and reservations about resettling to avoid the depressing capitulation of major law firms, universities, and corporate media, Americans face an uncomfortable truth: walking out won’t help drive change.
The Heritage Foundation is an influential conservative think tank in Washington, DC, whose stated mission is to “formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense”.Yet, critics argue that Project Esther calls for government interference to curb individual freedoms, including the rights to free speech and association when it comes to opposing Israeli government policies.
According to a New York Times report published earlier this month, the project is overseen by Victoria Coates, a vice president at the Heritage Foundation who served as deputy national security adviser during Trump’s first term.The Heritage Foundation is also behind, which critics describe as an authoritarian playbook for the second Trump presidency.
Ahead of the elections last year, DemocratsProject 2025 to criticise Trump, but the then-candidate distanced himself from the document.
What does Project Esther aim to achieve?
The initiative says that it aims to “dismantle the infrastructure that sustains” what it calls the “Hamas Support Network” within 24 months.According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Ethiopia was home to some nine million donkeys as of 2018. In this East African nation of approximately 130 million people, donkeys play a chief economic role, ploughing fields and transporting goods – offering a low-cost alternative to vehicles at a time when the price of fuel has soared.
Another regular visitor, Chane Baye, earns his living by using his two donkeys to transport sacks of grain across the city for clients. His income can range from 200 to 400 birr per day (approximately $1.50 to $3) – a decent sum in a country where a third of the population lives below the World Bank’s poverty line of $2.15 a day.The 61-year-old seeks out the clinic every three months or so – “whenever they start limping or have a stomach problem”, he said.
“Before this clinic, we used traditional ways to treat them,” he explained, describing how nails were once crudely removed from the animals’ legs with a knife. He is grateful that his donkeys now have access to professional care for their injuries and infections.At the clinic, vet Derege Tsegay demonstrates the less glamorous side of his work by performing a routine but unpleasant procedure – reaching deep into a distressed donkey’s rectum, clad in a rubber glove.