Pegah Varghaei
Walked by The People’s Forum store right next to my hotel in New York and the window display immediately turned me off. They have Palestinian, Iraqi, and LGBTQ+ pride flags all flying together like it’s some natural alliance. To me it just screams hypocrisy and complete ignorance about the actual beliefs and laws in many of the places they claim to support. Inside it felt more like a political activist headquarters than a regular store or community space. From what I have seen online (including videos on X), they’re actively preparing materials and pushing narratives that seem funded to promote very specific political agendas—some of which directly contradict each other. It looks like they are getting paid to back causes without understanding (or caring about) the full reality on the ground. This isn’t a neutral bookstore or cultural spot; it’s clearly an advocacy operation spreading one-sided information and misinformation. New York has plenty of actual bookstores and community centers, there’s no need for an establishment like this that exists mainly to push heavily funded political messaging under the guise of “progressive” values. I won’t be stepping foot inside and I recommend others skip it too if you don’t want to support this kind of selective, contradictory activism.