Editing Fatima Meer

{{Short description|South African writer and activist (1928–2010)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{infobox person
| name               = Fatima Meer
| image              = Fatima Meer.jpeg
| title              = Professor
| spouse             = [[Ismail Chota Meer]]
| children           = 3, including [[Shehnaz Meer|Shehnaz]]
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1928|08|12|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Durban]], [[Natal Province|Natal]], South Africa
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2010|03|12|1928|08|12|df=yes}}
| death_place        = Durban, [[KwaZulu-Natal Province]]
| resting_place      = Brook Street Cemetery, Durban
| alma_mater         = [[University of Natal]]
| occupation         = Writer and academic
| notable_works      = Higher Than Hope
}}

'''Fatima Meer''' (12 August 1928 – 12 March 2010) was a South African writer, academic, screenwriter, and prominent anti-[[apartheid]] activist.

== 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>

== Political activist ==
Meer and [[Kesaveloo Goonam]] became the first women to be elected as executive of the [[Natal Indian Congress]] (NIC) in 1950. She helped to establish the Durban and District Women's League on 4 October 1952 as a group of 70 women. This organisation was started in order to build alliances between Africans and Indians as a result of the [[Durban Riot|race riots]] between the two groups in 1949.<ref name=":1" /> [[Bertha Mkhize]] became the chairperson and Meer became the secretary of the league. The league undertook work such as organizing child care and distributing milk at [[Cato Manor]]. The League also gathered funds for victims of a tornado at [[Springs, Gauteng|Springs]] where Africans became homeless, and successfully collected £4000 for the [[Sea Cow Lake, Durban|Sea Cow Lake]] flood victims.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hiralal|first=Kalpana|date=July 2018|title='Mary and Annie resist': gender and resistance in South Africa 1900s–1950s|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19438192.2018.1460917|journal=South Asian Diaspora|language=en|volume=10|issue=2|pages=123–138|doi=10.1080/19438192.2018.1460917|s2cid=150009244|issn=1943-8192|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

After the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] gained power in 1948 and started implementing their policy of [[Internal resistance to apartheid|anti-apartheid]], Meer's activism increased and as a result of her activism, she was first "[[Ban (law)|banned]]" in 1952 for three years.<ref name=":0" /> She was one of the founding members of the [[Federation of South African Women]] (FEDSAW), established on 17 April 1954 in the [[Johannesburg Trades Hall|Trades Hall]] on Rissik Street, in central [[Johannesburg]], which spearheaded the historical women's march at the [[Union Buildings]], [[Pretoria]], on 9 August 1956. She was one of the leaders of the [[Women's March (South Africa)|Women's March]] in 1956.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mafika|date=2014-08-19|title=Remembering the voices of the women of 1956|url=https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/people-culture/people/remembering-the-voices-of-the-women-of-1956|access-date=2020-07-27|website=Brand South Africa|language=en-US}}</ref> At the same year, she organized a committee to gather funds for bail and support the families of Natal political leaders who were in the [[1956 Treason Trial|treason trial]].<ref name=":1" />

In the 1960s, Meer organised night vigils to protest against the mass detention of anti-apartheid activists without trial outside Durban prison. She was also one of the organisers of a week-long vigil at the Gandhi Settlement in [[Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal|Phoenix]]. The leader of the vigil was [[Sushila Nayyar|Sushila Gandhi]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=31 October 2011|title='Mama' Fatima Meer ANC Veteran and Anti Apartheid Struggle Stalwart, passes away. 1928-2010|url=http://www.awaazmagazine.com/previous/index.php/archives/item/156-'mama'-fatima-meer-anc-veteran-and-anti-apartheid-struggle-stalwart-passes-away-1928-2010|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.awaazmagazine.com|language=en-gb}}</ref> During the 1970s, Meer started to embrace [[Black Consciousness Movement|Black Consciousness Ideology]] with [[South African Students' Organisation|South African Student Organisation]] (SASO) led by [[Steve Biko]].<ref name=":3" />

