The Appalling Attack on Salman Rushdie Is An Attack on Free Speech
Salman Rushdie has spent decades campaigning for free speech. The attempt on his life came amid a crack down on freedom of expression around the world.
DAVID LEVENSON/GETTY IMAGES
Salman Rushdie at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in England in October 2019
Aryeh Neier/August 14, 2022
THE NEW REPUBLIC
CRITICAL MASS
The appalling knife attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking in Chautauqua, New York is a throwback to the violence that followed the Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against Rushdie and his book, The Satanic Verses, in 1989. Rushdie was attacked and severely injured by a 24-year-old man from New Jersey. Little is publicly known about the assailant at this writing except that he was not even born until several years after the issuance of the fatwa. At that time, many people died in communal violence in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh; bookstores in Britain and the United States were bombed and burned; and Rushdie’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived, as did his Italian translator, who was stabbed. Rushdie’s Japanese translator was also stabbed, in 1991. He died.
Intimidated by the violence, the leading bookstore chains in the United States stopped carrying Rushdie’s book. The Satanic Verses is a comic novel that had been enthusiastically reviewed when it was first published in Britain in the fall of 1988. Some leading critics called it a masterpiece. On the other hand, the book caused offense among many groups. 7000 Muslims in Bolton in England staged a protest, followed by a book burning. They objected particularly to the use of the names of two of the Prophet Mohammed’s wives to identify two prostitutes and to Rushdie’s depiction of the removal of verses from the Koran because the Prophet considered that they came from the devil. Several countries, from India to Venezuela, banned the book over the following year. And in 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini, denouncing the book as blasphemous, issued the fatwa. Calling for the murder of Rushdie and others associated with publication of the book, the fatwa was accompanied by the offer of a multimillion dollar reward by a government-connected Iranian foundation.
Proponents of freedom of speech and the press were horrified. The fatwa threatened not only Rushdie and those associated with The Satanic Verses, but freedom of expression more broadly. If Khomeini and the government of Iran could suppress a book by threatening and carrying out violence against an author, publishers, translators and bookstores, what was to stop repressive regimes in different parts of the world from blocking more publications that offended them? Many leading authors took part in protests against the fatwa. I recall speaking at an event sponsored by PEN in New York a few days after issuance of the fatwa in which the other speakers included Susan Sontag, Gay Talese, Norman Mailer and E.L. Doctorow. Many prominent writers in other parts of the world, including Nadine Gordimer, Günter Grass, and Wole Soyinka, also denounced the fatwa. Christopher Hitchens, who became a friend of Rushdie, denounced Islamic fundamentalism and made that an important theme of his writing in his later years.
Not everyone criticized the fatwa. Roald Dahl attacked Rushdie for insulting Muslims. John Le Carré at first criticized Rushdie and then thought better of the matter. Former President Jimmy Carter, who had been known during his presidency as a champion of human rights, did not support the fatwa but berated Rushdie for his insensitiity.
I got a glimpse of the way that the fatwa affected Rushdie himself. He lived in London under heavy police guard for nine years until changes in the Iranian government, indicating that it was no longer so intent on carrying out the fatwa, enabled him to travel and to mingle with others more or less freely. During the period that he was guarded closely by the British police, one of those with whom he kept in contact was Frances D’Souza, then the Executive Director of Article 19—a London-based organization that promotes freedom of speech worldwide (it is named for the provision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that is intended to protect freedom of speech). Frances, now Baroness D’Souza, also created and directed the Rushdie Defence Committee. The location and configuration of her London home made it one of the few places in the city that Rushdie’s police protectors thought he could visit safely. As a friend of Frances D’Souza, and as the Vice Chair of Article 19, I sometimes went there for dinner when I was in London. On two occasions that I remember, Rushdie was also a dinner guest. I recall that on one of the occasions that I went there, it seemed that the entire neighborhood was under close police guard. When we were having dinner, I was aware that there was a large police presence in the next room as we ate and there were probably also police outside the house. Salman Rushdie had no possibility of living anything like a normal life during that period. As the attack on him in Chautauqua indicates, of course, the danger to him has never gone away.
The appalling knife attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking in Chautauqua, New York is a throwback to the violence that followed the Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against Rushdie and his book, The Satanic Verses, in 1989. Rushdie was attacked and severely injured by a 24-year-old man from New Jersey. Little is publicly known about the assailant at this writing except that he was not even born until several years after the issuance of the fatwa. At that time, many people died in communal violence in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh; bookstores in Britain and the United States were bombed and burned; and Rushdie’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived, as did his Italian translator, who was stabbed. Rushdie’s Japanese translator was also stabbed, in 1991. He died.
