that’s been a consistent point that, like, we wanna focus on fighting imperialism.

We wanna focus on, you know, actually, like, building up a movement that is able to have real power and take care of one another and, you know, build up this fight against centrism. And and we’re not here to just tear down and destroy things.

E: Alright. I mean, yeah, if you could get me in contact with that person at FRSO, that would be great.

Josh Rudd: The the Instagram would be a good place. That’s how I’ve gotten in contact with other groups. But Alright. I just yeah. The Instagram handle.

E: Okay. Thank you.

Josh Rudd: Yep. Bye. Bye.

At 12:17pm on 11/15/25, Josh spoke with the ex-FRSO member who was timed out from the Discord. We do not have a recording of that call, but this comrade reported to us:

Had my call with Josh, unfortunetly the app I was going to use for recording wasn’t work and also unfortunely I’ve been kicked out of Dawcs discord, sorry about that. Basically it went the same with the other call, despite having been an active member, they seriously tried to convince me that dawc and frso aren’t connected, I responded that we literally had our own chats and seperate meetings and they still denied that frso and dawc are connected. When I tried asking about the expose, it was extremly obvious they haven’t read it. Anything I tried asking was pushed of as me going in circles and saying that any frso stuff should be said to Rick. When I responded why would I do that and said what Rick had told Nova, they said that they didn’t know about thatJosh would know about this if they actually read the document because it’s mentioned explicitly. Josh was also at internal FRSO meetings where this point was brought up. and I asked if they read my resignation letter since I included that and their response was to bring it up with Rick. They kept on trying to center the conversation around Dawc and what changes I would like to see in Dawc, I was upfront on that I didn’t want the org to work with people who cover up rape, when I tried bringing up Jo and Kai reactions, they dismissed it and was upfront that since I never said anything that therefore I had no right to critic frso. Towards the end of the call, Josh kept repeatedly saying that I was being disrespectful and yelling which I wasn’t and tried being civil, it’s just Josh kept dismissing literally every serious question I had. If I was like E, I could’ve went along with it, but framing it as if Dawc isn’t involved made literally zero sense expecially since we were in the same unit. I think the main takeaway is that if anyone who has read the expose asked questions, they have literally nothing to say to dismiss the evidence we have.

Read! #

If you’re an FRSO member and you want to challenge our documentation, read it first. If anything, to avoid making a fool of yourself like Josh Rudd has today.