In 1975, Meer co-founded the [[Black Women's Federation]] (BWF) with [[Winnie Madikizela-Mandela|Winnie Mandela]]. Meer became the first president of the organisation.<ref>{{Cite web|date=21 March 2011|title=History of Women's struggle in South Africa {{!}} South African History Online|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-womens-struggle-south-africa|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.sahistory.org.za}}</ref> A year later, she was banned again for a period of five years. The banning order came after she attended a meeting of the Black Studies Programme where she was a key speaker with a speech entitled "Twenty-Five Years of Apartheid Rule".<ref name=":1" /> In June 1976, after [[Soweto uprising|Soweto Uprisings]], 11 women from BWF were arrested and detained under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act. They were placed in solitary confinement at [[Constitution Hill, Johannesburg|Fort Prison]] on [[Johannesburg]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Haffejee|first=Ihsaan|date=2017-08-23|title=Flowers in Confinement: Fatima Meer's defiant sketches of women in prison exhibited|url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-08-23-flowers-in-confinement-fatima-meers-defiant-sketches-of-women-in-prison-exhibited/|access-date=2020-07-28|website=Daily Maverick|language=en}}</ref> She narrowly survived an assassination attempt shortly after her release from detention in 1976 when she was shot at her family home in Durban, but not harmed. Her son, Rashid, went into exile in the same year. She was attacked again and blamed the second attack on the [[Black Consciousness Movement]] and [[Inkatha Freedom Party]].<ref name="TL2010">{{Cite web|last=Pillay|first=Taschica|date=12 March 2010|title=Fatima Meer dies|url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2010-03-12-fatima-meer-dies/|access-date=28 July 2020|work=TIMES Live}}</ref>

During the 1980s, Meer founded Co-ordinating Committee of Black (Indian, Coloured, African) Ratepayers Organisations to oppose the injustices which were happening to the black townships caused by Durban municipality.<ref name=":1" /> She declined the offer of a seat in parliament in 1994, because of her preference for non-governmental work.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Daniels LA|date=9 August 2017|title=8 women whose role in the Struggle is recognised worldwide|url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/8-women-whose-role-in-the-struggle-is-recognised-worldwide-10560469|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.iol.co.za|language=en}}</ref> In May 1999, Meer founded the Concerned Citizens' Group (CCG) to persuade Indian people not to vote for white parties in the next election.<ref name=":3" />

She was a strong supporter of the [[Iranian Revolution]] and boycotted [[Salman Rushdie]]'s trip to South Africa in 1998, claiming that he was a blasphemer.<ref name="TL2010" /> She was involved in protests against the oppression and assault of the Palestinian people and the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. She founded Jubilee 2000 to campaign for the cancellation of [[Third World debt]].<ref name=":2">{{cite book|last=Vahed|first=Goolam|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/muslim_portraits_goolam_vahed_0.pdf|title=Muslim portraits : the anti-apartheid struggle|publisher=Madiba Publishers|year=2011|isbn=978-1-874945-25-3|location=Durban, South Africa|pages=170|oclc=858966865|name-list-style=vanc}}</ref>

== Charity work ==
She published her book entitled ''Portrait of Indian South Africans'' in 1969 and donated all revenue from the sale of the book to the Gandhi Settlement for the needs to build Gandhi Museum and Clinic.<ref>{{Cite web|title=President Jacob Zuma bestows 2017 National Orders Awards {{!}} South African Government|url=https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-jacob-zuma-bestows-2017-national-orders-awards-28-apr-2017-0000|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.gov.za}}</ref> She helped an operation to rescue 10 000 Indian flood victims at Tin Town which was located on the banks of the [[Umgeni River]]. Meer built temporary housing in a tent and organized relief food and clothing. Later, she successfully negotiated permanent settlement for them in [[Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal|Phoenix]]. Meer also founded and became a leader of Natal Education Trust which gather money from the Indian community to build schools in [[Umlazi]], [[Port Shepstone]] and [[Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal|Inanda]].<ref name=":1" />

