Skip to content

Censorship

The Absurd Excuse Notre Dame Gave Me When They Canceled My Talk

Mary E. Gallagher, dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, wrote University of Chicago Professor and In These Times columnist Eman Abdelhadi on Saturday morning to tell her that her upcoming keynote speech was canceled. “We were unaware of your planned lecture, and since this conference overlaps with two other annual events on campus, we cannot provide security at short notice,” Gallagher wrote in an email. ​“For this reason, we respectfully request that you do not participate in the conference.” Abdelhadi is a widely celebrated academic, organizer, author and journalist. She frequently speaks on campuses across the country and from 2023-24 was a faculty fellow at Notre Dame.

The Fire This Time

We live in perilous times. The mobilizing passions of fascism are no longer a distant echo of history—they are here, surging through the United States like an electric current. We are in a period of social, ideological, and racial cleansing. First, the notion of government as a democratizing public good and institution of social responsibility—that once held power to account, protected the vulnerable, and nurtured the ideals of justice and collective responsibility—is being methodically destroyed. The common good, once seen as the essence of democratic life, has become the enemy of the neoliberal fascist state. It is not merely being neglected—it is being assaulted, stripped bare, and left to rot in the shadows of privatization, greed, and brutality—the main features of gangster capitalism.

With Section 230 Repeal, Democrats, Media Offer New Censorship Tools

In a move that threatens to constrain online communication, congressional Democrats are partnering with their Republican counterparts to repeal a niche but crucial internet law. According to tech trade publication the Information (3/21/25), Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.) has allied with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) to reintroduce a bill that would repeal Section 230, a provision of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Section 230 dictates that when unlawful speech occurs online, the only party responsible is the speaker, not the hosting website or app or any party that shared the content in question.

The Far-Right Hate Group Helping Trump Deport Israel’s Critics

A far-right, pro-Israel group with a history of support for terror and genocide is working closely with the Trump administration, preparing dossiers on thousands of pro-Palestine figures it wants deported from the United States. Betar U.S. is known to have had several meetings with senior government officials and has claimed credit for the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the nationwide anti-genocide student demonstrations that began at Columbia University last year. Ross Glick, the group’s executive director until last month, noted that he met with a diverse set of influential lawmakers, including Democratic senator John Fetterman and aides to the Republican senators Ted Cruz and James Lankford.

How Miami Beach Became A Lab For Pro-Israel Censorship Laws

Despite winning an Oscar, the Israeli-Palestinian-made film No Other Land cannot be found on any streaming platforms in the United States, making independent cinemas the only places to view it. However, in Miami Beach, even featuring the film will get you labeled an antisemite and kicked out of the city. Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner, who is Jewish and has deep personal and political ties to Israel, stirred controversy last week for seeking to shut down an independent art house cinema over its showing of the “No Other Land” documentary after attempting to pressure organizers to cancel a planned screening. Meiner claims that the film is antisemitic and a “propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents.”

California Teachers Fight Palestine Censorship

As the Trump administration engages in a frontal assault on the teaching of race and ethnicity at the K-12 level, a quieter but no less important battle is shaping up in deep blue California. Communities of color are mobilizing statewide to defeat AB 1468, the latest bill to emerge from the CA Legislative Jewish Caucus (LJC) in its campaign to censor Palestinian voices in ethnic studies classes, and police all ethnic studies content along with it. Although the words “Gaza,” “Palestine” and “Israel” are nowhere to be found in the proposed legislation, the language of AB 1468 restricts the discipline to the “domestic experience” of “marginalized people” to discourage teachers from developing lessons on the impact of Israeli settler colonialism on Palestinian American and Muslim communities.

Trump’s Attack On Science Is An Attack On The Public

Among the flurry of actions by the Trump administration, it could be easy to miss one that poses a grave danger to public health and our planet: a no-holds-barred attack on science. In a series of disturbing moves, the administration has censored scientific research, slashed resources for public health and the environment, and advanced fossil fuel industry propaganda. These moves only serve corporate interests — at the expense of ordinary people and the planet. Already, the administration has scrubbed government websites providing information on climate change and environmental justice.

