Sydney Keepa Jackson (18 December 1938 – 3 September 2007) was a prominent

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist and leader.

Biography

Jackson, of

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative di ...

and

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

descent, was born on 18 December 1938, and educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it runs a private preparatory school for year 7 and 8 boys. The school also has ...

from 1952 to 1956.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition He first came to prominence at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, where he gained an MA. He was the chairman of the Māori Students Association, and then was a founder of Ngā Tamatoa. He was strongly involved in supporting

Tino Rangatiratanga ' is a Māori language term that translates literally to 'highest chieftainship' or 'unqualified chieftainship', but is also translated as "self-determination", "sovereignty" and "absolute sovereignty". The very translation of is important t ...

, the revival of the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

, and the

Māori protest movement The Māori protest movement is a broad indigenous-rights movement in New Zealand (). While there were a range of conflicts between Māori and European immigrants prior to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the signing provided a le ...

in general. He was the son of the

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

Everard Jackson, and grandson of

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

representative

Frederick Stanley Jackson Frederick Stanley Jackson (1875 – 15 April 1957) was a rugby footballer of the early 1900s who represented the Anglo/Welsh British Lions and the New Zealand national rugby league team. Early years Jackson was possibly born in Camborne and e ...

. He played representative rugby union for

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 1959 and 1960, and was a New Zealand Māori trialist. He was active from 1968 against

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, particularly New Zealand tours of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. In the 1970s Jackson was one of the founding members of Ngā Tamatoa, a Maori activist group. During this period he and Ngā Tamatoa were influenced by the works of the American

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

members such as

Eldridge Cleaver Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. In 1968, Cleaver wrote '' Soul on Ice'', a collection of essays that, at the time of i ...

and

Stokely Carmichael Kwame Ture (; born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael; June 29, 1941November 15, 1998) was a prominent organizer in the civil rights movement in the United States and the global pan-African movement. Born in Trinidad, he grew up in the Unite ...

. He stood unsuccessfully for the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

on the Labour Party ticket at the 1977 local election. Polling poorly, he finished fourth to last. Jackson was deeply involved in the trade union movement in the 1980s, as a field officer and then as secretary of the Clerical Workers Union for 17 years. He was also the chairperson of Te Kupenga o Hoturoa – the first Māori sponsored primary healthcare organisation; a Director of Te Roopu Huihuinga Hauora, a Māori healthcare organisation, and built up Turuki Healthcare as its

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

. Jackson was first married to the late Hana Te Hemara, and was survived by his second wife Deirdre Nehua and his eight children. He was the brother of

Moana Jackson Moana Jackson (10 October 1945 – 31 March 2022) was a New Zealand lawyer specialising in constitutional law, the Treaty of Waitangi and international indigenous issues. Jackson was of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou descent. He was an adv ...

References

External links

Poroporoaki: Syd JacksonTributes paid to Maori activist Jackson
1938 births 2007 deaths New Zealand trade unionists Ngāti Kahungunu people Ngāti Porou people University of Auckland alumni Māori activists New Zealand people of Cornish descent Māori language revivalists People educated at Nelson College Wellington rugby union players 20th-century New Zealand politicians Syd New Zealand Labour Party politicians {{Māori-bio-stub