DOCSLIB.ORG

Biography of Fatima Meer

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Biography of Fatima Meer Freedom in Our Lifetime: South Africa’s Struggle Scholars Online 1 Biography of Fatima Meer atima Meer is considered one of South helped found the Foundation of South African FAfrica’s most distinguished twentieth cen- Women, which led a famous anti-pass march tury leaders. As a political leader, publisher, on the government buildings in Pretoria in writer, and human rights and gender activ- 1956. In 1975 she was again banned, this time ist, she has worked tirelessly to improve race for five years, and in 1976 was arrested and relations, and promote justice, reconciliation, put in prison for six months. and non-violent action in such fields as edu- Professor Meer was married to Ismail C. cation, social work, poverty alleviation, and Meer, a prominent leader in South Africa’s health care. Professor Meer was an important Indian community who was arrested in the anti-apartheid activist and has continued her Treason Trial of 1956. He was imprisoned for activism after 1994 in support of the poor. two years until the charges against him were Professor Meer earned her BA and MA dropped. The two were close friends of Nel- in sociology at the University of Natal (now son Mandela and his family. The Meers’ son the University of KwaZulu-Natal), at a time Rashid was also an anti-apartheid activist and when very few women of color graduated from was forced into exile in the late 1970s. South African universities. She was a profes- Since the 1980s, Meer has worked with sor at the university from 1956 until 1988, and NGOs, fighting for the rights of shack dwellers was the first women of color to be appointed and rural migrants. She organized a number as a lecturer at a designated-white South Af- of institutions aimed at improving the quality rican University. She has produced over forty of education for Africans and providing job books, some as author, some as editor, and training skills for communities in and around some as publisher, including the first autho- Durban. Meer also helped found Jubilee South rized biography of Nelson Mandela, Higher Africa, in order to lobby for the cancellation Than Hope (1988). of Third World debt. She has connected the Professor Meer began her political activ- struggles of South Africa’s poor to the struggles ism as a high school student, starting the of poor people around the world. Student Passive Resistance Committee in 1946 Since 1994, she has served in a number of to support the Indian Passive Resistance Cam- advisory positions for the government, includ- paign. When the National Party came to power ing advisor to the Minister of Arts, Culture, in 1948, she became more heavily involved Science, and Technology, a member of the in politics and spoke out publicly against Advisory Panel to the President, and a member apartheid. In 1949 she helped found the Dur- of the Board of the South African Broadcasting ban and District Women’s League—the first Corporation. Professor Meer has won numer- women’s organization with joint Indian and ous awards for her activities, including the African membership—in order to build alli- Union of South African Journalists Award ances between Indians and Africans in Durban (1975), the Imam Abdullah Haroon Award for after violence between those groups that year. the Struggle against Oppression and Racial In 1952, she was banned for three years by the Discrimination (1990), the Vishwa Gurjari government under the Suppression of Com- Award for Contribution to Human Rights munism Act, confined to the city of Durban (1994), and one of the Top 100 Women Who and prohibited from all public gatherings and Shook South Africa (1999). from having her work published. In 1955, she ■ CHOI C ES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY EDU C ATION PROGRAM ■ WATSON INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES , BRO W N UNIVERSITY ■ www .C HOI C ES .EDU.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Malibongwe Let Us Praise the Women Portraits by Gisele Wulfsohn
    Malibongwe Let us praise the women Portraits by Gisele Wulfsohn In 1990, inspired by major political changes in our country, I decided to embark on a long-term photographic project – black and white portraits of some of the South African women who had contributed to this process. In a country previously dominated by men in power, it seemed to me that the tireless dedication and hard work of our mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters needed to be highlighted. I did not only want to include more visible women, but also those who silently worked so hard to make it possible for change to happen. Due to lack of funding and time constraints, including raising my twin boys and more recently being diagnosed with cancer, the portraits have been taken intermittently. Many of the women photographed in exile have now returned to South Africa and a few have passed on. While the project is not yet complete, this selection of mainly high profile women represents a history and inspiration to us all. These were not only tireless activists, but daughters, mothers, wives and friends. Gisele Wulfsohn 2006 ADELAIDE TAMBO 1929 – 2007 Adelaide Frances Tsukudu was born in 1929. She was 10 years old when she had her first brush with apartheid and politics. A police officer in Top Location in Vereenigng had been killed. Adelaide’s 82-year-old grandfather was amongst those arrested. As the men were led to the town square, the old man collapsed. Adelaide sat with him until he came round and witnessed the young policeman calling her beloved grandfather “boy”.
