From: SV Rainbow Warrior http://www.greenpeace.org
Date: Monday 21st August 1995.
Subject: internet update
The Pacific is finally beginning to live up to its name; sea and wind are slowly subsiding to the conditions we know and love. While the South Pacific can have its hurricane rages, for the most part it is a pleasant, sunny place.
The people of the islands of the South Pacific are, for the most part, of a similar temperament. Their values are intensely human; their relationships with others genuine; and what counts is the person you are, not your position in life or the way you dress. These are the last people in the world who would have use for nuclear weapons, yet they have borne the brunt of the nuclear states' weapons tests for the past 50 years.
Still today, in the Marshall Islands, at Christmas Island in Kiribati, in Australia and in French Polynesia, the arrogance of those who seek power through the most abominable means ever conceived must be suffered. That such a gentle, peaceful part of the world should be subjected to the fancies of some of the most misguided - yet clever - minds on the planet would be farcical if the consequences were not so horrendous. All in the name of "civilisation". All in all, a rather strange idea if you look at some of the governments who claim to be civilised!
Still, soon the Pacific will really regain its peace, and the bombers will be sent on their way home. The power of the will of the world's people cannot be stopped by a tiny coterie of megalomaniacs - surely? If you agree, make sure they know: protests, letters, boycotts, whatever you thing best. Every little thing counts! (Editor's note--send an E-mail to the French and Chinese governments and let them know that their nuclear testing program are unacceptable!)
More later. --Alice (Richard) Leney, August 21 on board the Rainbow Warrior
We will be arriving in Tahiti tomorrow, will meet up with co- workers on the ground there and will hold a press conference at 11:30 to let everyone there know our plans.
The Greenpeace yacht Vega has just arrived off the 12-mile exclusion zone at Moruroa, to re-join the Danish vessel Bifrost which remains out there. The vessels are monitoring the situation at the test site, alert for any sign of an early nuclear test by the French at the atoll. Media reports have speculated that France might test earlier than the September timetable set by President Chirac, to ignore possible disruptions from an international flotilla of peace vessels which will arrive there in early September.
Meanwhile, between 25-30 vessels are en route to Moruroa, while a European flotilla plans to sail up the Seine to Paris, arriving on September 1st in solidarity with the Moruroa fleet.
In Tahiti, activists are preparing for a major demonstration on Saturday August 26th, which has been called by the main Protestant church, the Eglise Evangelique, and is supported by the coalition of anti-nuclear groups there, Te Ihutai No te Hau.
In further international protests against France's proposed testing programme, the head of UNESCO, Director General Federico Mayor, has criticised France and urged it to join a global moratorium. In Norway, anti-nuclear activists from the group Green Warriors, staged a protest outside the French Embassy, while the French cosmetics group Yves Rocher took out full page advertisements in Germany on August 19, declaring itself against nuclear testing.
In Australia, trade unions have widened their industrial action against services to French embassies and consulates to include the Chinese embassy, after last week's test. Meanwhile, New Zealand has lodged its case against France in the International Court of justice in the Hague, while French Greens protested against President Chirac outside his holiday retreat on the French Riviera yesterday.
More as we make our way to the test site.
--Steph