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At a moment when American institutions are sprinting away from dissent as if truth were radioactive, The Independent Ink remains one of the rare spaces where artists and writers still speak without permission slips. Mr. Fish’s latest update on his forthcoming book, Which Genocide Are You On? — Artists Critical of Israel Speak Out Against Censorship, is not just a progress report — it’s a dispatch from the trenches of a culture war that punishes anyone who refuses to sanitize state violence.
In the piece, Fish explains that the book grew out of the wave of intimidation that hit artists in 2024, when he and others were “aggressively targeted by government officials and pro‑Israel groups” for opposing the mass killing in Gaza. That pressure didn’t stop at harassment; it helped pave the way for his firing from the University of Pennsylvania, where administrators suggested he abandon the book to appease donors, trustees, and congressional inquisitors. As he notes, the recommended strategy for resisting authoritarian overreach was, absurdly, “to succumb to it.”
The book itself is a collective act of defiance. It gathers artwork, photography, poetry, and testimony from creators around the world who have been censored, threatened, fired, jailed, or attacked for refusing to look away from the ethnic cleansing in Palestine. These contributors don’t just share their work — they share the personal cost of telling the truth in a culture that rewards obedience and punishes conscience.
Fish’s accompanying narrative — a raw, unfiltered excerpt included in the post — recounts how he was fired for the very work that earned him his position: a 30‑year career defined by “a relentlessly unapologetic and ceaselessly full‑throated attack on elitist institutions and dehumanizing bureaucracies.” His reflections on censorship, complicity, and the American tradition of punishing those who side with the oppressed cut through the euphemisms that dominate mainstream coverage.
This is exactly why The Independent Ink matters. It’s not a brand, not a content mill, not a safe corporate sandbox. It’s a living archive of cultural criticism, political commentary, and satirical truth‑telling — the kind of work that elite institutions now treat like contraband. And it’s where readers will be able to get Which Genocide Are You On? when it’s released.
If you want to understand what’s happening to artists who speak out — and why this book is already making the right people nervous — read the full update on The Independent Ink. Support the page. Share the work. Stay tuned for the book.
Because documenting censorship is one thing. Refusing to participate in it is another.
Read his whole article at the Independent Ink and get your copy when it is ready
Mr. Fish is a veteran cartoonist, writer, and cultural critic whose 35‑year career has appeared in many of the country’s most respected publications, including Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, The Nation, ScheerPost, The Chris Hedges Report, the Village Voice media network, and earlier, more independent iterations of Truthdig, the LA Weekly, and the Los Angeles Times. His work carries forward the unruly, truth‑telling tradition of the alternative and underground press, blending political commentary, satire, and artistic provocation in the service of democratic discourse.
As the creator of The Independent Ink, he champions unrestricted speech, open debate, and the kind of unvarnished cultural criticism that refuses to flatter power. His platform surveys the work of journalists, artists, filmmakers, poets, public intellectuals, and everyday dissenters who challenge political oppression, corruption, and the corporatization of the Fourth Estate. Through essays, field reporting, and two weekly video podcasts—one featuring conversations with creatives and contrarians, the other offering lectures on art history, philosophy, satire, and activism—he explores the parallels between past and present struggles against authoritarianism.
Having witnessed firsthand the decline of journalism as a democratic safeguard, Mr. Fish continues to produce work that confronts complacency and resists the pressures of a media landscape increasingly shaped by profit, censorship, and political intimidation. His mission is rooted in solidarity with readers and creators who refuse to surrender their critical faculties or their humanity to the demands of a burgeoning corporate idiocracy.