[2][4] Having joined the Non-European United Front in high school,[4] Meer became increasingly involved in politics as a university student.
[2][3] In Johannesburg, he was a member of the Communist Party of South Africa, the left-wing Liberal Study Group, and the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC).
[2] His Johannesburg home, Flat 13 at Kholvad House in Market Street, became a meeting place for his politically active classmates;[2] Nelson Mandela later described as "a kind of headquarters for young freedom fighters".
[2] Under Dadoo's leadership, the TIC launched its campaign of passive resistance to the Ghetto Act, as well as its gradual embrace of the African National Congress (ANC) and other non-Indian political organisations; Meer was regarded as an instrumental figure in both respects.
[4] The ANC was unbanned in 1990 during the negotiations to end apartheid, and Meer was elected as chairperson of the party's local branch in Durban West.
[4] During this period, he also established the Liberation History Foundation, which promoted historical research and education about neglected aspects of the anti-apartheid struggle.
[7][8] In April 2011,[9] President Jacob Zuma admitted him posthumously to the Order of Luthuli, granting him the award in silver for "His excellent contribution to a non-racial and democratic South Africa, struggle for liberation, workers rights and for the formation of the Natal Teachers' Union.