    [Show full text]
  • One Hundred Years of the Kwazulu-Natal Bench by LB Broster SC, a Coutsoudis and AJ Boulle, Kwazulu-Natal Bar
    SA JUDICIARY100 YEARS OLD Juta, Kotzé and rule from 1949-1959), and Munnik CJ (from 1981-1992). Hlophe Menzies who were CJ, the first black JP of the division, is perhaps the best-known of either judges of the the current group of Judges President in the country. Amongst court or members of other things, he was responsible for the controversial decision in the families of judges of dispute between the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa, New the court. Clicks South Africa (Pty) Ltd and the Minister of Health (New Clicks Perhaps the most South Africa (Pty) Ltd v Tshabalala-Msimang and Another NNO; well-known advocate Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa and Others v Tshabalala- ever to practise in Msimang and Another NNO 2005 (2) SA 530 (C)). the Cape was Harry The CPD also made important contributions to the development Snitcher QC, who also of the new constitutional law in cases such as the Grootboom deci- acted for appellants sion that enforced the right to housing (Government of the Republic Judge President John Hlophe, in the Harris decision, and Cape High Court of South Africa and Others v Grootboom and Others 2001 (1) SA 46 many another similar cause (CC)) and the Metrorail decision which enforced the right to life (Rail celebre. Commuters Action Group and Others v Transnet Ltd t/a Metrorail Of the Judges President of the court, several stand out purely and Others 2005 (2) SA 359 (CC)). because of the long duration of their tenure. These were Van Zyl CJ In this way the division has contributed to a process of constitu- (who took the court through the difficult years of the aftermath of tional development - from Slave Lodge to beacon of Good Hope.
    [Show full text]
  • Natalia V28 Obituaries Didcott.Pdf
    Obituaries John Mowbray Didcott (1931-1998) John Didcott spent 23 years as a judge, first in the Natal Supreme Court and, since 1994, as a member of the Constitutional Court. He became a human rights legend because of his strong support ofjustice and individual liberties. During the worst years of apartheid his scathing attacks on the unjust policies of the previous government were pored over with delight by opponents of those policies. Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed recalls his 'sparkling moral courage' and says Judge Didcott's instinctive abhorrence of injustice will ensure he is remembered as one of the greatest figures of South African law. John Mobray Didcott was born in Durban on 14 August 1931, and matriculated in 1948 from Hilton College. He graduated from the University of Cape Town with a B A degree in 1951 and an LI.B in 1953. But he was not merely a successful swot he also flourished in student politics. In his first year he was elected to the Students' Representative Council and served as its president from 1952 to 1954. He was also vice-president of the National Union of South African Students in 1953 and 1954, and its president for the next two years. Durban attorney Graham Cox, a long-time friend, recalls those days with relish. 'He was a brilliant fellow, but in addition to being an incredible scholar, he was a magnificent speaker - quite superb as a demagogue. When he, Zach de Beer and Sharkey King (now judge-president-elect of the High Court in Cape Town) debated the government's race policies, there would be standing room only in Jamieson Hall.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Natal. Durban
    THE MOBILISATION OF WOMEN: THE BLACK WOMEN'S FEDERATION 1975-1977: WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO NATAL. PRAVIN RAM SUBMI'ITED IN PARTIAL FULFllMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS, IN THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES, AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NATAL. DURBAN JANUARY 1992 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere appreciation is expressed to the following: My supervisor, Ms Cherryl Walker, for the guidance and invaluable suggestions. The lengthy hours of consultation are especially appreciated. Professor Fatima Meer for availing much of the material on the Black Women's Federation from her private collection. Her assistance is gratefully acknowledged. MyWife, Ansuya, for the assistance, patience and support throughout the duration of my study. My Mother and late Father, Mr. R.B. Ram, who have been a tower of strength and whose inspiration has guided my every academic endeavour. PRAVINRAM DURBAN 1992 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCI10N III CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND: THE POSmON OF BLACK WOMEN: PATRIARCHY, ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT, LEVELS OF EMPLOYMENT AND THE 'NATAL CODE' 1 CHAPTER 1WO: POLmCAL ORGANISATION OF BLACK WOMEN IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 19 CHAPTER THREE: BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS 29 CHAPTER FOUR: THE BLACK WOMEN'S FEDERATION 44 CHAPTER FIVE: POST-CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES 66 CONCLUSION 75 BIBLIOGRAPHY 83 APPENDIXES 93 III INTRODUCTION That the role of women in the mainstream of South Mrican historiography has been omitted, understated or simply glossed over, is widely accepted today. Significant works, such as J. Wells' study on 'The History of Black Women's Struggle Against Pass Laws in South Mrica 1900-1960' (1982) and Cherryl Walker's Women and Resistance in South Mrica, (1982) amongst others, show in no uncertain way that the role of women and the women's movement are worthy of study as a field in itself.
