Is Salman Rushdie a Voltaire for our age?

His fierce defence of PEN America’s prize for Charlie Hebdo’s defiant provocations recalls the Enlightenment hero, but sets Rushdie against other public figures

The troubles at PEN America have been bubbling up since March, when the US branch of the international organisation that defends endangered writers and fights censorship announced Charlie Hebdo would receive its freedom of expression award for courage at its annual fundraising gala in New York on 5 May.

This decision prompted letters to PEN questioning the decision, notably from Peter Carey, who accused PEN of being blind to France’s “arrogance” towards “a large and disempowered segment of their population” (ie Muslims) and Deborah Eisenberg, who also saw the Charlie Hebdo cartoons as “anti-Islamic” and argued there was a “critical difference” between “staunchly supprting expression that violates the acceptable and enthusiastically awarding such expression”.

Related: Salman Rushdie slams critics of PEN’s Charlie Hebdo tribute

Related: I admire Charlie Hebdo's courage. But it does not deserve a PEN award | Francine Prose

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