Immediately after murdering Fernando Pereira and blowing up Greenpeace’s ship the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, several of the French agents went on a ski holiday in New Zealand’s South Island to celebrate. 

Such was the contempt the French had for the Kiwis and the abilities of our police to pursue them. How wrong they were.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the French terrorist attack, Little Island Press has published a revised edition of Eyes of Fire first released in 1986. A new prologue by former prime minister Helen Clark and a preface by Greenpeace’s Bunny McDiarmid, along with an extensive postscript which bring us up to the present day, underline why the past is not dead; it’s with us right now.

Written by David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report, who spent 11 weeks on the final voyage of the Warrior, the book is the most remarkable piece of history I have read this year and one of those rare books that has the power to expand your mind and make your blood boil at the same time. I thought I knew a fair bit about the momentous events surrounding the attack – until I read Eyes of Fire.

Heroes of our age

This article is the first of two in which I  will explore themes that the book triggered for me.  It’s not a review – go and get your own copy right now!

The book covers the history of Greenpeace action – from fighting the dumping of nuclear and other toxic waste in European waters, the Arctic and the Pacific, voyages to link besieged communities across the oceans, through to their epic struggles to halt whaling and save endangered marine colonies from predation. The Rainbow Warrior’s very last voyage before the bombing was to evacuate the entire population of Rongelap in the Marshall Islands which had been exposed to US nuclear radiation for decades.

Neither secret nor intelligent – the French secret intelligence service

Jean-Luc Kister was the DGSE (Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure) agent who placed the two bombs that ripped a massive hole in the hull of the Rainbow Warrior on 10 July 1985.  The ship quickly sank,........

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