From "No Nukes" to "Stop Star Wars"
In 1971 a group of twelve American and Canadian activists
chartered a boat and sailed straight into the nuclear test site in
Amchitka Alaska. That famous voyage, thirty years ago, sparked an
international outcry against nuclear weapons and formed one of the
most influential watchdog groups, Greenpeace.
From that first action thirty years ago to the present nuclear
menace, "Star Wars", Greenpeace's disarmament campaign has
challenged the testing and proliferation of nuclear weapons in
every corner of the globe.
1971 - 1972
Within a year of the first Greenpeace voyage to the test site in
Amchitka, Alaska, the United States announces that it is canceling
further tests at Amchitka
April 1972 - 1974
Greenpeace undertakes a series of voyages to the French nuclear
test sites at Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls. French gendarmes
stormed the Greenpeace ship the Vega and beat crew member David
McTaggart. Outrage over this incident helps pressure the French
government into announcing that all further nuclear tests will be
conducted underground.
1982
The Greenpeace protest vessel Sirius is towed out of Leningrad
after Greenpeace members release thousands of balloons and
distribute leaflets in the Russian city calling for the Soviet
Union to stop nuclear testing.
August 1983
Greenpeace's hot air balloon Trinity flies over the Berlin Wall
into East Germany carrying pleas for nuclear disarmament.
May 1985
Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior relocates the entire population
of the South Pacific island Rongelap. These people had been exposed
to radioactive fallout from U.S. nuclear testing in the region
during the 40s and 50s and were suffering high levels of cancer and
birth defects.
July 10, 1985
French secret service agents bomb the Rainbow Warrior while in
Auckland harbor, killing one crew member. The crew had been
planning to return to Moruroa and Fangataufa atolls to resume their
protest against French nuclear testing.
1986
Four teams of Greenpeace activists infiltrate the Nevada Test
Site and succeed in delaying the "MIGHTY OAK" nuclear tests for two
days.
1986 - 1993
Greenpeace activists participate in annual protests at the
Nevada Test Site involving 3,000 to 9,000 people that maintain
public awareness of nuclear testing and the continuing nuclear arms
race. In 1988 alone, over 14,000 people attend two demonstrations
at the test site with over 4,000 people arrested for non-violent
civil disobedience. In 1987, the Greenpeace balloon Trinity sailed
into the test site.
1991
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev initiates unilateral nuclear
testing moratorium.
1992
The Rainbow Warrior II returns to Moruroa atoll and is seized by
French forces. In April, Francois Mitterrand unexpectedly declares
a temporary moratorium on French tests pending the actions of the
other nuclear powers. Greenpeace activists stage non-violent direct
action in front of the White House calling on then-President George
Bush to initiate a U.S. moratorium. After a sustained national
grassroots lobbying campaign led by Greenpeace and other
disarmament groups, the United States Senate adopts the
"Hatfield-Exon-Mitchell" amendment that would effect a 9-month U.S.
testing moratorium: place strict conditions on any further U.S.
testing and require the president to complete CTBT negotiations by
September 1996.
September 23. 1992
The United States conducts its 1,030th and last nuclear
test.
July 9, 1995
Rainbow Warrior II sails toward Moruroa to protest French plans
to resume testing. The boat is boarded by a team of French Navy
commandos who lob tear gas, smash equipment and take the boat and
crew into custody. The incident comes nearly ten years to the day
French Secret Service agents blew up the original Rainbow Warrior
in Auckland harbor, New Zealand and fuels international outrage
against French testing.
September 6, 1995
France resumes nuclear tests in the South Pacific despite
international opposition and efforts by Greenpeace vessels to reach
the test zone. CTBT talks in Geneva end the year without producing
an agreement. The U.S. Energy Department announces plan to begin a
series of "subcritical" nuclear weapon tests at the Nevada Test
Site in 1996, prompting an immediate reaction from Greenpeace and a
grassroots campaign to cancel them.
January 27, 1996
France conducts its last nuclear test.
Summer 1996
The MV Greenpeace sails to Shanghai, China to urge the Chinese
government to stop nuclear testing and support the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty.
July 28, 1996
China conducts its 45th, and last, nuclear test.
September 24, 1996
After 51 years and 2,046 nuclear weapons test explosions at over
20 locations around the globe, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is
opened for signature at the U.N. in New York.
July, 2000
By sea and on land, from California to the Marshall Islands,
Greenpeace activists were on the "Star Wars" frontline, protesting
the third in a series of Missile Defense tests by the United
States.
2001
Greenpeace intensifies its Stop Star
Wars campaign throughout the world, including sending the Rainbow
Warrior back to the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific, a region
at the heart of the missile defense program. Other actions include
the blockading of NATO Headquarters in Brussels, extensive protests
during George Bush's first trip to Europe, and a two day occupation
of Menwith Hill in the U.K., a U.S. spy base earmarked for the Star
Wars program. A second Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise, sailed
on July 13th 2001 for Greenland to protest at another U.S. radar
facility crucial to the Star Wars system.