    [Show full text]
  • The Higher Education Landscape Under Apartheid
    CHAPTER 2 IAN BUNTING THE HIGHER EDUCATION LANDSCAPE UNDER APARTHEID This chapter lays out the South African higher education landscape as it was shaped by the apartheid policies of the National Party government prior to 1994. It describes how the disenfranchisement of the African majority culminated in the establishment of five separate legislative and geographic entities (the Republic of South Africa and four ‘independent republics’) and traces the process by which this policy led to the establishment of 36 higher education institutions controlled by eight different government departments. The chapter also describes the apartheid thinking which led to the differentiation of higher education in South Africa into two distinct types – universities and technikons – and shows how sharp racial divisions, as well as language and culture, skewed the profiles of the institutions in each category. 1. POLICIES OF THE APARTHEID GOVERNMENT 1.1. Racial divisions in South Africa At the beginning of 1994, South Africa’s higher education system was fragmented and unco-ordinated. This was primarily the result of the white apartheid government’s conception of race and the politics of race, which had shaped the higher education policy framework that it laid down during the 1980s. The apartheid government, under the influence of the ruling National Party, had, by the beginning of the 1980s, divided South Africa into five entities: · The Republic of Transkei (formed from part of the old Cape Province). · The Republic of Bophuthatswana (formed from part of the old Transvaal Province). · The Republic of Venda (also formed from part of the old Transvaal Province). · The Republic of Ciskei (formed from another part of the old Cape Province).
    [Show full text]
  • Roy Campbell - Almost a Liberal
    ROY CAMPBELL - ALMOST A LIBERAL by David Robbins Natal's wild and unpredictable poet has been described at White South Africa to be more important than South Africa various times as a fascist, an instinctive right-wing itself. It is all the fault of that dear old colour-fetish. It is the reactionary, a fierce individualist who ran easily to extremes. incarnation of all that is superstitious, uneasy, grudging and In his foreword to Light on a Dark Horse, Laurie Lee dishonest in our natures.'' comments: "His (Campbell's) romantic paternalism, imbibed "The colour-bar is the first official recognition of the mental from his South African background, was out of date even equality of the races: the second can only be the removal of before he was born. He was burdened with more than his the colour-bar. ." share of right-wing mumbo-jumbo . ." And in 1954 when the University of Natal conferred a doctorate on him "he spoke The contrast is startling. How could this proud and (Laurens van der Post tells us) almost like a disciple of hardheaded young man, so full of "old colonial attitudes ", Dr Verwoerd". It is certainly true that in the thirties Campbell change so fundamentally and in so short a space of time? was an open admirer of both Hitler and Mussolini, although The answer, simply, is that he met William Plomer. he ultimately fought against them in the war; and that he felt Born in the Northern Transvaal two years later than nothing but contempt for the leftist forces in the Spanish Campbell, Plomer was living in Zululand when he heard of civil war.
