Editing Fatima Meer (section)

== Early life ==

Fatima Meer was born in the Grey Streets of [[Durban]], South Africa, into a middle-class family of nine, where her father [[M.I. Meer]], a newspaper editor of TIV (The Indian View),<ref>{{cite web |title=The Indian press: A proud history in South Africa|url=https://www.thejournalist.org.za/pioneers/the-indian-press-a-proud-history-in-south-africa |website=The Journalist |access-date=30 June 2020}}{{Dead link|date=February 2025}}</ref> instilled in her a consciousness of the racial discrimination that existed in the country. Her mother was Rachel Farrell, the second wife of Moosa Ismail Meer. Her mother was orphaned and of Jewish and Portuguese descent. She converted to Islam and changed her name to Amina.<ref>{{cite book|last=Villa-Vicencio, Charles.|url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft4p3006kc&chunk.id=d0e6228&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e6228&brand=ucpress|title=The spirit of freedom : South African leaders on religion and politics|date=1996|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-91626-5|location=Berkeley|pages=176|oclc=45728692}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite web|date=29 June 2011|title=Professor Fatima was the first Indian woman to fight apartheid {{!}} South African History Online|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/professor-fatima-meer|access-date=2020-07-27|website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref> When she was 16 years old in 1944, she helped raise £1 000 for famine relief in [[Bengal]], India.<ref>{{cite web|date=13 March 2010|title=ANC bids farewell to selfless Mama Fatima|url=https://mg.co.za/article/2010-03-13-anc-bids-farewell-to-selfless-mama-fatima/|access-date=30 June 2020|website=The Mail &Guardian}}</ref>

She completed her schooling at the [[Durban Girls' High School|Durban Indian Girls High School]]. When she was still a student she mobilized students to found the Student Passive Resistance Committee to gather funds for the Indian community's passive resistance campaign from 1946 to 1948. The committee led her to meet [[Yusuf Dadoo]], [[Monty Naicker]], and [[Kesaveloo Goonam]]. She subsequently attended the [[University of the Witwatersrand]] for one year where she was a member of a [[Trotsky]]ism group that was affiliated to [[Non-European Unity Movement]] (NEUM).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Van Allen JI|title=Fatima Meer {{!}} South African activist, educator, and author|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fatima-Meer|access-date=2020-07-27|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=21 March 2011|title=Fatima Meer Timeline 1928-2010 {{!}} South Africantory Online|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/fatima-meer-timeline-1928-2010|access-date=2020-07-27|website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref> She went to the [[University of Natal]], where she completed a [[Bachelor's degree]] and [[Master's degree]] in [[Sociology]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fatima|url=https://www.medialabafrica.com/fatima.html|access-date=2020-07-27|website=Media Lab Africa|language=en}}</ref>