Free speech

Not for the first time, I am using a quote from someone else to sum up how I feel about an issue, this time the attack on the author Salman Rushdie. These are the words of journalist Michael White:

‘Rushdie assault: what a sad, miserably familiar story of “religious” fanaticism the world over: an inadequate young man dreaming of glory ( because he can’t get a girlfriend?) and incurred by old men safe from harm themselves, incite wannabe killer to rot.”

I can’t add much to that, other than to say the attack on Rushdie was an attack on free speech everywhere. Even Boris Johnson, whose government has done more than any I can remember to curtail our freedoms here in Britain, tweeted this:  “Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.” Hear, hear to that.

We all know the story of Rushdie’s book ‘The Satanic Verses’ and how large parts of the so called Muslim world collectively lost its marbles upon its publication in 1988. His book was set on fire by crowds of men who were upset by what they saw as blasphemy. Iran’s spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a ‘fatwa’ calling for Rushdie’s execution because the book essentially hurt his feelings. I mean, really? Why on Earth should any form of religion be exempt from criticism or mockery, and if the book gave “an irreverent depiction of the Prophet Muhammad”, well so what?

I freely admit that I have not read any of Rushdie’s books, not because I’m in any way offended, but because it’s not the type of stuff I tend to read. But in terms of the subject matter, in a free world he should be allowed to write what he wants.

Johnson’s comments are very welcome since at the time of the book’s publication the political right rode the offended Muslim wave of anger and strongly condemned, although falling short of supporting his execution; in some cases only just. Instead of defending Rushdie, the hard right populist Tory MP Norman Tebbit went on the attack: “(Rushdie was an) “outstanding villain” whose “public life has been a record of despicable acts of betrayal of his upbringing, religion, adopted home and nationality”.

I cannot imagine how such a book would be published today. The hard right would likely adopt the Tebbit attitude while the hard left would line up behind the book-burners. Maybe one day I should read it, too, just to see if I feel offended.  I rather doubt it.

Salman Rushdie is now on a ventilator and may lose an eye, if he survives this. And the reason is likely to be as that described by Michael White. If I was a famous writer, I’d probably stay away from writing about Muhammad or any other fictional religious leaders for fear of my own life. As the attack on Rushdie has confirmed, freedom comes at a terrible price. I just hope for Rushdie’s sake, and for everyone else he believes in free speech, that he makes a rapid and full recovery.