January 23, 2025 — Today, the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) expressed alarm at Chicago city councilmembers’ attempts to censor political artwork on view in an exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. Government officials’ efforts to silence speech because of distaste for its political position raise acute First Amendment concerns.
The artwork in question is a massive, two-sided papier-mache puppet titled US-Israel War Machine, created by “Chicago-based protest puppeteers” and is on view as part of Potential Energy: Chicago Puppets Up Close. One side of the work depicts a personification of the US Government, Uncle Sam, with bloodied hands and mouth, holding a bucket of tears, and wearing a shirt laden with symbols of war and consumerism. The other side depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose bloody hand grasps an American-made Mark 84 aircraft bomb. The rough wooden base of the sculpture is inscribed with phrases including, “Don’t look away,” “Your money, your problem,” “Children are dying,” “Profit driven, problem ridden,” and “Children killer.” An accompanying wall label pointed out that the United States has been at war for 93% of its history, and emphasized the United States’ role in supplying Israel with munitions in its present bombardment of Gaza, along with reported death tolls as of December 2024. It also explains the puppet’s appearance in a protest at the Democratic National Convention in 2024.
City council complaints demanding the removal of the artwork were first directed to the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs. While the Commissioner declined the directive, she agreed to remove the wall label and install a warning sign alerting visitors that protest puppets on view may be “difficult or sensitive for some viewers.”
Then, this week, a slim majority of city alders signed an open letter urging city Mayor Brandon Johnson to remove the puppet from display because they claimed that the work is “offensive to the United States and the state of Israel and crosses into unprotected hate speech.”
Please read our full Statement here click here for a full screen view: