Salman Rushdie is “more than a literary giant,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Sunday because the icon remained in crucial situation after Friday’s stabbing assault. Rushdie “has consistently stood up for the universal rights of freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, and freedom of the press,” Blinken stated. “Specifically, Iranian state institutions have incited violence against Rushdie for generations, and state-affiliated media recently gloated about the attempt on his life. This is despicable.”
Blinken stated Rushdie’s power “steels our resolve and underscores the imperative of standing united as an international community against those who would challenge these universal rights.”
There has, certainly, been international outrage within the wake of the Rushdie assault. President Biden stated the writer stands for “the ability to share ideas without fear.” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese referred to as the assault “an assault on global freedom of expression.”
On Sunday, Rushdie’s son Zafar
said that “though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty & defiant sense of humor remains intact. We are so grateful to all the audience members who bravely leapt to his defense and administered first aid along with the police and doctors who have cared for him and for the outpouring of love and support from around the world.”
On “Reliable Sources,” I spoke with Henry Reese, who used to be on level with Rushdie when the assault happened. At first, he stated, “it looked like a sort of bad prank, and it didn’t have any sense of reality. And then when there was blood behind him, it became real.”
Reese stated he did not wish to speak about the main points, or his personal damage (he had a bandage above his eye), however he unquestionably sought after to speak about the security of writers. That’s what Friday’s deliberate match used to be all about. And that is what Reese’s group City of Asylum is set, too. Billed because the “largest residency program in the world for writers living in exile under threat of persecution,” the crowd defends the values Rushdie represents.
Reese stated “we should all go out and buy a book by Salman Rushdie this week and read it.” And writers, he stated, must “write to the full extent of truthfulness and their ability.” We must all acknowledge the significance of inventive expression “and how it brings people to discuss important issues and to think about people other than themselves.”
>> Randy Boyagoda made a identical level on this new piece for The Atlantic titled “To Support Salman Rushdie, Just Read Him.”
“No comparable incident…”
Via CNN’s tale: Press Freedom workforce PEN America stated the group “is reeling from shock and horror” after Friday’s assault. “We can think of no comparable incident of a public attack on a literary writer on American soil,” stated CEO Suzanne Nossel. “Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered,” Nossel stated. “He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced.” Nossel additionally stated that hours prior to the assault Rushdie had emailed her inquiring for lend a hand find secure shelter for “Ukrainian writers in need of safe refuge from the grave perils they face…”
Further studying
— “A man with a knife could not silence a man with a pen,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul advised a crowd accumulated on the Chautauqua Institution on Sunday.
— “The criticism voiced by some about a possible lapse of security at Chautauqua is at odds with Rushdie’s sense of his work and himself,” Boyagoda added. “He made the choice to put freedom of expression and freedom of movement before their fearful alternatives…”
— AP correspondent Joshua Goodman, who’s primarily based in Miami, took place to be at Chautauqua together with his circle of relatives on Friday. He anticipated “a peaceful week away from the news. Instead, the news found him…”
— “Top Chef” famous person and Rushdie’s former spouse Padma Lakshmi
said she’s “relieved” the writer is “pulling through:” “Now hoping for swift healing…”