This week in history – the Rainbow Warrior bombing as told to ABC’s Nightlife

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Journalist, media educator and author David Robie ... Rainbow Warrior bombing reflections after 33 years. Image: PMC
Journalist, media educator and author David Robie … Rainbow Warrior bombing reflections after 33 years. Image: PMC

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Pacific environmental and political journalist David Robie has recalled the bombing of the original Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior 33 years ago in an interview with host Sarah Macdonald on the ABC’s Nightlife “This Week in History” programme.

Dr Robie, now professor of journalism and director of the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology, wrote the 1986 book Eyes Of Fire: Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior that has been published in four countries and five editions.

LISTEN: Terrorism in Auckland in 1985

The 2015 edition of Eyes of Fire with the Rongelap evacuation on the cover. Image: LIP

He spoke of the humanitarian voyage of the Rainbow Warrior to Rongelap Atoll in the Marshall Islands to fetch the islanders to safety in a four-voyage relocation mission.

The Rongelap community had been ravaged by the fallout and the long-term health impact of US nuclear testing.

Dr Robie was awarded the 1985 Media Peace Prize by the NZ Peace Foundation for his coverage.

His reflections were broadcast in a 23-minute programme broadcast at the weekend marking the bombing by French secret agents on 10 July 1985.

David Robie’s cover story for the Fiji-based Islands Business magazine on the Rainbow Warrior bombing in the August edition 1985. Image: PMC

4 COMMENTS

  1. France attacked NZ plain and simple
    How many frenchmen are buried in NZ defending our country?
    How many NZers are buried in France defending their country?
    The last resting place for many NZ soldiers in a unworthy place

    • +100 ERIC, maybe we should exhume those Kiwis and bring them home, next time them frog eating bastards get invaded we will just wave.

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