The Rainbow Warrior

We welcome you this morning in remembering Fernando Pereira, who was killed in the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior on 10 July 1985 by French Government agents.

We remember Fernando and many others who can’t be here with us today. People who have given their energy, their creativity, and their time to defend nature and peace.

And we celebrate the strength of our movement, which in 1985 showed that you can’t sink a rainbow, and continues forty years on with resilience and persistence to work towards a green and peaceful world.

On the night of 10 July 1985, the blasts of two limpet mines placed by French secret agents sank a ship protesting against nuclear testing in the Pacific and took the life of onboard photographer Fernando Pereira.

This film captures the events leading up to the explosions, as well as the aftermath of what was deemed internationally to be a state-sponsored criminal act of sabotage. As details of the plot – implicating the highest level of the French government – were revealed, waves of outrage rippled across the globe. It fueled the debate about nuclear weapons testing which eventually culminated in the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in 1996.