There are lessons to be learnt from the Rushdie affair. One big lesson for the Muslim side is to prioritise free speech, the lack of which must be acknowledged as a pressing problem
Salman Rushdie was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade for his literary work and for his resolve in the face of "constant threat to his life".
“Violence must not deter us. As the old Marxists used to say, La lutte continue. La lutta continua. The struggle goes on,” he said at Pen America’s 2023 Literary Gala in New York City on Thursday.
Zackie Achmat’s voice was one of the loudest when it came to protesting against former president Thabo Mbeki’s Aids denialism in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He now lives in downtown Cape Town and fights State Capture and broken trains.