What is Obscurantism? Emmanuel Macron leads world leaders in condemning gruesome attack upon Salman Rushdie 

Award-winning author Salman Rushdie was rushed to the hospital after being stabbed onstage during an ongoing event at the Chautauqua Institution in New York City on Friday, August 12.

The attacker was detained right after the incident and later identified as 24-year-old New Jersey resident Hadi Matar. The New York State Police reported that Matar stabbed the author “at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen.”

Rushdie’s agent Andrew Wylie later told The New York Times that the author suffered severe injuries, failed to speak and was also put on a ventilator:

“The news is not good. Salman will likely lose one eye, the nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

In the wake of the horrific incident, France President Emmanuel Macron took to Twitter to condemn the attack on Rushdie. He praised the writer for embodying “freedom” and fighting against “obscurantism” and called out the “cowardly forces” that encouraged the attack for “hatred and barbarism.”

Macron also said that Rushdie’s fight is “universal” and people will continue to “stand by his side”:

Since 1989, Salman Rushdie has been living under a fatwa issued by former Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini. The religious ruling was made after the publication of his book The Satanic Verses, parts of which were allegedly declared blasphemous by some people.

At the time, Khomeini also announced a $3 million bounty for any individual who would kill Rushdie. Although Iran’s 1998 President Mohammad Khatami said that his regime “neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie,” the fatwa was not officially withdrawn and continued to remain active.

---

Exploring the meaning of the term Obscurantism

Obscurantism can be defined as the practice of knowingly preventing the spread of knowledge of facts or complete details about something.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it is the “opposition to the spread of knowledge” or a particular policy of “withholding knowledge from the general public.”

Vocabulary also defines obscurantism as a “policy of opposition to enlightenment or the spread of knowledge” and mentions that involves a deliberate or intentional attempt to make something obscure or vague in nature.

The Collins Dictionary adds that the term is used to describe the method of making something “vague and difficult to understand” in order to “prevent people from finding out the truth.”

---

World leaders and authors condemn attack against Salman Rushdie

Prominent world leaders and authors called out the brutal stabbing attack against Salman Rushdie (Image via Getty Images)

In the wake of the brutal stabbing attack against Salman Rushdie, several world leaders and fellow authors took to social media to condemn the incident.

After France President Emmanuel Macron spoke out against the attack, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson shared that he was “appalled” with the situation:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres echoed similar sentiments in his official statement issued by a spokesperson:

“The Secretary-General was appalled to learn of the attack on renowned novelist Salman Rushdie. In no case is violence a response to words spoken or written by others in their exercise of the freedoms of opinion and expression.”

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said he was praying for Rushdie’s recovery while former British chancellor Rishi Sunak shared that he would keep the author in his thoughts:

Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini said he was “horrified” by the attack and writer Taslima Nasreen shared that attacker Hadi Matar's Facebook account reportedly had images of Ayatollah Khomeini:

Booker Prize-winning Indian author Arundhati Roy told The BBC that she was “speechless with sorrow and anger”:

“He has also supported other writers across the world who have been suffering from other sorts of pressures. For something like this to happen to a person like Rushdie, it's really destabilising for a lot of us.”

PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said she was “reeling from shock and horror at word of a brutal, premeditated attack,.” New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the event “horrific” and thanked New York State Police for their swift response:

Other authors like Stephen King, JK Rowling, Ian McEwan, Lisa Appignanesi, Javed Akhtar and Wajahat Ali also condemned the incident and showed their support for Salman Rushdie.