From: Greenpeace Vessel SV Rainbow Warrior
Date: Tuesday 4-JUL-95 09:24:24 GMT
Subject: internet diary

Another barbeque aboard this evening, the second of teh voyage. As today has been one of getting down to final preparations and our appointment at Moruroa draws near, there is a fealling amongst the crew that this may be possibly our last "social" event together. if we look to past experience as a guide, almost the crew crew were deported in 1992 when the Rainbow Warrior went to Moruroa, spread around the four corners of the earth! That was for breaking the 12 mile exclusion zone just to collect plankton and coral samples to check levels of radioactivity. This time, we are on a voyage of protest; the moral issue is clear: the world no longer wants nuclear weapons.

News from France: former President Mitterrand has condemned Chirac's decision to resume testing. He too declares that it is time the nuclear arms race ended. Why cannot you understand that too, Mon. Chirac?

Alice (Richard) Leney

From: Greenpeace Vessel SV Rainbow Warrior
Date: Tuesday 4-JUL-95 09:24:24 GMT
Subject: Campaign update

The news that former President Mitterrand has publicly condemned - for the first time since the announcement on June 13 - the decision by President Chirac to resume nuclear testing is a boost. It seems a green light is being given to the Socialist Party in opposition to really move on this issue. Already, the Socialists have endorsed the public campaign by Pacific region countries to change Chirac's mind, saying they disagree with Chirac's remarks that such opposition from the Pacific is "irrational".

It also clearly shows that the old bi-partisan elite consensus on the need for nuclear testing and deterrence is falling apart. Mitterrand not only condemned testing, but said it was time to end the nuclear arms race. Hopefully this could signal a growing debate in France about the role and purpose of nuclear weapons and the need for nuclear disarmament, not the development of new nuclear weapons systems.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace Italy staged a very dramatic action at the French Embassy in Rome, with a famous Italian rock star joining five climbers on the balcony of the embassy to protest nuclear testing. The protest joins a long list of ones done or planned world-wide, building up as we approach the 10th anniversary of the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior and July 14th - Bastille Day.

Stephanie Mills 4.6.95.