Jeya Wilson
{{Short description|New Zealand political activist and NGO leader (born 1951)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = Jeya Wilson
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = {{#statements:P18}}
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1951}}
| birth_place = {{#statements:P19}}
| death_date = {{#statements:P570}}
| death_place = {{#statements:P20}}
| resting_place = {{#statements:P119}}
| resting_place_coordinates =
| other_names =
| citizenship =
| nationality =
| fields =
| workplaces = {{#statements:P108}}
| patrons =
| alma_mater = {{#statements:P69}}
| thesis1_title = Sanctions and South Africa
| thesis1_url = https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:67c840e5-03ee-4437-a81d-c67f37b0a8b5
| thesis1_year = 1995
| doctoral_advisor = {{#statements:P184}}
| academic_advisors = {{#statements:P1066}}
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| known_for =
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = {{#statements:P166}}
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
| spouse =
| children =
}}
Jeya Wilson (born 1951) is a Sri Lankan–New Zealand political activist and NGO leader. She is most well-known for being the person who invited New Zealand prime minister David Lange to debate the moral indefensibility of nuclear weapons at the Oxford Union.
Early life and education
Wilson was born in what is today Sri Lanka in 1951.{{Cite web |date=7 March 2024 |title=Life with Jeya Wilson: Sri Lanka to Whanganui and almost everything in between – Hongi NZ |url=https://hongi.co.nz/news_article/life-with-jeya-wilson-sri-lanka-to-whanganui-and-almost-everything-in-between/ |access-date=19 September 2024 |language=en-US}} Her father was a teacher, and later principal of the teacher training college in Samoa.{{Cite web |date=7 March 2024 |title=Life with Jeya Wilson: Sri Lanka to Whanganui and almost everything in between |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/511133/life-with-jeya-wilson-sri-lanka-to-whanganui-and-almost-everything-in-between |access-date=19 September 2024 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}} The family spent two years in Birmingham, England, when Wilson was eight, and during high school she went on a school exchange to America. Wilson was there in 1968, and describes it as "a watershed year – both in my life, and internationally".{{Cite news |last=Hayes |first=Matt |date=7 August 2019 |title=Meet the Kiwi who rubbed shoulders with Lange and Boris at the Oxford Union |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-08-2019/meet-the-kiwi-who-rubbed-shoulders-with-lange-and-boris-at-the-oxford-union |access-date=19 September 2024 |work=The Spinoff |language=en}} She witnessed the political upheaval caused by the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. and the Vietnam war protest movement, as well as being aware of international events such as the strikes in France threatening the government, and the Prague Spring. Wilson rejoined her family in Apia, Samoa, where she attended Samoa College, then led by Albert Wendt. In 1972 Wilson moved to New Zealand, where she completed a Bachelor of Arts in political science at Victoria University of Wellington, in which she also took courses on te reo Māori.{{Cite web |title=New Non-executive Director appointed |url=https://adamsmithinternational.com/news/new-non-executive-director-appointed/ |access-date=20 September 2024 |website=Adam Smith International |language=en}}
Career
After graduation, Wilson worked for Consumer NZ and the Department of Trade and Industry, and became involved with the anti-apartheid movement. She applied for a visa for South Africa with then-partner Peter Utting, expecting to be declined, but they were granted permission and travelled there in 1981. In 1982 they published a memoir of their experiences in apartheid South Africa as a mixed-race couple.
Wilson earned a Commonwealth Scholarship to attend St Antony’s College at the University of Oxford, where she completed a PhD titled Sanctions and South Africa.{{Cite thesis |last=Wilson |first=Jeya |title=Sanctions and South Africa |date=1995 |type=PhD thesis |publisher= |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:67c840e5-03ee-4437-a81d-c67f37b0a8b5}} Wilson had won the Australasian Debating Championships, and represented Oxford at the World Debating Championships.{{Cite web |last=Wellington |first=Victoria University of |date=22 August 2024 |title=No place like home for eminent alumna Dr Jeya Wilson {{!}} News {{!}} Te Herenga Waka |url=https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2024/08/no-place-like-home-for-eminent-alumna-dr-jeya-wilson |access-date=19 September 2024 |website=Victoria University of Wellington |language=en}} Wilson had met New Zealand prime minister David Lange during her anti-apartheid work, and she invited him to the 1985 Oxford Union debate "This House Believes Nuclear Weapons are Morally Indefensible", during which he gave his famous line about smelling uranium on his opponent's breath. She was the opening speaker and only other New Zealander on the four-person team.{{Cite web |date=7 March 2024 |title=I Was There When: Lange gave the Oxford address |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nights/audio/2018929168/i-was-there-when-lange-gave-the-oxford-address |access-date=20 September 2024 |website=RNZ |language=en-nz}}{{Cite web |date=19 September 2024 |title=From Boris Johnson and David Lange to 'hermit' in Whanganui |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/life-with-jeya-wilson-sri-lanka-to-whanganui-and-almost-everything-in-between/LIRXTH7ODZDBRKHQBXGIGCLADY/ |access-date=19 September 2024 |website=NZ Herald |language=en-NZ}} The following year, Wilson was elected president of the Oxford Union. The only previous woman of colour to hold that position was Benazir Bhutto. Wilson credits her debating skills with her success at the Union.
Wilson moved to South Africa with her husband in 1989, when he was offered a university position. At that time she could not own a share in their house without accepting the status of 'honorary white', which she refused to do. Wilson was the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Durban for five years, during which time she set up the world's first HIV/AIDS and Business Centre, and was New Zealand's Honorary Consul in South Africa.
Wilson was chief executive of the World Heart Federation in Switzerland, and spent 14 years living in Geneva. She is or has been a board member of a number of organisations, including the Commonwealth Sport Foundation, Avaaz, Adam Smith International and Fairtrade International.{{Cite web |title=Jeya Wilson {{!}} Staff {{!}} GIWEH |url=https://giweh.ch/default.aspx?l=1&pg=23&ii=33 |access-date=19 September 2024 |website=giweh.ch}} She has also worked for the World Health Organisation and the UN Development Programme.
Wilson and her husband retired to Whanganui in 2021.
Selected works
- {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Jeya |title=Babes in VerWoerds: Two New Zealanders in South Africa |last2=Utting |first2=Peter |publisher=Price Milburn |year=1982 |isbn=0705508498 |location=Petone, N.Z.}}
- {{Cite book| title=Ukwenza Intando Yeningi Isebenze – Making Democracy Work|last=Wilson|first=Jeya|publisher=Community Law Centre|place=Durban|year=1993}}
- {{CiteQ|Q130325602}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Jeya}}
Category:Anti-apartheid activists
Category:New Zealand activists
Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford
Category:Sri Lankan emigrants to New Zealand
Category:New Zealand political scientists
Category:New Zealand women political scientists
Category:New Zealand women activists
Category:21st-century New Zealand women scientists
Category:21st-century New Zealand social scientists