In 1985, as a young environmentalist, one of the first campaigns I was involved in was as a deckhand on the Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior. Little did I know that my job would involve relocating an entire community of 350 people and all their belongings away from their contaminated island to a safer place.
Rongelap, in the Marshall Islands, was their home for generations. But in 1954 radioactive fallout from Castle Bravo, the U.S. government’s largest ever nuclear weapons test, rendered the island completely uninhabitable. While the people of Rongelap were initially evacuated after the blast, they were relocated back three years later, and for decades, suffered a litany of serious health problems. Meanwhile, the U.S. military used them as an “opportunity” to study what radiation did to people, under what became known as “Project 4.1.”
Twenty-eight years later, in May 1985, with health problems continuing and pleas going unanswered, the Rongelap people had had enough of the false assurances from the United States that their islands were safe and instead asked Greenpeace to help them move. We said yes.
The U.S. was not in favor of this move and tried to silence the Rongelap leadership, saying that Greenpeace was manipulating them for their own anti-nuclear agenda. But the decision of the Rongelap community to rescue themselves resulted in an independent radiation assessment of their islands being undertaken, which confirmed their worst fears – their home was not a safe place to live, raise their children, or feed themselves.
Today, 40 years since that evacuation occurred, the people of Rongelap are still unable to return, but they celebrate the very painful decision they made to leave and the bond they have with Greenpeace.
After “Operation Exodus,” as the relocation came to be known, the Rainbow Warrior’s next stop was New Zealand. There we joined a flotilla of local boats sailing to protest the French government’s Pacific nuclear testing in French Polynesia.
Again, an attempt was made to silence those speaking out. On July 10, 1985, French secret service agents sank the Warrior in the middle of the night, while at berth and with crew on board. Fernando Periera, our Greenpeace photographer who documented the historic event in Rongelap, went to secure camera equipment when the first bomb went off, but when the second bomb detonated at the stern Periera drowned as the rush of seawater sank the ship.
Evidence of sabotage by the French secret service mounted, and the French government vigorously orchestrated a campaign of misinformation – France was the victim, and the aggressor was none other than Greenpeace, a foreign organization probably manipulated by enemy interests. The push was momentarily effective, and the French office of Greenpeace was forced to close in 1987, only to reopen after two years.
But the tragedy of the bombing and the exposure of the French secret service, who were acting with the approval of then-President Francois Mitterrand, led to an increased global support for an end to testing. French nuclear testing eventually ceased in January 1996.
Today, Greenpeace is again the target of an attack on freedom of speech and peaceful protest. In March this year, Greenpeace in the United States and Greenpeace International were found liable for more than $660 million for allegedly instigating the years-long protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline. Since the beginning, when Energy Transfer proposed the pipeline, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, along with other Sioux Nations, raised the alarm about damage to sacred sites and water supplies. Greenpeace USA received a request from the Indigenous community to help their activists conduct trainings in de-escalation and non-violence in order to protect their land from pollution. Again, we said yes.
But this time, instead of a bomb, we were hit with a SLAPP – a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, a legal tactic to bury nonprofits and activists in legal fees, push them toward bankruptcy, and ultimately silence dissent. Despite deep injustice in the trial, including that seven of the 11 people in the jury had ties to the fossil fuel industry, we were beaten down by bullies and falsehoods.
Too often I have seen governments and companies try to silence, intimidate, and shut down the voices, communities, and organizations that are brave enough to stand up for justice and a better world. I have witnessed the shocking lengths that some of these governments and companies are prepared to go to. However, each time they take the wind out of our sails – sometimes literally – we, and many others rise.
The historical events in the Marshall Islands have led the Marshallese to be at the forefront of both banning nuclear weapons. They are also taking strong action on climate change – another legacy that they did not ask for. In the days following the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, two members of the public helped to tip off the police on whom they saw in the harbor that evening, leading to the arrest of the involved agents. The New Zealand public united in solidarity and donations poured in.
Brave are those who keep resisting even when the odds are against them, knowing that others will join in because they too must try. History shows us resistance is our power. History shows us that it is possible to move a people, a mountain, a world to a safer place. History shows us that bullies can be beaten. Together, we must try.