Media Workers Condemn BBC For ‘Dehumanizing’ Censorship Of Gaza Documentary

Over 500 film, TV, and media workers have condemned BBC executives for “racism” and “censorship” after the British broadcaster pulled a documentary highlighting the horrific impact the US–Israeli genocide in Gaza has had on Palestinian children. “As industry professionals who craft stories for the British public, including for the BBC, we condemn the weaponization of a child’s identity and the racist insinuation that Palestinian narratives must be scrutinized through a lens of suspicion,” the letter reads. The letter also condemned a “racist” and “dehumanizing” campaign targeting the film ‘Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone,’ which the BBC removed from its iPlayer streaming service after pressure from pro-Israel activists.

Swiss Official Who Jailed Journalist Ali Abunimah Is Pro-Israel Fanatic

The Swiss official who ordered the arrest of renowned Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah justified doing so on the false and defamatory basis that Abunimah is “an Islamist Jew-hater.” Mario Fehr, the head of Zurich’s Department of Security, made the bogus accusation in a recent comment to the Swiss publication NZZ, which also falsely characterized Abunimah as an “Islamist” and an “extremist.” Swiss authorities detained Abunimah on Jan. 25, after they initially allowed him entry into Switzerland following an hour-long interrogation.

Switzerland Deports Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah

The Electronic Intifada’s executive director Ali Abunimah was deported by Switzerland on Monday after spending two nights in jail. Abunimah described his experience in a statement he made upon arrival to Istanbul airport late Monday. He said that he was “cut off from communication with the outside world” and “not even permitted to contact my family.” He said that police accused him of “offending against Swiss law” but was not presented with any charges. Abunimah added that he was questioned “by Swiss defense ministry intelligence agents without the presence of my lawyer, and they again refused to allow me to contact her or my family.”

Switzerland: Another Journalist Arrested For Wrongthink About Israel

They’ve arrested another pro-Palestinian journalist, this time in Switzerland. The Electronic Intifada’s executive director Ali Abunimah has reportedly been detained by Swiss police in Zurich, after having been interrogated for an hour and released the previous day when entering the country. Abunimah, who is Palestinian-American, has played a leading role in exposing and critiquing the apartheid abuses of Israel for many years. In October of last year, Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley saw his home raided by British “counterterrorism” police in response to his social media posts about Israel’s western-backed abuses in the middle east.

Trump’s Education Agenda For Teachers

“Getting critical race theory out of our schools is not just a matter of values, it’s also a matter of national survival,” Donald Trump railed at a rally in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. “We have no choice, the fate of any nation ultimately depends upon the willingness of its citizens to lay down — and they must do this — lay down their very lives to defend their country.” This is more than political theater — it’s a clarion call to enforce, by any means necessary, what can only be called “post-truth schooling,” a system where ideological conformity replace inquiry and objective truth as the foundation of education.

Trump Issues Order To End Censorship

President Donald Trump in his inaugural speech on Monday vowed to end online censorship by government using social media companies as proxies. He said: After years and years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will also sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America. Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents, something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again. Later on Monday Trump signed the executive order, “Restoring Free Speech and Ending Federal Censorship

Young People Flock To Chinese App RedNote Ahead Of TikTok Ban

With a potential TikTok ban on January 19 looming over the United States, American TikTok users are moving en masse to RedNote, a Chinese social media app. Known in China as Xianhongshu, which literally translates to “little red book” (yes, the allegory isn’t lost here), the app is currently sitting at the top of the social media charts in the App store, gaining over half a million new users over the last few days. In a display of camaraderie, users — monikered “TikTok refugees” on the platform — flocked to RedNote, and Chinese and American users have taken to using the shared platform as an opportunity of a rare and (as of yet) fraternal cultural exchange.

Systemic Rape Allegations Against Israel Meet A Deafening Silence

A flood of devastating new testimonies documenting the systemic sexual abuse of Palestinian men and women by Israeli soldiers has surfaced in recent weeks. Yet, as these harrowing accounts gain traction amongst human rights groups and international organizations, Western media has conspicuously turned its focus elsewhere—amplifying Israel’s poorly corroborated claims against Hamas. Following a raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip on December 28, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor published a report documenting harrowing testimonies of sexual assault by Israeli soldiers.