David Marks is an investigative reporter and veteran documentary filmmaker. He has produced a number of films for PBS and the BBC, including Nazi Gold, questioning the neutrality of Switzerland in WWII. His recent book, The Way, is an interpretation of the Chinese classic, the Tao Te Ching.
When Rushdie was attacked just before he began to speak in the perennially calm woodlands of Chautauqua, it was another stark reminder of the precarious state of our times
- The impact was less about the steady news of unexpected, random violence; but more of a reminder that the challenges to freedom of speech are only intensifying.
- In 1989, after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's death, the literary world came to the immediate defense of the writer.
- Most people rallied to defend Rushdie and his freedom to write and speak, no matter how much it might offend or anger some people.
Who will defend freedom of speech?
- The growing phenomena of group-think mentality and the push for conformity reveals the motivation behind government policy and decisions
- Authorities demanding compliance and only one way of thinking are focused on dominating information for their own purposes
- Contemporary fatwas call for the silencing of dissidents, although we are in an age where overt violence isn't necessary to repress critics of state policies
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