She founded Tembalishe Tutorial College at Gandhi's Phoenix home to taught blacks in secretarial skills in 1979. Crafts Centre also established at the Settlement to taught [[screen printing]], [[sewing]], [[embroidery]] and [[knitting]] for unemployed, Both the college and the crafts Center were closed in 1982 following after Fatima detainment for breaching her banning order caused of supervising the work outside of Durban boundary.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rajab DM|date=9 May 2011|title=Women: South African's of Indian Origin|work=Jacana Media|url=https://issuu.com/jacanamedia/docs/women_book/23|access-date=28 July 2020}}</ref> During the 1980s, she organised scholarships for ten students to go to United States and assisted the "SAVE OUR HOMES COMMITTEE"&nbsp; which was founded by the Coloured community of Sparks Estate to seek justice for who were threatened by the Durban Municipality whom wanted to  take their homes.They succeeded gain the compensation for the act.<ref name=":1" /> Through the cooperation with [[Indira Gandhi]], she organized scholarship for South African students to study medicine and the political sciences in India.<ref name=":3" /> IBR does tutorial programmes to improve the low matric pass rate and Phambili High was founded in 1986 for African students.<ref name=":2" />

In 1992,(2 years before the first democratic election) Fatima Meer founded the Clare Estate Environment Group as a response to the needs of shack dwellers and rural migrants. They have no right in urban areas and need clean water, sanitation and proper settlement.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|date=31 August 2016|title=Fatima Meer, A Giant Social Reformer|work=POST|url=https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/post-south-africa/20160831/281736973883317|access-date=2020-07-28}}</ref> Khanyisa School Project was founded in 1993 as a preparatory school for underprivileged African children before they go to formal school. She was also founded Khanya Women's Skills Training Centre in 1996, which teach 150 Black women in [[Pattern (sewing)|pattern-cutting]], sewing, adult literacy and business management.<ref>{{Cite news|date=14 August 2017|title=Meer A Resilient Freedom Fighter|work=The Mercury|url=https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-mercury-south-africa/20170814/281500751355402|access-date=28 July 2020}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Fatima Meer married her first cousin in 1950, [[Ismail Meer]]. This was not uncommon in the Sunni Bhora community where she grew up. Ismail Meer was a prominent lawyer and anti-apartheid activist. He was an active member of the KwaZulu-Natal ANC provincial legislature. In the 1960s he was arrested and charged with treason, along with Nelson Mandela, and other activists. In 1995, Fatima Meer's son Rashid died in a car accident.<ref name=":3" /> She is survived by two daughters [[Shehnaz Meer|Shehnaz]], a Land Claims Court judge, and Shamim, a social science consultant.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fatima Meer's amazing journey |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2010-03-12-fatima-meers-amazing-journey/ |website=Mail & Guardian |date=12 March 2010 |access-date=30 June 2020}}</ref>

== Academic and writer ==

Meer became a lecturer of sociology and a staff member of the [[University of Natal]] from 1956 to 1988. She was the first non-white person to hold that position.<ref name=":0" /> She was also a visiting professor at a number of universities in abroad. Meer became a [[fellow]] of the [[London School of Economics]], and received three honorary doctorates. First, she received an Honorary Doctorate in [[Philosophy]] from [[Swarthmore College]] (1984) and in [[Humanities|Humane Letters]] from [[Bennett College|Bennet College]] in the United States (1994). Later, she received Honorary Doctorate in [[Social science|Social Sciences]] from [[Natal University]] in South Africa (1998).<ref name="TL2010" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Ozynski|first=Gabrielle|date=2017-08-12|title=Birthday Tribute To Activist Fatima Meer|url=http://www.peoplemagazine.co.za/real-people/birthday-tribute-to-activist-fatima-meer/|access-date=2020-07-27|website=People Magazine|language=en-US|archive-date=10 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510044603/https://www.peoplemagazine.co.za/real-people/birthday-tribute-to-activist-fatima-meer/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

