The Role of Storytelling in Today’s Activism by Francesca Daviet

With more access to information than ever before, it is easy to get lost in the bombardment of news. Social media and networks broadcast conflicts occurring in Ukraine, the Congo, Palestine, Myanmar, and many more, magnifying genocides worldwide. Although knowing is important, and acknowledgement is often essential when seeking support and solutions to stop these conflicts, are these methods truly effective? Can we trust news outlets for reliable information? How can a social media post stand out and elicit a reaction when it’s so much easier to scroll past? Do protests only create stigma, further divisions between groups and hostility? Are we neglecting the oldest way of communication – storytelling – in favor of the new? A narrative allows for the information to be assimilated more easily by people. 

One way to escape this fate is through an often over-looked form of activism: the production of literary works of protest.

A fault of human nature is that we often struggle with seeing the uncomfortable and horrific, or fall into hopeless desperation. We ignore the news or scroll past it on social media, promoting indifference. One way to escape this fate is through an often overlooked form of activism: the production of literary works of protest. This educates others and vocalizes opinions and experiences through a narrative, ensuring a higher level of engagement from the readers. An interesting example of a work of protest that has become very popular is Persepolis, a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi (French-Iranian). Persepolis achieves what most forms of activism yearn for, while establishing a strong connection with the reader. It develops a narrative through Satrapi’s retelling of her childhood, and through cartoonish, simple, and endearing drawings. By utilizing techniques such as metonymy, humor, and symbolism, the experience of reading the novel is one of laughter and tears, where one wants to keep reading and is moved afterwards. Metonymy is often used in activism, yet here, the focus on Marjane specifically as a representation of the whole conflict is woven into the longer narrative, allowing more empathy to be formed and avoiding the desire to avert one’s attention. 

Many people have shared their thoughts on Persepolis, with it being eye-opening for many Europeans who were unaware of Iran’s history or current political state. For Iranians, it was a way for their own stories to be understood and to create a space for themselves. In this sense, it’s an effective form of activism as it creates a difference in people’s lives, allowing them to be understood and increasing empathy. This can be seen in a quote from Iranian-British comedian Shappi Khorsandi during an interview with the Irish Times:

"It's both a personal and a political [work] but it's driven by the personal. The political is very much a backdrop. The first person who ever told me about the book was a French woman in a nightclub toilet. And then the British comedian Josie Long told me about it, and I was astounded that people who were not Iranian were interested in this story.

"Marjane's experience was quite typical, I think. Typical of the people who were able to leave Iran anyway. I would say that hers is a modern way of thinking and very normal. Iranians, as a rule, are very broad-minded people, though that is always misrepresented."

There is a distinction between activism and action. Activism is advocacy that ideally leads to action, yet this often doesn’t happen.

Although Persepolis is very effective in educating and starting a conversation about the past, and fostering possible interest in current events in Iran, it’s only surface-level activism. It builds empathy and fosters change on an individual level, but does it help the nation? There is a distinction between activism and action. Activism is advocacy that ideally leads to action, yet this often doesn’t happen. Marjane Satrapi successfully built a connection between herself, her readers, and Iranians, and through that, readers could have taken action, yet the two are not directly linked. In this way, protests are often effective in instigating change on a larger scale, possibly judicially or governmentally, as can be seen with the protests in Iran and globally last year, which Marjane Satrapi publicly supported and praised. Persepolis shows how narrative is an essential foundation for activism, and its reception, dissemination and reference also show how the interplay of various forms of activism can help to make a true difference.