“I cannot conceive of anybody’s agreeing with all of her views, or of not disagreeing violently with some of them. But agreement and rejection are secondary: what matters is to make contact with a great soul.”
WHETHER with sari billowing in the wind, kaftan loosely draped, or cap shielding her from the sun, Fatima Meer was always an inspiring figure. She bred devotion, she took surprising turns in conversation, she knew her own mind, she had exquisite social graces, she was impishly naughty, she humbled herself in community meetings and, when it suited her, she cut the figure of a formidable stateswoman.
These qualities carried through half a century of resistance politics. Activist, academic, mother, wife, confidant – her life wove together disparate roles that defied any attempt to…