    [Show full text]
  • Stella Aurorae: Establishing Kwazulu-Natal's First University
    Stella Aurorae: Establishing KwaZulu-Natal’s First University The early quest for university it might develop into a ‘young men’s uni- education versity’. By the 1850s there were already KwaZulu-Natal’s first fully-fledged uni- more than 500 such Institutes in Britain, versity, the University of Natal, was originating in Glasgow for the purpose established sixty years ago, on 15 March of providing working men with part-time 1949. The Natal University College from adult education. Like so many of them, which it developed came into existence a their Durban counterpart became no more century ago, on 11 December 1909. Such than a literary, recreational and social club an institution had first been envisaged before its subsequent closure. It did, how- as early as the mid-nineteenth century, ever, provide the basis for the city’s first though from the beginning, given the co- public library.1 lonial time and place, the intention was to In 1858 the more established and afflu- advance white (and initially male) educa- ent Cape Colony took the first meaningful tion. The issue of contention was where step towards the creation of a university the university should be sited – in Durban in southern Africa when it set up a Board or Pietermaritzburg. In September 1853 a of Public Examiners. Its function was to group of prominent citizens launched the examine and issue certificates to candi- Durban Mechanics’ Institute and, within dates prepared by secondary schools in three years, there were expectations that the fields of Literature and Science, Law 65 Natalia 39 (2009), Bill Guest pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Rule Under Apartheid and the Fledgling Democracy in Post- Apartheid South Africa: the Role of the Judiciary
    NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW Volume 26 Number 3 Article 4 Summer 2001 Rule under Apartheid and the Fledgling Democracy in Post- Apartheid South Africa: The Role of the Judiciary Tholakele H. Madala Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj Recommended Citation Tholakele H. Madala, Rule under Apartheid and the Fledgling Democracy in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Role of the Judiciary, 26 N.C. J. INT'L L. 743 (2000). Available at: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj/vol26/iss3/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rule under Apartheid and the Fledgling Democracy in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Role of the Judiciary Cover Page Footnote International Law; Commercial Law; Law This article is available in North Carolina Journal of International Law: https://scholarship.law.unc.edu/ncilj/vol26/ iss3/4 Rule Under Apartheid and the Fledgling Democracy in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Role of the Judiciary Justice Tholakele H. Madala* I. Introduction Chairperson, Dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law, eminent professors, distinguished guests and participants, ladies and gentlemen. Let me start by apologising most profusely for my inability to be with you on this great occasion. But I must thank the organisers of the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation for having invited me to participate in this auspicious symposium, Apartheid to Democracy in South Africa.
    [Show full text]
  • Fatima Meer's
    Fatima Meer’s ‘Train from Hyderabad’: Diaspora, Social Justice, Gender and Political Intervention Rajendra Chetty Kasturi Beharie-Leak Abstract Fatima Meer’s memoir, Prison Diary: One Hundred and Thirteen Days, 1976 (2001), and the short story ‘Train to Hyderabad’ (Meer 2010) as an anthologised entity drawn from it, symbolise women’s isolation under male scrutiny, male rage at female autonomy and the compulsion to gag female critique of male government whether domestic, provincial or national. Behind the historical fact of colonial pseudo-slavery termed indenture, which was not gender-specific, lies the surviving, wide-spread and less-recognised phenomenon of female subjugation which may be termed female indenture. This reading of ‘Train to Hyderabad’ re-enacts a liberatory process: freeing the text in a way which reflects Meer’s own scripting of her work in a pattern of self-denial and socialist concern for the oppressed about her. Keywords: Fatima Meer, diaspora, social justice, feminism, indenture, apartheid, socialism Introduction Fatima Meer’s short story, ‘Train to Hyderabad’ (2010) is an extract from her Prison Diary (2001). The appearance of ‘Train to Hyderabad’ in The Vintage Book of South African Indian writing (Chetty 2010) provides it with a specific context and set of meanings. First, few texts by South African Indian writers were encouraged for publication under colonial/apartheid regimes. This publication accords a fresh, democratic context to Meer’s tale. Second, this Alternation 24,1 (2017) 127 - 142 127 Electronic ISSN: 2519-5476; DOI: https://doi.org/10.29086/2519-5476/2017/v24n1a7 Rajendra Chetty & Kasturi Beharie-Leak short story, taken from Meer’s Prison Diary (2001), necessarily invokes Meer’s larger oeuvre and its significances.
