{"id":1067,"date":"2021-08-12T14:18:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T02:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/history.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?page_id=1067"},"modified":"2025-07-08T06:46:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T18:46:03","slug":"nuclear","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/history.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/nuclear\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\n Nuclear Campaign\n <\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Origins<\/h2>\n\n

The Nuclear Campaign was Greenpeace\u2019s first campaign in New Zealand. It initially grew out of the anti-nuclear and anti-war movements of the late 1960s, especially in Canada where there were large numbers of anti-war US draft resisters and a large student movement that mobilised against US involvement in the Vietnam War, and nuclear weapons testing in the Aleutian Islands.<\/p>\n\n

French nuclear testing<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

In New Zealand the Nuclear Campaign started with the first protest flotilla mobilisation to oppose and disrupt the French Government\u2019s atmospheric nuclear weapons testing programme at Moruroa Atoll in Te Ao Maohi\/French Polynesia in 1972. That was led by sailing vessel (SV) Greenpeace III <\/em>(previously named SV Vega), <\/em>which was crewed by David McTaggart, Anna Horn, Nigel Ingram, and Ben Metcalfe (who represented the Greenpeace Foundation of Canada), and which also included SV Tamure, SV Boy Roe<\/em>l and SV Magic Isle.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Then in 1973 a second larger flotilla sailed there from New Zealand including SV Fri,<\/em> crewed by owner David Moodie, navigator Martini Gotje, Rien Achterberg, Rua Paul, Naomi Peterson, Ted Rutter and others, as well as SV Vega<\/em>, which was this time crewed by  David McTaggart, Anna Horne, Nigel Ingram and Mary Lornie. The other boats that sailed from New Zealand were SV Spirit of Peace, SV Bluenose, SV Barbary, SV Arakiwa, <\/em>and SV Tanea<\/em>. In addition, SV Malaguena<\/em> and SV Warana<\/em> sailed from Australia, SV Carmen <\/em>from Tahiti, and a few other boats sailed from Fiji, Samoa, and Peru. Only SV Fri, SV Vega<\/em> and SV Spirit of Peace<\/em> were able to make it as far as Moruroa. <\/p>\n\n

New Zealand Prime Minister Norm Kirk also sent the navy frigate HMNZS Otago <\/em>to Moruroa to oppose the nuclear tests there, which in turn was relieved by HMNZS Canterbury.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

In 1974, coordinated by the newly incorporated Greenpeace New Zealand, SV Fri <\/em>embarked on an epic three-year 40,000-km “Pacific Peace Odyssey” voyage from New Zealand, carrying the nuclear-free message to all of the nuclear weapons states. They met with officials and political leaders, and visited schools, workplaces, and public venues to speak about their nuclear-free message of peace, sometimes planting trees to commemorate their visit. The voyage included notable visits to Tahiti (Te Ao Maohi\/French Polynesia), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (a UN Trust Territory administered by the USA at the time), the city of Hiroshima in Japan where the first nuclear weapon was used by the USA in August 1945, Nahodka (Soviet Union), Shanghai (China), Hong Kong (UK Territory), and Chennai (India).<\/p>\n\n

The protest flotillas of 1972 and 1973, and a legal case taken to the International Court of Justice in The Hague by the NZ Government resulted in the French Government ending the atmospheric nuclear tests in 1975 by moving them inside Moruroa Atoll, into shafts drilled down through the coral into the underlying rock below the waters of the atoll\u2019s lagoon.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace\u2019s long-term campaign strategy was to end nuclear testing as a step to stopping the endless production and modernisation of new nuclear weapons systems through a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Later, that extended to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons systems into space, which started to happen with the US Star Wars<\/em> weapons programme in the 1980s, and included new \u2018exotic\u2019 space-based weapons designed to intercept and shoot down nuclear missiles as they hurtled towards populated targets on the Earth\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n\n

The US Star Wars<\/em> programme had the effect of intensifying the nuclear arms race and gave added incentive for each side to develop a pre-emptive first strike nuclear attack capability against the other side before they had reliable anti-ballistic missile systems in place. The massive size of the two superpowers\u2019 nuclear arsenals at that time – about 25,000 nuclear weapons each – meant that a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union would have wiped out life on Earth.<\/p>\n\n

Nuclear-Free New Zealand<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

New Zealand had always been an important country for Greenpeace\u2019s Nuclear Campaign because it was on the frontline of the campaign against nuclear weapons testing, nuclear ship visits, and the use of nuclear energy.<\/p>\n\n

\"Skipper
Skipper Chris Robinson on board SV Vega during an at-sea protest by the Auckland Peace Squadron against the visit of the USS Phoenix nuclear submarine to Auckland on 9 November 1983. The photo shows the Greenpeace boat maneuvering itself in front of the US nuclear submarine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The nuclear campaign was led by Elaine Shaw for much of the late 1970s and the 1980s. Her presence was a thread from the days of SV Fri<\/em>, and she repeatedly invited Greenpeace International to send the Rainbow Warrior<\/em> to New Zealand to join the campaign against the French Government\u2019s nuclear testing programme. <\/p>\n\n

Along with the rest of the peace movement, Greenpeace opposed US and British nuclear ship visits to New Zealand, and campaigned for the Nuclear-Free legislation that was eventually passed by David Lange\u2019s Labour Government in 1987. <\/p>\n\n

