Salman Rushdie: ‘We challenge fears. Literature is unafraid’
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Facing down Iran’s insulted boycott, the author addressed Frankfurt Book Fair to passionately defend freedom of expression: The Guardian
Salman Rushdie has said that “the guardians of freedom of speech are to be found in publishing” and that “it falls to us to hold the line” as he opens this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair.
The choice of Rushdie as guest speaker at the world’s largest publishing event had angered the Iranian ministry of culture, which cancelled its participation in the book fair saying that “fair officials chose the theme of freedom of expression, but they invited someone who has insulted our beliefs”. Iran placed a fatwa on Rushdie after publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, forcing the Booker-winning novelist into hiding for years.
‘We challenge fears. Literature is unafraid’ is a great word by a writer called Salman Rushdie; a watchword of all true writers. But it should be devoid of all political leanings seeking umbrella of protection from some so called power. Here fearless should mean that the writer must be neutral, undaunted and resolute defending his position even when he is not favoured by the so called intellectuals who usually seek their own benefit disregarding all moral and ethical and even human norms.