Intimidated by the violence, the leading bookstore chains in the United States stopped carrying Rushdie’s book. The Satanic Verses is a comic novel that had been enthusiastically reviewed when it was first published in Britain in the fall of 1988. Some leading critics called it a masterpiece. On the other hand, the book caused offense among many groups. 7000 Muslims in Bolton in England staged a protest, followed by a book burning. They objected particularly to the use of the names of two of the Prophet Mohammed’s wives to identify two prostitutes and to Rushdie’s depiction of the removal of verses from the Koran because the Prophet considered that they came from the devil. Several countries, from India to Venezuela, banned the book over the following year. And in 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini, denouncing the book as blasphemous, issued the fatwa. Calling for the murder of Rushdie and others associated with publication of the book, the fatwa was accompanied by the offer of a multimillion dollar reward by a government-connected Iranian foundation.
Proponents of freedom of speech and the press were horrified. The fatwa threatened not only Rushdie and those associated with The Satanic Verses, but freedom of expression more broadly. If Khomeini and the government of Iran could suppress a book by threatening and carrying out violence against an author, publishers, translators and bookstores, what was to stop repressive regimes in different parts of the world from blocking more publications that offended them? Many leading authors took part in protests against the fatwa. I recall speaking at an event sponsored by PEN in New York a few days after issuance of the fatwa in which the other speakers included Susan Sontag, Gay Talese, Norman Mailer and E.L. Doctorow. Many prominent writers in other parts of the world, including Nadine Gordimer, Günter Grass, and Wole Soyinka, also denounced the fatwa. Christopher Hitchens, who became a friend of Rushdie, denounced Islamic fundamentalism and made that an important theme of his writing in his later years.
Not everyone criticized the fatwa. Roald Dahl attacked Rushdie for insulting Muslims. John Le Carré at first criticized Rushdie and then thought better of the matter. Former President Jimmy Carter, who had been known during his presidency as a champion of human rights, did not support the fatwa but berated Rushdie for his insensitiity.
I got a glimpse of the way that the fatwa affected Rushdie himself. He lived in London under heavy police guard for nine years until changes in the Iranian government, indicating that it was no longer so intent on carrying out the fatwa, enabled him to travel and to mingle with others more or less freely. During the period that he was guarded closely by the British police, one of those with whom he kept in contact was Frances D’Souza, then the Executive Director of Article 19—a London-based organization that promotes freedom of speech worldwide (it is named for the provision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that is intended to protect freedom of speech). Frances, now Baroness D’Souza, also created and directed the Rushdie Defence Committee. The location and configuration of her London home made it one of the few places in the city that Rushdie’s police protectors thought he could visit safely. As a friend of Frances D’Souza, and as the Vice Chair of Article 19, I sometimes went there for dinner when I was in London. On two occasions that I remember, Rushdie was also a dinner guest. I recall that on one of the occasions that I went there, it seemed that the entire neighborhood was under close police guard. When we were having dinner, I was aware that there was a large police presence in the next room as we ate and there were probably also police outside the house. Salman Rushdie had no possibility of living anything like a normal life during that period. As the attack on him in Chautauqua indicates, of course, the danger to him has never gone away.
Globally, autocratic and authoritarian governments have been on the rise; the longer they stay in power, the more they crack down on freedom of speech.
When the threat to Rushdie’s life seemed to ebb, he relocated to the United States, became an American citizen and has lived here without visible protection. He has published several additional books and has been an active campaigner for freedom of speech. He served for a period as President of American PEN and, in that role, enhanced the reputation of the century-old writers’ organization as a defender of freedom of expression. In Chautauqua, he was to speak on providing refuge and support for exiled writers.
This is a bad time for advocates of freedom of speech, both globally and in the United States. Globally, autocratic and authoritarian governments have been on the rise; the longer they stay in power, the more they crack down on freedom of speech. An example is the recently adopted law in Russia providing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who call the “special military operation” in Ukraine a war or an invasion. The country’s best known peaceful dissenter, Alexei Navalny, is serving a harsh prison sentence. And the winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, Dimitry Muratov, has had to shut down his newspaper, Novaya Gazeta.
Unfortunately, Russia is far from alone among important governments that have become increasingly authoritarian. Here in the United States, many states and localities have adopted measures that limit what may be said in classrooms, and what publications may appear in school libraries. Discussion of race discrimination or of gender and sexuality are the main targets. Any suggestion that the country’s history is flawed is under attack in more than half the states.
The attempted assassination of Salman Rushdie is an ominous development. It will be difficult for him to recover from the ghastly wounds inflicted upon him. It will also be difficult for the rest of us to recover from this attack on a writer who has become the leading symbol and champion of freedom of expression.
Aryeh Neier is president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations. His most recent book is The International Human Rights Movement: A History.
Writers, Publishers Condemn Attack On Salman Rushdie, Stress On Upholding Freedom Of Speech
Since the 1980s, Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him.
