Nuclear Free: Protest Photography by Gil Hanly

A selection of images relating to the nuclear free Pacific movement by documentary photographer Gil Hanly.

9 November - 11 May 2008
Pictorial Gallery
Free with entry donation

With skill and concern Gil covered the anti-nuclear activities of the 1980s. Gil was witness to many protests, often outside the US Consulate in Auckland or the hazardous efforts of the peace squadrons against the entry of nuclear submarines and warships into New Zealand ports.

This social movement for global nuclear disarmament and a nuclear-free Pacific eventually saw the enactment of New Zealand’s nuclear-free legislation and the revision of the ANZUS treaty.

Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior

The sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, codenamed Operation Satanic[1], was a special operation by the "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence services, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE), carried out on July 10, 1985. It aimed to sink the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior, while she was docked in the port of Auckland, New Zealand, to prevent her from interfering in a nuclear test in Moruroa.

Fernando Pereira, a photographer, drowned on the sinking ship. Two of the French agents were subsequently arrested by the New Zealand Police on passport fraud and immigration charges. Following questioning, they were subsequently charged with arson, conspiracy to commit arson, willful damage, and murder. As part of a plea bargain, they eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to ten years, just over two of which they served.

The ensuing scandal resulted in the resignation of the French Defence Minister Charles Hernu, and the subject became so touchy that it was not until twenty years afterward that the personal responsibility of French President François Mitterrand was officially admitted...read on.