A coalition of anti-American activists targeting AI infrastructure, experts warn

In 2024, climate activists in New York City protested alongside anti-Israel protesters in a rally titled “Climate Justice Means Free Palestine.” Last year, climate change icon Greta Thunberg attempted to fly into the seas of Israel to protest the civil war in Gaza, shouting “Free! Free! Palestine!” when he was refused entry.

And, last week, activists from CodePink, a far-left feminist group funded by American expat Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai, took a break from their rallies in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Cuban Communist Party to post a video on Instagram, attacking a Utah data center project backed by investor Kevin O’Leary.

What unites these causes?

Climate activists, anti-Israel protesters and other activist groups with very different agendas have become unlikely allies united by a shared disdain for America and funding from China, according to experts who warn that the trend is weakening the United States amid the rapidly accelerating AI race.

Critics say the same activist ecosystem is now targeting America’s AI infrastructure and industrial power, in a development that experts warn could undermine the United States in its technological competition with China.

The growing coalition includes communist and Islamic activist movements, and has recently extended to campaigns targeting American artificial intelligence data centers, activists and environmental groups that are helping to delay or block dozens of such projects worth billions of dollars due to concerns about energy use, water use and environmental impact amid rising energy demand.

Fox News Digital has seen many movements marching back and forth in protests across the country despite their differing views.

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“The thing that all these protests have in common — the protests against AI data centers or the environmental protests or the protests against Israel — is that there’s an anti-American trend within them,” Hudson Institute fellow Zineb Riboua told Fox News Digital.

“Climate change was also one of the most common causes of protest or opposition, and now there’s always this effort to figure out what’s next to change,” said Riboua. “And this rebellion against the United States is always welcome, no matter what form and shape it takes.”

Same network, new release

Fox News Digital previously reported that Singham, a US-born tech expert who lives in Shanghai, has raised an estimated $285 million in six nonprofits that lawmakers and analysts accuse of promoting pro-China narratives and anti-American protests.

O’Leary accused local groups opposed to the Utah project of being linked to funding networks linked to China and said the backlash reflects a broader trend of activist campaigns targeting AI infrastructure, although Fox News Digital has not independently verified the Utah-related allegations.

Protesters react as the Box Elder County Commission approves a major AI data center project in Tremonton, Utah, on May 4, 2026. Activists opposed the proposed 40,000-acre development due to concerns about water use, energy demand and environmental impact. (Natalie Behring/Getty Images)

‘Red-green coalition’

Riboua, who specializes in anti-Western ideologies and China’s influence in the Middle East, warned that the convergence between climate activists, anti-Israel protesters, communists and Islamists is driven by a broad anti-American ideology that he describes as “Third Worldism,” an ideology that divides the world into “oppressors” and “the main source of the United States and the world’s problems.”

The ideas unite unrelated activist causes under a shared Western framework, he said.

“Third Worldism incites to fight against the Americans because the objective of Third Worldism is basically to disintegrate the Western society or the Western country,” said Riboua.

WATCH: Expert warns of ‘red-green alliance’ helping China gain AI edge

Energy expert Brenda Shaffer, a research faculty member at the US Naval Postgraduate School, described the broad coalition of activists as part of the “red-green coalition,” an overlap of ideas between three elements: the communist movement, which is represented in red; Islamic activism, defined as green; and environmental protest groups, depicted as green.

They are increasingly coming together for anti-Western and anti-American reasons, he said.

Riboua said the alliance is becoming increasingly visible as activist groups move quickly from one issue to another — from climate protests to anti-Israel protests and now to campaigns targeting AI infrastructure and data centers.

Overlapping has become more visible on the roads. At the 2024 “Climate Justice Means Free Palestine” rally in New York City, climate activists and pro-Palestinian protesters protested side by side.

“There is always this effort to find out what is the next thing that needs to be changed,” he said.

People participate in a “Climate Justice Means Free Palestine” rally outside the Citibank headquarters in New York City on June 18, 2024. Protesters carry signs supporting Palestine and climate justice messages during the protest. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Riboua pointed to Thunberg’s transformation into an anti-Israel activist as an example of the growing ideologies between climate activism and broader anti-Western protests.

“Greta is not a Muslim, and I think she has never read Karl Marx, but she has all the instincts to rebel against the evil oppressor, the Westerner, and the United States,” said Riboua.

China, power and the AI ​​race

Shaffer warned that growing integration is increasingly affecting industries that are important to America’s economic and technological competition with China.

“The key force in the AI ​​race is in data centers,” Shaffer told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview.

Shaffer argued that while activist groups in the West are focused on fossil fuels, AI infrastructure and industrial development, China continues to rapidly expand coal production, manufacturing capacity and energy production.

“So we’re actually taking international climate policies, making the West weaker,” Shaffer said.

“China is really benefiting from these policies that we’re using and we’re just letting them continue with coal.”

Shaffer compared the trend to the Soviet-backed anti-nuclear struggle during the Cold War, arguing that rival powers have historically benefited from anti-power trends in the West.

Racks of colorfully wired servers are seen in the data center as the expansion of AI strains the power grid, prompting a proposal for tech firms to finance their energy needs. (Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images)

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“You’ve traditionally seen the Soviet Union finance nuclear power in Europe so that Europe would remain dependent on Soviet and later Russian gas,” Shaffer said.

He also warned that increasing Western reliance on China’s renewable energy supply chains could create new strategic risks because China controls large parts of the world’s solar and inverter markets.

Shaffer said many activist campaigns are focused on delaying or blocking energy and infrastructure projects in the United States while China rapidly expands coal consumption and industrial production.

Riboua added that many ordinary protesters are not driven by ideology, but by simple stories amplified by social media clickbait and activist messaging.

“Some people are generally good people and they want to be moral,” he said. “They know the headlines … there’s a lot of ignorance.”

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Shaffer warned that artificial intelligence infrastructure requires large amounts of reliable electricity and said the West risks falling behind China if energy costs continue to rise and infrastructure projects continue to face activist opposition.

“You can’t have an arms factory built on solar energy,” he said.