Since the 1980s, Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him.
India, under the Rajiv Gandhi-led government, had banned the book.
Shocked over the attack on Salman Rushdie, the literary world spoke in unison against the violence Getty Images
Outlook Web Desk
UPDATED: 14 AUG 2022
Shocked over the attack on Salman Rushdie, the literary world on Saturday spoke in unison against the violence and stressed upholding freedom of speech while wishing a speedy recovery to the Booker Prize-winning author. The Mumbai-born controversial author, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing 'The Satanic Verses', was stabbed by a 24-year-old man on Friday while he was being introduced at an event in New York in the US.
Geetanjali Shree, the first Indian to join the esteemed club of International Booker-winning authors, described the attack on Rushdie as an "inexcusable and inhuman" act. "Where is humanity going? A day of such distress, such shame. We pray for the fast recovery of this votary of democracy and freedom of speech. Violence must not be allowed to become the way of dealing with difference of opinion," Shree told PTI.
Shree was in news last month when an event to honour her in Agra was cancelled following a controversy over the content of her award-winning novel "Ret Samadhi" which was translated into English as "Tomb of Sand". Though the motive behind the attack on Rushdie is yet to be ascertained, it is widely suspected that it has got to do with his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses".
Related Stories
Salman Rushdie's Attacker Faces Attempted Murder, Assault Charges
Salman Rushdie, The Free Speech Champion Who Lived In Hiding For Nine Years
Salman Rushdie: The Man Who ‘Provoked’ The Muslim World
The 1988 novel, which earned Rushdie a Whitbread Book Award, forced him into hiding for nine years as a massive controversy erupted after the release of the book with several Muslims seeing it as blasphemous. A year after the book's publication, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution for publishing the book for its blasphemous content.
Since the 1980s, Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him. India, under the Rajiv Gandhi-led government, had banned the book. Put under police protection in Britain after the issuance of the fatwa, Rushdie spent the most part of the next decade in hiding before the government of Iran in 1998 declared that it no longer backed the fatwa.
He has recounted the experience in his 2012 memoir "Joseph Anton", named after his alias while in hiding. But the fear of living under constant threat, as felt by Rushdie, can be possibly understood by exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. The 59-year-old author, who has been living in exile for the last 27 years after the ban of her book "Lajja" and subsequent fatwa for allegedly offending religious sentiments, posted a string of tweets condemning the attack on Rushdie.
She expressed fear for the life of anyone critical of Isalm across the world. "I just learned that Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York. I am really shocked. I never thought it would happen. He has been living in the West, and he has been protected since 1989. If he is attacked, anyone who is critical of Islam can be attacked. I am worried," she tweeted.
Sanjoy K Roy, the producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) that grabbed headlines in 2012 for the proposed visit of Rushdie and the subsequent protests, said, "It is not an attack on a writer but on a civilization and shows the vulnerability of anybody who presents a different narrative from the one that's acceptable".
"Violence has become acceptable, be it in America, Europe or wherever, and that is sad," Roy told PTI. Recalling how "politics, violence and mob mentality" made it impossible for them to host Rushdie at JLF in 2012, the festival co-director and noted author Namita Gokhale said his books remain a seminal influence on contemporary South Asian writing and "this barbaric act cannot silence his creative voice".
Rushdie, who visited the JLF in 2007, and was set to attend the festival in 2012 as well, eventually had to pull back citing protests from Muslim organisations and intelligence inputs by the host state Rajasthan. Even his scheduled video address had to be cancelled following threats to the festival.
"His presence at the JLF was thwarted by politics, and the violent mob mentality of those who had perhaps not even read the book made it impossible for us to host him. We salute his courage and literary genius," she told PTI. The who's who of the literati world, including eminent authors Neil Gaiman, Amitav Ghosh, Stephen King, and Jean Guerrero took to Twitter showing solidarity with Rushdie and wishing him a speedy recovery.
"I fervently hope that Salman Rushdie pulls through. He's funny, brilliant, and dry, he has written beautiful wise books and I wish the people who think they hate him would read his words. (You don't hate Salman, who is a real person. You hate someone in your mind who has never existed.)," tweeted English author Neil Gaiman.
Even those in the publishing industry, be it Chiki Sarkar of Juggernaut Books, who worked with Rushdie briefly, and Meru Gokhale of Penguin Random House India (PRHI) said they are deeply upset with this "terrible act" -- one that they did fear about but never thought would happen in reality.
"We are very much thinking of Salman's well-being as he recovers from this terrible attack, which took place while he was doing what writers do, engaging with readers in the public sphere. We are honoured to have been his publishers over many years," Gokhale told PTI.
Rushdie's next novel "Victory City", is scheduled to release next year. He has authored 14 novels, including 'Midnight's Children' (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), and four non-fiction works so far.
