The Rainbow Warrior
The Rainbow Warrior is an undisputed icon. Synonymous with breaking boundaries and fearless campaigning, Greenpeace has sailed with the name Rainbow Warrior since 1978. Our current sailing ship has been patrolling the world’s oceans since 2011.
The Marshall Islands tour and 40 year celebration
At the invitation of the Marshallese community and government, the Rainbow Warrior is in the Pacific nation to celebrate 40 years since 1985’s Operation Exodus, and stand in support of their ongoing fight for nuclear justice, climate action, and self-determination. Our flagship vessel has returned to the Marshall Islands for a six-week mission around the Pacific nation to elevate calls for nuclear and climate justice; and support independent scientific research into the impacts of decades-long nuclear weapons testing by the US government.
Alongside the government of the Marshall Islands, Greenpeace will lead an independent scientific mission into the ongoing impacts of the US weapons testing program. Travelling across the country, Greenpeace will reaffirm its solidarity with the Marshallese people — now facing further harm and displacement from the climate crisis, and the emerging threat of deep sea mining in the Pacific.
This journey brings together science, storytelling, and activism to support the Marshallese movement for justice and recognition. Independent radiation experts and Greenpeace scientists will conduct crucial research across the atolls, providing much-needed data on remaining nuclear contamination. For decades, research on radiation levels has been controlled by the same government that conducted the nuclear tests, leaving many unanswered questions. This independent study will help support the Marshallese people in their ongoing legal battles for recognition, reparations, and justice.
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A defining moment in history: 40 years ago the Marshall Islands fought to protect their future… and defied the US
This is the story behind “Operation Exodus” – one Rainbow Warrior boat and an island community, versus a huge colonial power who discredited the act as “manipulation” for Greenpeace’s anti-nuclear agenda.
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Greenpeace activists disrupt industrial fishing operation ahead of UN Ocean Conference
“These longliners are industrial killing machines. Greenpeace Australia Pacific took peaceful and direct action to disrupt this attack on marine life.”
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Legacy of US nuclear weapons tests in the Marshall Islands created global radiation exposure: new study
Nearly seven decades since the US government ended nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands, a new study has revealed the impacts were far greater than what the US government has so far publicly acknowledged.
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Tracing radiation through the Marshall Islands: Reflections from a Greenpeace nuclear specialist
We’ve visited ground zero. Not once, but three times. But for generations, before these locations were designated as such, they were the ancestral home to the people of the Marshall Islands.
The Boat and the Bomb
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.