Recently I attended the Global Anti-apartheid Conference for Palestine (10-12 May) in Johannesburg, South Africa, as part of a delegation from our local writers association.

There was a workshop dedicated to the topic “changing the narrative”, a subject deemed necessary because negative stories were circulating about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, for example, that the Palestinians were beheading babies.

Palestine officials emphatically denied this at the conference and mentioned that some media outlets had already issued a retraction.

Now, I don’t know enough to argue the case of either of these protagonists. The only reason I’m mentioning it here is because it reminded me of my earlier blog entry The Power of Story, in which I advocated that writers in South Africa should tackle the apartheid narratives that still have a firm hold on the populace.

Many speakers at the conference pointed out the similarities between South African history and Palestine. For example, land was divided into small pockets and allocated to each ethnic group – the so-called Batustans – during apartheid, which correlated with the current fragmented nature of Palestine.

The power of story should never be underestimated. In your communities you may find certain stories that are repeated. Their repetition may result in an idea or belief system gradually developing around the story. Once this happens, the idea or belief tends to become so deep-rooted that before long it enters the popular view among a community that “this is our culture”. This is our way of doing things.

As writers we should be vigilant and observe what really underpins some of these beliefs.