Greenpeace pioneer and activist Susi Newborn is among the “nuclear free heroes” featured in a video tribute premiered this week in an exhibition dedicated to a nuclear-free Pacific.

The week-long exhibition at Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Ellen Melville Centre, titled “Legends of the Pacific: Stories of a Nuclear-Free Moana 1975-1995,” closes tomorrow afternoon.

A segment dedicated to the Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) movement features Newborn making a passionate speech about the legend of the “Warriors of the Rainbow” on the steps of the Auckland Museum in July 2023 just weeks before she died.

Newborn was an Aotearoa New Zealand author, documentary film-maker, environmental activist and a founding director of Greenpeace UK and co-founder of Greenpeace International.

She was an executive director of the New Zealand non-for-profit group Women in Film and Television.

Newborn was also one of the original crew members on the first Rainbow Warrior which was bombed in Auckland Harbour on 10 July 2025.

The ship’s successor, Rainbow Warrior III, a state-of-the-art environmental campaign ship, has been docked at Halsey Wharf this month for a memorial ceremony to honour the 40th anniversary of the loss of photographer Fernando Pereira and the ship, sabotaged by French secret agents.

Effective activists
In a tribute after her death, Greenpeace stalwart Rex Weyler wrote: “Susi Newborn [was] one of the most skilled and effective activists in Greenpeace’s 52-year history.”

“In 1977, when Susi arrived in Canada for her first Greenpeace action to protect infant harp seal pups in Newfoundland, she was already something of a legend,” Weyler wrote.

“Journalistic tradition would have me refer to her as ‘Newborn’, a name that rang with significance, but I can only think of her as Susi, the tough, smart activist from London.”

The half hour video collage, produced and directed by the Whānau Community Centre’s Nik Naidu, is titled Legends of a Nuclear-Free & Independent Pacific (NFIP).

Legends of a Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific.     Video: Talanoa TV

Among other activists featured in the video are NFIP academic Dr Marco de Jong; Presbyterian minister Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua; Professor Vijay Naidu, founding president of the Fiji Anti-Nuclear Group (FANG); Polynesian Panthers founder Will ‘Ilolahia; NFIP advocate Hilda Halkyard-Harawira (Ngāti Hauā, Te Rarawe); community educator and activist Del Abcede; retired media professor, journalist and advocate Dr David Robie; Anglican priest who founded the Peace Squadron, Reverend George Armstrong; and United Liberation Movement for West Papua vice-president Octo Mote, interviewed at the home of peace author and advocate Maire Leadbeater.

The video sound track is from Herbs’ famous French Letter about nuclear testing in the Pacific.

“It is so important to record our stories and history — especially for our children and future generations,” said video creator Nik Naidu.

“They need to hear the truth from our “legends” and “leaders”. Those who stood for justice and peace.

“The freedoms and benefits we all enjoy today are a direct result of the sacrifice and activism of these legends.”

The video has been one of the highlights of the “Legends” exhibition, created by Heather Devere, Del Abcede and David Robie of the Asia Pacific Media Network; Nik Naidu of the APMN as well as co-founder of the Whānau Community Hub; Antony Phillips and Tharron Bloomfield of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga; and Rachel Mario of the Auckland Rotuman Fellowship Group and Whānau Hub.

Support has also come from the Ellen Melville Centre (venue and promotion), Padet (for the video series), Pax Christi, Women’s International League for Peace Freedom (WILPF) Aotearoa, and the Quaker Peace Fund.

The exhibition was opened by Labour MP for Te Atatu and disarmament spokesperson Phil Twyford last Saturday.

The video collage and the individual video items can be seen on the Talanoa TV channel: https://www.youtube.com/@talanoatv

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

When advocates and defenders of a nuclear-free Pacific condemned the AUKUS military pact two years ago and warned New Zealand that the agreement would make the world “more dangerous”,  a key speaker was Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua.

He was among leading participants at a Nuclear-Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) movement teachers’ wānanga, which launched a petition against the pact with one of the “elders” among the activists, Hilda Halkyard-Harawira (Te Moana Nui a Kiwa), symbolically adding the first signature.

Speaking about the petition declaration in a ceremony on the steps of the Auckland Museum marking the 10 July 1985 bombing of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior, Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua explained that the AUKUS agreement was a military pact between Australia-UK-US that was centred on Canberra’s acquisition of nuclear propelled submarines.

Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua and the NFIP petition has been featured in a new video report by Nik Naidu as part of a “Legends of NFIP” series by Talanoa TV of the Whanau Community Centre and Hub.

