Rushdie attended the literary festival where the events occurred with the escort of a single policeman. /
The author of ‘The Satanic Verses’ is at risk of losing an eye, according to his agent
After spending hours on the operating table, Salman Rushdie has had his ventilator removed and has been able to speak after the stabbing. However, he has severe liver and eye injuries and nerve tears in his arm as a result of the knife attack he suffered on Friday morning, when he was about to give a literary lecture. The British writer and essayist received deep cuts to his neck and abdomen and, according to his agent, Andrew Wylie, is likely to lose an eye as a result of the brutal attack in Chautauqua, an eminently rural county in northwestern New York State. , near the Canadian border.
The author of ‘The Satanic Verses’, 75 years old and living in the United States, was stabbed moments before starting his talk at the Chautauqua literary festival. He was about to speak precisely about the importance of freedom in artistic creation. While the world reacted with astonishment to the news, reports came to light indicating that the organizers of the colloquium rejected the recommendations to implement basic and habitual security measures in this type of public event – they alluded to the search of bags and metal detectors – for fear that the culture of the event would change.
Police assigned Rushdie an agent for his protection. It was he who carried out the arrest of Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old man with an Islamic fundamentalist profile who committed the crime. Even so, many attendees missed stricter controls at the conference, given the sad history of threats against the writer and the special moment of violent actions in the United States.
State Police, the FBI and the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office, which are jointly involved in the investigation, have not yet confirmed the type of weapon used by the shooter. Matar accosted his victim on the auditorium dais as he was being introduced, just moments before his turn to speak. He tackled Rushdie and stabbed him repeatedly – some 10 or 15 times, according to some witnesses – before being pinned down.
The moderator of the event, Henry Reese, 73, co-founder of the organization that offers residences to writers who face persecution by violent groups and dictatorial states, also suffered a facial injury. He was treated at a hospital and later released.
Reese and Rushdie had organized the conference to reflect on the role of the United States as a haven for writers and other artists in exile. The literary festival this year attracted some 2,500 people, including prominent figures of culture such as David Graves, of ‘The New York Times’, who was attending the conference and witnessed how the assailant climbed onto the stage and perpetrated his action before being retained by members of the public and the organization.
Urgent transfer. The writer was evacuated by helicopter to a New York hospital. /
The White House condemned the “appalling” attack on the writer and noted that all members of the Joe Biden Administration “pray for his speedy recovery.” Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New York, where the events took place, stressed the importance of people feeling free to “speak and write without censorship.”
From this perspective, he highlighted the easily accessible criteria of the festival in Chautauqua, a sleepy rural community where notable figures such as Rushdie often speak at summer conferences. The event’s amphitheater is a large open-air space where cultural activities have been held since the end of the 19th century. To enter, only a pass is required.
reaction to horror
The Democratic governor highlighted the figure of the author as someone who has spent decades speaking to power openly and without fear, despite the threats that have haunted him throughout his adult life. The world of international culture reacted horrified and praised the courage of the writer. Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, a literary organization dedicated to free speech, of which Rushdie was president for a time, expressed the literary collective’s shock, vowing that “his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.” ».
Norwegian publisher William Nygaard, who was shot and seriously injured in 1993 after publishing ‘The Satanic Verses’ in his country, said that Rushdie “has paid a heavy price for writing freely”. “He has meant a lot to contemporary literature and had found a good life in America,” he added.
British novelist Ian McEwan described his “dear friend Salman” as a “defender and inspiration to persecuted writers and journalists around the world, a man of immense talent, fiery courage and a generous spirit who will not be deterred.”
The long list of eminent writers who have reacted to the attack includes the Indian Amitav Ghosh; Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro; Indian author and environmental activist Arundhati Roy; and Taslima Nasreen, who was forced to leave Bangladesh following a court ruling that condemned her novel ‘Shame’ for hurting Muslim religious sentiment.