There are still places in the world where people are being punished for holding opinions other than those of their rulers. These punishments are being carried out in the name of god, in the name of the people, and in the name of morality. Writers and intellectuals in many parts of the world are facing serious obstacles for the publication of their works and the spreading of their thoughts. This has not yet come to an end.
When Giordano Bruno was delivered to the stake four hundred years ago, most people in the world were left in the dark as to the occurrence of this most shameful of events for many years to come. Now, in this era of the global village, every event appears to be taking place in the village square and before the eyes of everyone in the village. The killing of writers and the censorship of books are not exceptions to this rule. It seems that the world is still unaware of these self-evident facts that:
The suppression of one book is the suppression of all books;
The extinction of one thought is the extinction of all thoughts;
The killing of one human being is the killing of all humankind.
Statement by the Iranian writer Amir Hassan Cheheltan, 400 years after Giordano Bruno burned at the stake, broadcasted in Rome Radio on 17/02/2000