Then, in Paris, they came for the novelists.
One by one, from Morocco to Saudi Arabia to Iran, Muslim governments have signed up for the boycott of the international book fair opening Friday in the French capital. The reason? It showcases Israeli literature this year...
Impromptu or official boycotts of Israeli commercial goods or national sports teams are nothing new. But the assault on words -- merely for being written in Hebrew by writers who happen to carry Israeli passports -- adds a revealing wrinkle to a familiar story.
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Moroccan novelist Abdelouahab Errami told Le Journal du Dimanche of his "disappointment" at the boycott. "I don't share the position of my government. But I won't go.... It is difficult to have a different individual position without exposing yourself to a campaign of pressure."
This is what we're fighting. Because "[c]oercion, abuse of power, and tyrannical submission of individual rights and liberties cannot go unchecked."
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