Salman Rushdie warns of serious threat to freedom of expression in the West

Rushdi gave his speech in a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was awarded the Freedom of Publication Award. Organizers said the award “recognizes the resolve of authors, publishers and booksellers who take a stand against intolerance, despite the constant threats they face,” according to the Associated Press.

Rushdi said, “We live in a moment when, I think, freedom of expression and freedom of publication are under threat that I have never seen in my life in Western countries before. Now I sit here in the United States, and I have to look at the extraordinary attack on libraries, on children’s books in schools.” “The attack on the very idea of ​​libraries. This is very disturbing, and we need to be aware of it and fight it with all our might.”

Rushdie, 65, was blinded in one eye and suffered nerve damage in his hand when he was attacked on the stage of a literary festival in New York in August. His Lebanese attacker, Hadi Matar, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and attempted murder.

Rushdie spent years hiding under police protection after former Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 sanctioning his blood for blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses.

In his speech, Rushdi also criticized publishers who alter decades-old books due to modern sensibilities. He said publishers should allow books to “come to us from their time and bear witness to their age. If that is unacceptable, then don’t read it. Read another book.”