RADICAL ENGAGEMENTS

RADICAL ENGAGEMENTS OPENS THE SHUTTER ON A PERSONAL JOURNEY THAT BEGAN WITH A CONVENTIONAL WHITE UPBRINGING IN THE JOHANNESBURG OF THE 1950S. SHAKEN OUT HER PRIVILEGED LIFESTYLE BY WHAT SHE SAW AROUND HER, LORNA LEVY BECAME INVOLVED IN RADICAL POLITICAL MOVEMENTS AFTER LEAVING WITS UNIVERSITY. IN 1963 SHE WAS SENT OVERSEAS TO CAMPAIGN ON BEHALF OF THE TRADE UNIONS - AND FOUND HERSELF STRANDED IN LONDON WHEN HER HUSBAND, LEON LEVY, WAS DETAINED BY THE SECURITY POLICE. LATER HE JOINED HER IN EXILE, AND LORNA, STILL IN HER MID-TWENTIES, DECIDED TO CHANGE COURSE AND MAKE A NEW LIFE FOR HERSELF IN AN UNFAMILIAR COUNTRY. SHE BECAME A LABOUR PARTY COUNCILLOR IN LONDON AND PUT DOWN ROOTS IN THE UK. OVER THE YEARS SHE REDISCOVERED HER SOUTH AFRICAN IDENTITY AND BECAME ABSORBED IN THE WORK OF THE ANC IN EXILE. SOON AFTER CASTING THEIR VOTES IN THE FIRST DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS OF 1994 IN SOUTH AFRICA HOUSE, LONDON, SHE AND HER HUSBAND DECIDED TO UPROOT THEMSELVES YET AGAIN, AND RETURNED TO SOUTH AF