“Activists, journalists, students, writers, leaders. People from all walks of life collect to advocate [Taslima Nasrin’s] right to free speech and expression.”
And as you can see in this photograph by Shailendra Pandey, attacks on free speech can still — somewhere in the world — bring people into the streets. This is the sort of resistance we’d like to see more of in countries where Islamic Fundamentalism is rampant, just as we’d like to see more of it here in the U.S.—in response, let’s say, to presidential candidates who claim not to believe in evolution, or to sitting presidents who treasonously reveal the identities of CIA agents to punish their spouses for telling the truth in print.
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
