My friend Merle Lipton, who has died aged 85, was a historian, political analyst and doughty liberal with an activist bent, who constantly challenged conventional wisdom on South Africa.
She oversaw vigorous debate in academia both in Britain and South Africa for more than six decades, first from Chatham House (1965-2012) and later at King’s College London (2012-22), where she was a visiting fellow with the Africa research group. Her primary goal was the search for “historical truth”, and yet she managed to act as an unlikely bridge between neo-Marxists and liberals often at odds regarding their role in the demise of apartheid.
