A victory for freedom of thought!

In April 2026, the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit published new ‘Indicazioni Nazionali per i Licei’. Behind this technical document lay a decision of profound significance: the marginalisation, or even the disappearance, from the canon of authors taught in philosophy of such fundamental thinkers as Spinoza, Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, Leibniz, Fichte and Schelling. Critical thinkers, often materialists, were thus marginalised.

This measure has caused great concern amongst defenders of freedom of thought, particularly figures such as Spinoza, who advocated the separation of politics and religion, and Gramsci, an opponent of Fascism who died in prison under Mussolini. The National Federation of French Free Thought has joined the protest movement and launched an ‘International Appeal for Baruch Spinoza’ (See: https://framaforms.org/tribune-petition-spinoza-1788241929 )

For the Freedom to Philosophise: Spinoza, Marx, Gramsci and critical thinkers must be reinstated in Italian secondary school curricula. This appeal has garnered hundreds of signatures, evidence of the outcry caused by this decision from a far-right government.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. In the United States, the Trump administration has stepped up its attacks on the teaching of ‘Critical Race Theory’, banned books from school libraries, and put pressure on universities to abandon programmes deemed too progressive, under threat of financial sanctions.

In Argentina, Javier Milei has implemented drastic budget cuts in higher education and public research, whilst stepping up his rhetorical attacks on the social sciences, which he describes as vehicles for ‘collectivist indoctrination’.

In Hungary, Viktor Orbán has forced the Central European University out of the country, curtailed the autonomy of public universities and banned the teaching of gender studies. Time and again, the far right attempts to rewrite the educational and academic canon in order to undermine the tools of critical thinking.

In the meantime, the Italian Government has reversed its decision. This is a positive development, and we welcome it. However, we are not letting our guard down, and the International Association for Free Thought will be determined to respond whenever freedom of thought is called into question in this way.

Campo de ‘Fiori, October 27th 2026