She founded the Institute for Black Research (IBR), which became a research and publishing institution and educational NGO in 1972<ref name=":4" />

== Works ==

=== Books ===
* ''Portrait of Indian South Africans'' (1969)
* ''The Apprenticeship of a Mahatma'' (1970)
*''Race and Suicide in South Africa'' (1976)
* ''Towards Understanding Iran Today'' (1985)
* ''Resistance in the Townships'' (1989)
* ''Higher than Hope'' (1990) (the first authorized biography of [[Nelson Mandela]], which was translated into 13 languages)
* ''The South African Gandhi: The Speeches and Writings of M.K. Gandhi'' (1996)
* ''Passive Resistance, 1946: A Selection of Documents'' (1996)
* ''Fatima Meer: Memories of Love and Struggle'' (2017)

=== Television ===

* Screenwriter, ''[[The Making of the Mahatma]]'', a [[Shyam Benegal]] film which was based on her book ''The Apprenticeship of a Mahatma''; the film was co-produced by India and South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Singh|first=Yash|date=2019-10-02|title=7 films based on or inspired by the life of Mahatma Gandhi|url=https://www.theindianwire.com/entertainment/7-films-based-inspired-life-mahatma-gandhi-194041/|access-date=2020-07-28|website=The Indian Wire|language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Honours, decorations, awards and distinctions ==

* Union of South African Journalists Award (1975)
* Imal Abdullah Haroon Award for the Struggle against Oppression and Racial Discrimination (1990)
* Vishwa Gurjari Award for Contribution to Human Rights (1994)
* Top 100 Women Who Shook South Africa list (1999)
* [[File:Pravasi_Bharatiya_Samman_Ribbon.png|70x70px]] [[Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]] (2003)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-01-13 |title=Fatima Meer |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/fatima-meer/story-2C56KnqUkYjDxNurflrVNK.html |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref>
* #45 [[SABC3's Great South Africans|Top 100 Great South Africans]] (2004)
*South African National Order: [[Order for Meritorious Service]] in silver (2009)
*[[Order of Luthuli|The Order of Luthuli in Silver]] (2017)<ref>{{Cite web|title=President Jacob Zuma bestows 2017 National Orders Awards {{!}} South African Government|url=https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-jacob-zuma-bestows-2017-national-orders-awards-28-apr-2017-0000|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.gov.za}}</ref>

== Death and legacy ==
Fatima Meer died at St. Augustine's Hospital in Durban on 12 March 2010, aged 81, from a [[stroke]] which she suffered two weeks earlier.<ref name="TL2010" /> A collection of Fatima Meer's political and academic writings entitled   ''Voices of Liberation'' was published in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Voices of Liberation – Fatima Meer – The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)|url=https://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/books/voices-of-liberation-fatima-meer|access-date=2020-07-28|website=www.hsrcpress.ac.za|language=en-us}}</ref> Her paintings and drawings have been exhibited at Constitutional Hill since August 2017.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Dwamena|first=Anakwa|date=23 October 2019|title=The Defiantly Everyday Drawings of Fatima Meer|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-defiantly-everyday-drawings-of-fatima-meer|access-date=2020-07-28|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en-us}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of people subject to banning orders under apartheid]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fatima-Meer Biography in Encyclopædia Britannica]
* [http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/professor-fatima-meer Biography on SA History online]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meer, Fatima}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:South African people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:South African women writers]]
[[Category:South African writers]]
[[Category:University of Natal alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Natal]]
[[Category:Writers from Durban]]
[[Category:Academics of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:South African anti-apartheid activists]]
[[Category:South African Trotskyists]]
[[Category:South African non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Communist women writers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Luthuli]]
[[Category:Natal Indian Congress politicians]]
[[Category:Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]]