Pacific Media Watch newsdesk
On 10 July 1985 the Greenpeace flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, was sunk at an Auckland wharf.
Two French secret agents planted two limpet mines on the ship while it was berthed at Marsden wharf. The second explosion killed Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira when he got trapped on board while retrieving his cameras.
Author and academic David Robie, a recently retired journalism professor at AUT University, spent more than 10 weeks on board the ship as a journalist shortly before it was attacked, and wrote about his experience in the 1986 book Eyes of Fire.
- READ MORE: The Auckland event on Sunday mirroring the Mā’ohi Lives Matter rally in Pape’ete on July 17
- LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: The bombing of the Rainbow Warrior
- Eyes of Fire, by David Robie – the 30th anniversary book edition
In the Crimes NZ series of RNZ podcasts, the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior is described as the first act of state terrorism against New Zealand.
RNZ’s Jesse Mulligan talks to Dr Robie about the Rainbow Warrior, the humanitarian voyage to Rongelap to help islanders suffering from the legacy of US nuclear tests and his 1986 book Eyes of Fire (Little Island Press Ltd).
The interview was in 2020 to mark the 10 July 1985 date and has just been re-released by RNZ as a podcast.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