\"17
17 October 1990 Greenpeace New Zealand co-founder Elaine Shaw worked tirelessly to stop French nuclear testing and for a Nuclear-Free NZ from 1974-1987<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

Elaine Shaw was there to welcome the Rainbow Warrior<\/em> when she sailed past Rangitoto Island into Auckland in 1985, and lived to see New Zealand declared nuclear-free in 1987. Sadly, she died of cancer in October 1990, so she did not live long enough to see the end of the French Government\u2019s nuclear testing programme at Moruroa Atoll.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace continued its campaign by working to defend the nuclear ships ban from attempts to overturn it by the opposition NZ National Party (1987-1990), and then when National formed a new Government that floated the idea that the nuclear-free legislation might be watered-down by removing nuclear-powered submarines (1990-1993). Led by Jaqui Barrington, the campaign organised a series of Nuclear-FreeCup races on Waitemata Harbour through that period which helped fly the flag of the many nuclear-free flotilla yachts that had sailed out to protest the visiting nuclear-ships in the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n\n

These were successful in keeping the issue in the public eye and National backed off its mooted changes to the nuclear-free legislation.<\/p>\n

<\/section><\/div>\n

History of nuclear testing in the Pacific<\/h2>\n\n

About 325 nuclear weapons were detonated in the Pacific region by the governments of the USA, Britain and France between 1946 and 1996. The total cumulative explosive yield was about 173.8 megatons, which is the equivalent of about 11,600 Hiroshima bombs.<\/p>\n\n

As a result of the massive amount of radioactivity released by the atmospheric tests spreading across the globe, it has been estimated that there were about 430,000 additional cancer deaths globally due to cumulative radiation doses by the year 2000. <\/p>\n\n

In the long term, it has been estimated<\/a> that at least 2 million additional cancer deaths are expected globally due to the longevity of many radioactive isotopes.<\/p>\n\n

Read more about the full history of nuclear testing in the Pacific<\/a><\/p>\n\n

The bombing of the <\/strong>Rainbow Warrior <\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Greenpeace\u2019s flagship Rainbow Warrior<\/em> sailed from North America into the Pacific region in 1985 to help relocate the people of Rongelap in the Marshall Islands whose home had been contaminated by the US Government\u2019s atmospheric nuclear weapons tests there in the 1940s and 50s, to protest against the US Star Wars<\/em> missile testing programme there, and to visit Vanuatu and New Zealand before setting out to lead protests against French nuclear weapons testing at Moruroa.<\/p>\n\n

A team of French Government DGSE agents bombed SV Rainbow Warrior<\/em> while it was at Marsden Wharf in Auckland on 10 July 1985, sinking Greenpeace\u2019s flagship and killing Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira who was on board.<\/p>\n\n

\"Greenpeace
Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira who was killed when French DGSE agents bombed the Rainbow Warrior<\/em> in Auckland Harbour on 10 July 1985<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

It was an outrageous and cowardly attack designed to stop Greenpeace from sending the Rainbow Warrior <\/em>to lead a new campaign against the French Government\u2019s nuclear weapons testing programme at Moruroa Atoll in Te Ao Maohi\/French Polynesia.<\/p>\n\n

\"The
The Rainbow Warrior is in Marsden Wharf in Auckland Harbour after the bombing by French secret service agents.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

The attack shocked the entire country and was a defining moment in the life of the nation. Details about what happened after the bombing are set out in the timeline attached to this project and in the Making Waves<\/em> book.<\/p>\n\n

Two of the French DGSE bombers – Alain Mafart and Dominique Prieur – were arrested by NZ police 30 hours after the bombing, and charged with Fernando Pereira’s murder. They subsequently pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges and were sentenced on 22 November 1985 to ten years in prison.<\/p>\n\n

After a 1986 United Nations arbitration process the French Government agreed to pay $8.16 million in compensation to Greenpeace to replace the Rainbow Warrior<\/em>, and a much smaller compensation amount to Fernando Pereira’s wife, their two children, and his parents.<\/p>\n\n

The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior<\/em> in downtown Auckland is infamous for being the only time that a foreign government (supposedly an ally) has carried out a terrorist attack in New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n

In September 1985, Greenpeace sent MV Greenpeace<\/em> to protest against the French Government\u2019s nuclear testing programme at Moruroa Atoll alongside a flotilla of New Zealand protest boats including SV Vega, SV Alliance, SV Varangian<\/em>, and SV Breeze.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace continued to commemorate the anniversary of the 1985 bombing of the Rainbow Warrior<\/em>, and participated in the unveiling of a Rainbow Warrior<\/em> Memorial at Matauri Bay in Northland in 1990.<\/p>\n\n

Since the permanent memorial was unveiled there, more commemorative events have been held at Matauri Bay, including on the occasion of visits of SV Rainbow Warrior II there in 1995 and 2005, and SV Rainbow Warrior III there in 2013 and 2018.<\/p>\n\n

\"Unveiling
Unveiling the Rainbow Warrior memorial by Chris Booth at Matauri bay in Northland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"14
14 June 1995: Rev. Nuku Stewart of Matauri Bay and Greenpeace NZ Executive Director Ella Henry on board SV Rainbow Warrior II in Matauri Bay. Photo by Michael Szabo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

\n