Adrian Leftwich
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_date = 1940
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|04|02|1940|df=yes}}
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| occupation = Anti-apartheid, politics professor
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
- University of Cape Town {{small|(BA)}}
- University of York {{small|(PhD)}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/adrian-leftwich|title=Adrian Leftwich|website=SA History|accessdate=26 April 2024}}
}}
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| children = 2, including Benjamin
}}
Adrian Leftwich (1940 – 2 April 2013) was a South African student leader active in the early 1960s in the anti-apartheid struggle. He came to Britain, where he completed a D.Phil in Politics and International Relations in 1976, prior to becoming a prominent academic in the politics department at the University of York.{{Cite thesis |last=Leftwich |first=Adrian |title=Colonialism and the Constitution of Cape Society Under the Dutch East India Company. |date=1976 |degree=phd |publisher=University of York |url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/11051/ |language=en}}
Early life
Leftwich was born to a liberal Jewish family and raised in Cape Town, which he described as "wonderful, almost innocent".{{Cite web|url=https://www.ru.ac.za/perspective/2013archive/adrianleftwichtheunforgiven.html|title=Adrian Leftwich, The Unforgiven|website=Rhodes University|date=2013|accessdate=28 April 2024}} His father was a doctor, while his mother gave music lessons and worked in charity.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/adrian-leftwich-2l859ws8885|title=Adrian Leftwich|journal=The Times|date=29 May 2013|access-date=28 April 2024}} Leftwich attended Rondebosch Boys' High School.{{Cite web|url=https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/adrian-leftwich-his-life-reconsidered|title=Adrian Leftwich: His life reconsidered|website=Politics Web|first=Jonathan|last=Katzenellenbogen|date=13 May 2013|accessdate=28 April 2024}}
Anti-apartheid activism in South Africa
Leftwich was educated at the University of Cape Town where he was active in student politics. For two years, 1961–1962, he was president of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) which opposed the government's apartheid policies.{{Cite web|date=2013-05-27|title=Adrian Leftwich: Leading anti-apartheid activist who turned state|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/adrian-leftwich-leading-anti-apartheid-activist-who-turned-state-witness-8633563.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310072508/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/adrian-leftwich-leading-anti-apartheid-activist-who-turned-state-witness-8633563.html |archive-date=2016-03-10 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-28|website=The Independent|location=London|language=en}} The scholar and author R.W. Johnson heard Leftwich speak at a NUSAS meeting and recalled almost sixty years later that "he spoke with a charm and a power that I have seldom seen equalled".Johnson, R.W. 2020. Foreign Native. Jonathan Ball Publishers, Cape Town.
After leaving his NUSAS office Leftwich became involved in radical underground opposition to the regime. He became best known for turning state evidence against his comrades in a 1964 bomb plot with the African Resistance Movement (ARM). He and a small group of fellow students blew up a Cape Town suburban railway signal cable after which he was detained on 4 July 1964. He collaborated with the police under threat of torture, and other members of the movement were arrested and imprisoned. Leftwich was released and allowed to go into permanent exile in the United Kingdom.
While some of those arrested maintained bitter resentment against Leftwich, others made efforts to reconcile with him.{{cite news |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-04-22-adrian-leftwich-the-unforgiven/|title=Adrian Leftwich, The Unforgiven|work=Daily Maverick |date=21 April 2013 |access-date=23 November 2019}} Stephanie Kemp, who spent time in jail for her involvement in the bombing, stated on her Facebook page that she had "gone through a painful journey of reconciliation with him over 12 or more years. He was the same person, although he could never forget his fall almost 50 years ago. I remember him for his courage in taking on the apartheid state at such a young age and his fortitude in bearing the notoriety of stumbling in the face of enormous state repression." Author Hugh Lewin, who was also jailed for his role, wrote of his path to reconciliation with Leftwich in the book Stones Against the Mirror: Friendship in the Time of the South African Struggle.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/02/08/hugh-lewin-anti-apartheid-activist-betrayed-best-friend-obituary/ |title=Hugh Lewin, anti-apartheid activist who was betrayed by his best friend – obituary|work=The Telegraph|date=8 February 2019 |access-date=23 November 2019}}
Later life
In the UK, Leftwich worked on the politics of development, and was one of the foremost thinkers in the now increasingly popular political settlements approach to development, which sees deals between leading groups as crucial for effective development. He co-founded the Developmental Leadership Program, an international initiative that looks into the key roles played by leaders, elites, and coalitions in development.{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://www.dlprog.org/about-us |website=Developmental Leadership Program |publisher=University of Birmingham |access-date=12 May 2022}} He noted that "development has also managed to come around in states that are run by corrupt elites – just as long as these elites are relatively less corrupt and as long as they are determined in the cause of development, independent of the special interest groups.
Death
He died in 2013 of lung cancer, four months after diagnosis, leaving a daughter and a son, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, both from his third marriage. Leftwich, who was not religious, had a humanist memorial service.
Publications
- {{cite book|last=Leftwich|first=Adrian|year=1974|title=South Africa: Economic Growth and Political Change: With Comparative Studies of Chile, Sri Lanka and Malaysia|publisher=St. Martin's Press|ref={{harv}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Leftwich|first=Adrian|year=1994|title=The Development State|publisher=University of York|ref={{harv}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Leftwich|first=Adrian|year=1995|title=Democracy and Development: Theory and Practice|publisher=Polity Press|ref={{harv}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Leftwich|first=Adrian|year=2000|title=States of Development: On the Primacy of Politics in Development|publisher= Polity Press|ref={{harv}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Leftwich|first=Adrian|year=2004|title=What is Politics?: The Activity and its Study|publisher=Polity Press|ref={{harv}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Leftwich|first=Adrian|year=2009|title=Redefining Politics Routledge Library Editions: Political Science Volume 45|publisher=Routledge|ref={{harv}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Leftwich|first=Adrian|year=2014|title=Introducing Politics|publisher=Polity Press|ref={{harv}}}}
References
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Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite book|last=Lewin|first=Hugh |title=Stones Against the Mirror: Friendship in the time of the South African Struggle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zhheAgAAQBAJ|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Random House South Africa|isbn=978-1-4152-0207-4}}
{{refend}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leftwich, Adrian}}
Category:Academics of Lancaster University
Category:Academics of the University of Reading
Category:Academics of the University of York
Category:Alumni of Rondebosch Boys' High School
Category:Alumni of the University of York
Category:Jewish South African anti-apartheid activists
Category:South African anti-apartheid activists
Category:Deaths from lung cancer in England
Category:Prisoners and detainees of South Africa
Category:South African emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:South African expatriates in England
Category:South African humanists
Category:South African prisoners and detainees