The senseless attack on Salman Rushdie forces us to confront our values

Writers of all stripes – whether novelists or journalists – must be able to create, inspire and inform with integrity, free from fear of violent reprisals, writes Harriet Williamson

I hope you’ll join me in wishing the author a swift recovery (AFP/Getty)

As the author Sir Salman Rushdie begins his road to recovery after suffering a horrendous knife attack in New York last Friday, discourse has turned to the protection of free expression from violence and intimidation.

As our editorial on Saturday states: “We have always been resolute in our condemnation of violence as a reaction to words, ideas or images that some people find offensive.”

Writers of all stripes – whether novelists or journalists – must be able to create, inspire and inform with integrity, free from fear of violent reprisals. It’s also vital that the extreme actions of a few are not used to justify prejudice and discriminaton against all those who follow a certain faith, or cynically employed to whip up hatred and fear.