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Rainbow Warrior music festival

A programme for the Rainbow Warrior music festival held at Auckland's Mt Smart Stadium on 5 April 1986. The event highlighted the sinking of the Greenpeace protest ship Rainbow Warrior by French agents in Waitemata Harbour on 10 July the previous year. The audience shot shows Auckland reggae group Herbs, whose early records carried strongly political messages about race, identity and the environment. The festival attracted an international bill including Neil Young, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash, while Split Enz reformed specially for the event.

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Images: Fran McGowan collection. Not to be used without permission

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Rainbow Warrior sunk in Auckland harbour

The Greenpeace ship was torn apart by two bombs planted by French secret agents. A Portuguese crew member, Fernando Pereira, was killed.

The Rainbow Warrior had been involved in protests over French nuclear testing in the Pacific. French Secret Service (DGSE) agents were sent to prevent it leaving for another protest campaign at Mururoa Atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago. Following the attack, two DGSE officers, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were arrested on 24 July.

Both were charged with murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. The case caused the French government considerable embarrassment. While the attack was on an international organisation and not New Zealand as such, most Kiwis did not make this distinction. The fact that it was carried out on New Zealand territory by a supposedly friendly nation caused outrage and seriously compromised relations between New Zealand and France.

Image: Rainbow Warrior after the bomb attack

Rainbow Warrior after the bombing

The Rainbow Warrior after the bombing.

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Photograph copyright to Greenpeace

Photographer: John Miller

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Sound clip: sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

Hear radio coverage of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.

Transcript

Man: Somebody blew up our boat. They ripped her guts out and killed one of our crew. I feel like someone had ripped some of my guts out in the process. I and the rest of Greenpeace will not rest until she or her successor is sailing again.

Second man: Well I just lost a good friend, and now I have to go to the morgue to identify him, so I guess that says it.

Female announcer: Explosions rang out from the 40-metre ship at around midnight and the crew scrambled to get off the vessel to safety as she began going under, but one crew member was caught below decks, and police recovered his body this morning. Stunned Greenpeace people say the vessel was priceless, but right now they are still mourning for their dead colleague who went down with the vessel.

Man: All we know is that between the first and second explosions he went back on board, presumably to retrieve his camera gear, and he never made it out.

Male announcer : Rainbow Warrior didn't go to a warrior's death; she sank in her sleep just after midnight, tied up at an Auckland wharf. It's a tragic end to what was probably the world's number one peace vessel, small as she was. In recent months, Rainbow Warrior has plied from Pacific island to Pacific island, moving people from the ravages of the troubled years we live in. What blew her up and killed a man of peace?

Man: I'd say half of the world leaders of Greenpeace are in New Zealand at the moment.

Interviewer: So the one big question mark in your mind at the moment is?

Man: Is, what happened on the boat last night? Is it an accident, or was it not an accident?

'Rainbow Warrior sunk' (1985), 1980s compilation disk

Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Reference no: COMP 3, 1985, tk6

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Rainbow Warrior memorial

The Rainbow Warrior memorial at Matauri Bay, Northland was created by sculptor Chris Booth between 1988 and 1990. It was commissioned by Ngati Kura and New Zealand China Clays to commemorate the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by French agents in 1985.

Credit:

Photo copyright Jonathan Clark

Wreck of the Rainbow Warrior

On 12 December 1987, two years after it was blown up in Auckland Harbour, the Rainbow Warrior was scuttled to become a dive site. The boat was sunk off Matauri Bay, quite close to the Cavalli Islands.

Credit:

Photograph copyright to Ian Skipworth

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Sinking the Rainbow Warrior - nuclear-free New Zealand

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

Hear reaction to the bombing (250k).

This clip requires Flash Player 7 or higher. Download latest version of Flash Player.

Read the transcript of this file.
Ref:COMP 3, 1985, tk6
Copyright Sound Archives

In 1985 New Zealand was basking in its position as leader of the anti-nuclear movement. As a country it had clearly punched above its weight. Then, just before midnight on the evening of 10 July two explosions ripped through the hull of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, which was moored at Marsden Wharf in Auckland. A Portuguese crew member, Fernando Pereira, was killed in the explosions. The Rainbow Warrior had been involved in protests over French nuclear testing in the Pacific. French Secret Service (DGSE) agents were sent to prevent it leaving for another protest campaign at Mururoa Atoll.

Rainbow Warrior after the attack

Two DGSE officers, Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart, were arrested on 24 July. Having been charged with murder, both pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. The case was a source of considerable embarrassment to the French government. While the attack was on an international organisation and not the New Zealand nation as such, most New Zealanders did not make such a distinction. The fact that the attack was carried out on New Zealand territory by a supposed friend produced a sense of outrage and a serious deterioration in relations between New Zealand and France.

Greenpeace

Greenpeace is an international environmental organisation founded in Canada in 1971. It is well known for its campaigns to stop nuclear testing and whaling, as well as its stand on other environmental issues such as bottom trawling, global warming, ancient forest destruction and genetic engineering. The organisation's official mission statement says that:

'Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force solutions for a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace's goal is to ensure the ability of the earth to nurture life in all its diversity.'

France used its influence to threaten New Zealand's access to the important European Economic Community market, and New Zealand exports to France were boycotted. New Zealanders reacted in a similar manner to French imports. Eventually, both countries agreed to allow the United Nations to mediate a settlement.

Almost a year after the bombing, on 8 July 1986, United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced, in a binding decision, that New Zealand would receive an apology and compensation of $13 million from France. France was also ordered not to interfere with New Zealand's trade negotiations.

Dominique Prieur and Alain Mafart were to serve their sentences in full on Hao Atoll in French Polynesia. In what was considered to be the final insult, both were released early: Alain Marfart returned to France because of 'illness' in 1987, while Dominique Prieur was repatriated in May 1988 because she was pregnant. Both were honoured, decorated and promoted upon their return home.

This incident did much to promote what was described as New Zealand's 'silent war of independence' and was central to an upsurge in New Zealand nationalism. There was a sense of having to 'go it alone' as traditional allies such as the United States and Britain sat on their hands while France worked to block New Zealand exports. The failure of Britain and the United States to condemn this act of terrorism hardened support for a more independent foreign policy line.

In September 2006 the agent who placed the bomb was named as Gerard Royal by his brother, Antoine. Their sister, Segolene Royal, was an unsuccessful Socialist candidate in the 2007 French presidential elections.