Salman Rushdie, the vocal, controversial author of the Satanic Verses, stated on Tuesday that violence against writers and a misplaced sense of political correctness poses new dangers to freedom of speech in the West, according to Reuters.
"It seems to me the battle for free expression was won 100 years ago. The fact that we have to go on fighting this battle is the result of a number of regrettable, more recent phenomena," the author said while speaking as the guest speaker at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The 68-year-old author gained notoriety in the late 1980s after he published "The Satanic Verses," a novel which drew fierce criticism from the Muslim community. The book eventually triggered a Fatwa, or death sentence, to be issued against the author, ordered by then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. As a result of the decree, Rushdie was forced into hiding, reports The Guardian.
Rushdie's appearance at the event still triggered a negative reaction from his religious opponents, shown by the Iranian Ministry of Culture cancelling its stand at the book fair due to the author's presence.
For the author however, the logic is simple. Rushdie stated that since people naturally respond and relate to stories, limiting the freedom of expression of writers is not simply a case of censorship. Rather, it is an assault on human nature itself.
"It prevents us from being the kind of creatures that we are. It is not something which is specific to one culture. It is something universal to human beings," he said.
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