Al-Qalam 
South African and Australian novelist John Maxwell Coetzee attends a ceremony during which he was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa of the VUB Vrije Universiteit Brussel university at La Monnaie opera house in Brussels on October 13, 2025. (Photo by Marius Burgelman / Belga / AFP) / Belgium OUT
By Zubeida Jaffer
The National Writers’ Association of South Africa (NWASA) has expressed its full support for the South African Nobel Laureate J.M. Coetzee’s decision to decline participation in the 14th International Writers Festival in Jerusalem.
NWASA’s secretary-general, Dr Lebogang Nawa released the strongly worded statement on World Press Freedom Day, saying Professor Coetzee’s refusal is a principled act of conscience. ‘It reflects a long-standing literary and ethical tradition in which writers do not separate their work from the realities of power, injustice, and human suffering,” he said.
In Coetzee’s communication with the festival organisers, he described the military actions in Gaza as a “campaign of genocide,” and raised profound concerns about the moral responsibilities not only of governments, but of intellectual and artistic communities.
His decision reminds us, said Dr Nawa, that participation in global cultural platforms is never neutral, and that absence, when grounded in principle, can carry profound moral clarity.
NWASA affirmed that writers have a responsibility not only to language but to humanity. “When conditions arise that call into question the dignity and rights of others, the literary community cannot retreat into abstraction,” he said. “Silence, in such moments, risks becoming complicit.”
NWASA considered Coetzee’s stance not to represent a rejection of dialogue but a challenge to the conditions under which dialogue is asked to take place
It urged the organisers of the 14th International Writers Festival to engage seriously with the concerns raised.
The NWASA statement calls for an end to violence, occupation, and the destruction of cultural institutions, while advocating for accountability, freedom of movement, and global solidarity. This is in alignment with South Africa’s foreign policy principles, which place human rights, international law, and multilateral accountability at their core.
In this context, the organisation’s stance is not merely literary or symbolic, but part of a broader national and moral framework that rejects impunity and affirms solidarity with oppressed peoples through both diplomatic and cultural means.
“NWASA remains committed to a literary culture that does not turn away from difficult truths, but confronts them with honesty, courage, and responsibility,” Dr Nawa said.