    [Show full text]
  • Salim Abdool Karim
    | SALIM S ABDOOL KARIM | TOP THREE AWARDS • African Union’s Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award, 2015 • President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in World Health (to the CAPRISA 004 Leadership Team) from the Drug Information Association, 2011 • Science-for-Society Gold Medal Award from the Acad- emy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), 2011 DEFINING MOMENT My plenary address in 2015 at the General Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa on the critical impor- tance of science for Africa’s prosperity. WHAT PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW I was a disco DJ at Disco Inferno for a few years while I was a medical student in the late-1970s. 16 |LEGENDS OF SOUTH AFRICAN SCIENCE| THE CLINICAL RESEARCH CRUSADER His first choice for university study was engineering. Unable to secure a Salim Abdool Karim is a revolutionary in everything he does, be it oppos- scholarship for engineering, he opted for medicine when he secured two ing apartheid rule, challenging AIDS denialists, or revamping South Africa’s scholarships for medical studies instead. He obtained his medical degree medical research funding. Along the way, he has ruffled some feathers. from the University of Natal medical school in 1983. It was a hotbed of ac- But ‘Slim’, as he is known to most, gets away with it because his actions tivism at the time as the only medical school in the country that allowed are designed for the greater good, and because he is a master at what students who were not white. As a medical student he was a delegate at he does.
    [Show full text]
  • Learning from the Successes and Failures of the Westcliff Flats Residents Association
    Learning from the successes and failures of the Westcliff Flats Residents Association International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) Rebecca Hinely Center for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Development Management and Policy Program, Georgetown University. Barak D. Hoffman Center for Democracy and Civil Society, Georgetown University Orlean Naidoo Center for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Westcliff Flats Residents Association *This paper was prepared by Rebecca Hinely, Barak D. Hoffman and Orlean Naidoo, and was a part of International IDEA’s Democracy and Development programme work in 2011. This document was selected as a contribution to stimulate debate on and increase knowledge about the impact of democratic accountability on services. © International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance 2012 The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) publications are independent of specific national or political interest. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA, its Board or its Council members. 2 Summary The Westcliff Flats Residents Association (WFRA), a community-based organization in Durban, South Africa, was very effective at ending evictions and disconnections of electricity or water in its community, but had little success in fighting Westcliff’s drug problem. This paper seeks to account for these divergent outcomes and, in so doing, to demonstrate that research can be useful in helping civil society organizations to be more successful in their advocacy efforts. We find two factors account for the differing outcomes. First, the fight against evictions and disconnections created a sense of community around a problem, while the drug problem isolated members of the community from each other.
    [Show full text]
  • Here Was Still Opportunity for Staff to Interact Directly with Students and Get to Know Them on a Personal Basis
    STELLA AURORAE: THE HISTORY OF A SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY Volume 3 The University of Natal (1976–2003) Bill Guest Occasional Publications of the Natal Society Foundation PIETERMARITZBURG 2018 Stella Aurorae: The History of a South African University Volume 3: The University of Natal (1976–2003) © Bill Guest 2018 Published in 2018 in Pietermaritzburg by the Trustees of the Natal Society Foundation under its imprint ‘Occasional Publications of the Natal Society Foundation’. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without reference to the publishers, the Trustees of the Natal Society Foundation, Pietermaritzburg. Natal Society Foundation website: http://www.natalia.org.za/ ISBN 978-0-9921766-7-9 Editor: Christopher Merrett Proofreader: Cathy Munro Indexers: Cynthia and Bill Guest Design and layout: Jo Marwick Body text: Times New Roman 11pt Front and footnotes: Times New Roman 9pt Photograph acknowledgements: All photographs courtesy of UKZN Archives and Killie Campbell Museum Library. Printed in South Africa by CPW Printers For my daughters Annabelle and Philippa, my step-daughters Linda and Diana and their loved ones CONTENTS Author’s note Abbreviations List of figures Foreword Acknowledgements Part One: 1976–1989 Chapter 1 Campus administration and development 3 Chapter 2 Staffing and teaching 49 Chapter 3 Research and community service 103 Chapter 4 Student life 165 Chapter 5 Desegregation and celebration 219 Part Two: 1990–2003 Chapter 6 Campus administration and development 249 Chapter 7 Staffing and teaching 303 Chapter 8 Research and community service 379 Chapter 9 Student life 455 Chapter 10 Rationalisation and retrospect 509 Bibliography 545 General index 555 AUTHOR’S NOTE The use of racial terminology is always controversial and potentially offensive.
    [Show full text]