On the Assassination attempt on Salman Rushdie

I was horrified to learn that Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed this evening while on a public stage.


The suspect who has been arrested in connection with the incident is apparently 24 yours old - which means he wasn't born when that vicious, murderous old monster Ayatollah Khomeini issued what he was pleased to call a Fatwa but should be described as a criminal incitement to assassination against Salman Rushdie for writing the novel "The Satanic Verses" which some Muslims think is blasphemous.


There are many people who have a high opinion of Salman Rushdie's work, and they are entitled to their opinions, which I respect, but you do not have to be a fan of his work to believe that he should have the right to publish it.


I condemn the Fatwa and anyone who seeks to implement it not because I hold any particular view about the merits of Rushdie's work, but for a different reason - my attitude can be summed up in the words which Evelyn Beatrice Hall used to describe the views of Voltaire, and which are often wrongly assumed to be a quote from him,

“I wholly disapprove of what you say—and will defend to the death your right to say it.”


If anything about this horrible incident depresses me almost as much as the attack on the author, it was a comment on the BBC this evening by an author who has studied the effects of the Fatwa that the novel "The Satanic Verses" not only could not be published today but could not even be written.


That is an indictment of our failure to stand up for free speech.


I believe that all views about religion, including atheism, should be treated with respect, with one extremely important exception - those who think that their views about religion entitle them to kill other human beings, other than in self-defence, deserve no respect whatsoever. (That exception, by the way, applies to atheist regimes which persecute religious believers just as it does to theocratic regimes which persecute different faiths and atheists.) 


Therefore I do not support anyone who deliberately sets out to denigrate or insult anyone's religious faith. (I'm not convinced, by the way, that Salman Rushdie did have that intention.) 


But as soon as you allow the allegation that a given statement, film or book insults someone's faith to be grounds to censor it - or worse, to murder the author or distributor of that statement, film or book - you have given every vile extremist nutcase the power to shut down debate and suppress other viewpoints. That would be intolerable.


I hope that Salman Rushdie makes a full recovery.

Comments

Anonymous said…
He's a Very Naughty Boy
11:42 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
I'm not sure whether the above comment was a joke or a reference to the fact that there were attempts to ban Monty Python's "Life of Brian" in which that line - to quote it in full, "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy" - first appeared.

I didn't agree with trying to ban that film either.

However, to be fair to the people who tried to stop "Life of Brian" appearing, they didn't support assassinating the actors or writers, nor did they firebomb cinemas which showed the film.

People do have every right to turn up outside a cinema where a film they don't approve of is being shown, to protest in an orderly and non-violent manner, carrying placards or handing out leaflets explaining why they don't like the film.

The point where they cross a line no democracy should accept is when they resort to violence or intimidation.
1:21 am
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