(With PTI inputs)
Outlook Web Desk
UPDATED: 14 AUG 2022
Shocked over the attack on Salman Rushdie, the literary world on Saturday spoke in unison against the violence and stressed upholding freedom of speech while wishing a speedy recovery to the Booker Prize-winning author. The Mumbai-born controversial author, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing 'The Satanic Verses', was stabbed by a 24-year-old man on Friday while he was being introduced at an event in New York in the US.
Geetanjali Shree, the first Indian to join the esteemed club of International Booker-winning authors, described the attack on Rushdie as an "inexcusable and inhuman" act. "Where is humanity going? A day of such distress, such shame. We pray for the fast recovery of this votary of democracy and freedom of speech. Violence must not be allowed to become the way of dealing with difference of opinion," Shree told PTI.
Shree was in news last month when an event to honour her in Agra was cancelled following a controversy over the content of her award-winning novel "Ret Samadhi" which was translated into English as "Tomb of Sand". Though the motive behind the attack on Rushdie is yet to be ascertained, it is widely suspected that it has got to do with his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses".
Related Stories
Salman Rushdie's Attacker Faces Attempted Murder, Assault Charges
Salman Rushdie, The Free Speech Champion Who Lived In Hiding For Nine Years
Salman Rushdie: The Man Who ‘Provoked’ The Muslim World
The 1988 novel, which earned Rushdie a Whitbread Book Award, forced him into hiding for nine years as a massive controversy erupted after the release of the book with several Muslims seeing it as blasphemous. A year after the book's publication, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution for publishing the book for its blasphemous content.
Since the 1980s, Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him. India, under the Rajiv Gandhi-led government, had banned the book. Put under police protection in Britain after the issuance of the fatwa, Rushdie spent the most part of the next decade in hiding before the government of Iran in 1998 declared that it no longer backed the fatwa.
He has recounted the experience in his 2012 memoir "Joseph Anton", named after his alias while in hiding. But the fear of living under constant threat, as felt by Rushdie, can be possibly understood by exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. The 59-year-old author, who has been living in exile for the last 27 years after the ban of her book "Lajja" and subsequent fatwa for allegedly offending religious sentiments, posted a string of tweets condemning the attack on Rushdie.
She expressed fear for the life of anyone critical of Isalm across the world. "I just learned that Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York. I am really shocked. I never thought it would happen. He has been living in the West, and he has been protected since 1989. If he is attacked, anyone who is critical of Islam can be attacked. I am worried," she tweeted.
Sanjoy K Roy, the producer of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) that grabbed headlines in 2012 for the proposed visit of Rushdie and the subsequent protests, said, "It is not an attack on a writer but on a civilization and shows the vulnerability of anybody who presents a different narrative from the one that's acceptable".
"Violence has become acceptable, be it in America, Europe or wherever, and that is sad," Roy told PTI. Recalling how "politics, violence and mob mentality" made it impossible for them to host Rushdie at JLF in 2012, the festival co-director and noted author Namita Gokhale said his books remain a seminal influence on contemporary South Asian writing and "this barbaric act cannot silence his creative voice".
Rushdie, who visited the JLF in 2007, and was set to attend the festival in 2012 as well, eventually had to pull back citing protests from Muslim organisations and intelligence inputs by the host state Rajasthan. Even his scheduled video address had to be cancelled following threats to the festival.
"His presence at the JLF was thwarted by politics, and the violent mob mentality of those who had perhaps not even read the book made it impossible for us to host him. We salute his courage and literary genius," she told PTI. The who's who of the literati world, including eminent authors Neil Gaiman, Amitav Ghosh, Stephen King, and Jean Guerrero took to Twitter showing solidarity with Rushdie and wishing him a speedy recovery.
"I fervently hope that Salman Rushdie pulls through. He's funny, brilliant, and dry, he has written beautiful wise books and I wish the people who think they hate him would read his words. (You don't hate Salman, who is a real person. You hate someone in your mind who has never existed.)," tweeted English author Neil Gaiman.
Even those in the publishing industry, be it Chiki Sarkar of Juggernaut Books, who worked with Rushdie briefly, and Meru Gokhale of Penguin Random House India (PRHI) said they are deeply upset with this "terrible act" -- one that they did fear about but never thought would happen in reality.
"We are very much thinking of Salman's well-being as he recovers from this terrible attack, which took place while he was doing what writers do, engaging with readers in the public sphere. We are honoured to have been his publishers over many years," Gokhale told PTI.
Rushdie's next novel "Victory City", is scheduled to release next year. He has authored 14 novels, including 'Midnight's Children' (for which he won the Booker Prize and the Best of the Booker), and four non-fiction works so far.
(With PTI inputs)
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