Apparently Greenpeace member Susi Newborn has passed away.
She was one of the crew of the original Rainbow Warrior.
Now, some ppl might not know the story of that first ship, but it leads to a much broader story.
Among the various actions the ship was used for was protesting against nuclear testing.
The French government had been doing this in the Pacific since 1966.
The Rainbow Warrior was also used to evacuate ppl from Rongelap to Mejato and Ebeye in 1985, as the entire place had become a radioactive unliveable hell due to intense US nuclear testing.
https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/victories/rongelap-the-exodus-project/
And many others were turned from paradises into hells. Including - but not limited to - decades earlier, the total destruction of Bokonijien, Aerokojlol, Nam in Bikini Atoll
https://www.bikiniatoll.com/facts.html
and Āllokļap by the US in Enewetak atoll.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elugelab
All of these areas were subjected to intense explosions and high radiation for decades, so many, there would not be enough room to cover it all, and the effects of which would be felt long after these events. The US would stop their Pacific testing in 1963, as a result of the Partial Test Ban Treaty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Proving_Grounds#Operation_Dominic_(1962)
Tho the US would continue testing within the US, with its own atrocities and consequences on people there, until 1992, due to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Julin
Britain's final nuclear test was also in the US. Nevada, 1991
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nuclear_testing_in_the_United_States#Testing
However, French nuclear tests continued in the Pacific.
In 1985, the Rainbow Warrior was in Aotearoa after protesting and monitoring further French nuclear tests.
Which is when French government agents committed a terrorist act that destroyed the Rainbow Warrior, which had 10 crew onboard at the time. One photographer, Fernando Pereira, was killed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior
Some of the agents were captured.
And the French government lied about it. And lied some more. And continued to lie, and threatened economic embargoes.
One French agent who was not captured, likely the ringleader, was Louis-Pierre Dillais, a businessman who would later sell Belgian arms to the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2007/may/25/usnews.france
Eventually, some damages were paid, including money to Pereira's wife, which don't bring the man back from this - and let's be real clear on this - terrorist act by the French government. One of many.
In the wake of atrocities committed by France, the US, and Britain, (In Australia https://www.sprep.org/attachments/2012SM23/english/officials/WP_9.3.4_Att.3_-_Summary_of_nuclear_testing_in_the_Pacific_Region_1946-1996.pdf and Kiritimati https://theconversation.com/the-atomic-history-of-kiritimati-a-tiny-island-where-humanity-realised-its-most-lethal-potential-114870) in the Pacific region in their absolute imperialist, colonial arrogance.
France would continue to bombard Pacific islands with nuclear weapons for another 11 years.
In all, the Pacific region suffered nearly 200 nuclear devices from France alone.
https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/nuclear-testing-french-polynesia-hina-cross/102585930
The French tests ended in 1996.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995%E2%80%9396_French_nuclear_tests
The consequences, still ongoing.
Because the powerful treated marginalised people as expendable.