July 10, 2015
Rainbow Warrior anniversary marked with celebration of protest
A former Rainbow Warrior crew member says the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Greenpeace flagship is a reminder of the need to stand up and speak out.
The ship, which was protesting nuclear testing in the Pacific, was blown up in Auckland Harbour by French agents on July 10, 1985.
A photographer, Fernando Pereira, was killed.
Greenpeace New Zealand head Bunny McDiarmid says an exhibition of protest photographs opening today at the Cloud, near where the Rainbow Warrior had been moored, is a way to remember the work of Mr Pereira and others who challenge power.
"Governments haven’t stopped trying to suppress dissent or to shut down voices of protest. Some still do it violently but some governments even like our own will use legislation and regulation to curb the voice of dissent and I think it’s important if we want to have a healthy society and make it something we the people want, then we have to stay active and stay standing up for what we really want," she says.
The exhibition also features images by Gil Hanley, John Miller and Jos Wheeler of anti-nuclear, Bastion Point and Springok Tour protests.
On Sunday, Greenpeace will be host an open workshop at the Cloud on the tactics, thinking and training it and others have employed before and during high profile protests.
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