• This and other videos will be screened at the “Legends of the Pacific: Stories of a Nuclear-Free Moana 1975-1995” exhibition this month at Ellen Melville Centre, which will be opened on Saturday, July 12 at 3pm, and open daily July 13-18, 9.30am to 4.30pm.
• The exhibition is organised by the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), Whānau Community Centre and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, a pioneering Ni-Vanuatu politician, has died.

Lini passed away at the Port Vila General Hospital on Sunday, according to local news media.

Lini was the first woman to be elected to the Vanuatu Parliament in 1987 as a member of the National United Party.

She went on to become the country’s first female minister in 1991 after being appointed as the Minister for Health and Rural Water Supplies. She held several ministerial portfolios until the late 1990s, serving three terms in Parliament.

While Health Minister, she helped to persuade the World Health Organisation to bring the question of the legality of nuclear weapons to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

She received the Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2005.

She was the sister of the late Father Walter Lini, who is regarded as the country’s founding father.

Chief of the Turaga nation
She was a chief of the Turaga nation of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu.

“On behalf of the government, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to the Lini family for the passing of late Motarilavoa Hilda Lini — one of the first to break through our male-dominated Parliament during those hey days,” the Vanuatu Ministry for the Prime Minister said in a statement today.

“She later championed many causes, including a Nuclear-Free Pacific. Rest in Peace soldier, for you have fought a great fight.

In a condolence message posted on Facebook, Vanuatu’s Speaker Stephen Dorrick Felix Ma Au Malfes said Lini was “a trailblazer who paved the way for women in leadership and politics in Vanuatu”.

“Her courage, dedication, and vision inspired many and have left an indelible mark on the history of our nation.

“As Vanuatu continues to grow and celebrate its independence, her story and contributions will forever be remembered and honoured. She has left behind a legacy filled with wisdom, strength, and cherished memories that we will carry with us always.”

A Vanuatu human rights women’s rights advocate, Anne Pakoa, said Lini was a “Pacific hero”.

‘Wise and humble leader’
“She was a woman of integrity, a prestigious, wise and yet very humble woman leader,” Pakoa wrote in a Facebook post.

Port Vila MP Marie Louise Milne, the third woman to represent the capital in Parliament after the late Lini and the late Maria Crowby, said “Lini was more than a leader”.

“She was a pioneer . . . serving our country with strength, dignity, and an unshakable commitment to justice and peace. She carried her chiefly title with pride, wisdom, and purpose, always serving with the voice of a true daughter of the land,” Milne said.

“I remember her powerful presence at the Independence Day flag-raising ceremonies, calling me ‘Marie Louise’ in her firm, commanding tone — a voice that resonated with leadership and care.”

“Though I am not in Port Vila to pay my last respects in person, I carry her memory with me in my heart, in my work, and in my prayers. My thoughts are with the Lini family and all who mourn this national loss.”

She said Lini’s legacy lives on in every woman who rises to serve, in every ni-Vanuatu who believes in justice and unity.

“She will forever remain a symbol of strength for Vanuatu and for all Melanesian women.”

Motarilavoa Hilda Lini will be buried in North Pentecost tomorrow.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Motarilavoa Hilda Lini, a pioneering Ni-Vanuatu politician, has died.

Lini passed away at the Port Vila General Hospital on Sunday, according to local news media.

Lini was the first woman to be elected to the Vanuatu Parliament in 1987 as a member of the National United Party.

She went on to become the country’s first female minister in 1991 after being appointed as the Minister for Health and Rural Water Supplies. She held several ministerial portfolios until the late 1990s, serving three terms in Parliament.

While Health Minister, she helped to persuade the World Health Organisation to bring the question of the legality of nuclear weapons to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

She received the Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2005.

She was the sister of the late Father Walter Lini, who is regarded as the country’s founding father.

Chief of the Turaga nation
She was a chief of the Turaga nation of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu.

“On behalf of the government, we wish to extend our deepest condolences to the Lini family for the passing of late Motarilavoa Hilda Lini — one of the first to break through our male-dominated Parliament during those hey days,” the Vanuatu Ministry for the Prime Minister said in a statement today.

“She later championed many causes, including a Nuclear-Free Pacific. Rest in Peace soldier, for you have fought a great fight.

In a condolence message posted on Facebook, Vanuatu’s Speaker Stephen Dorrick Felix Ma Au Malfes said Lini was “a trailblazer who paved the way for women in leadership and politics in Vanuatu”.

“Her courage, dedication, and vision inspired many and have left an indelible mark on the history of our nation.

“As Vanuatu continues to grow and celebrate its independence, her story and contributions will forever be remembered and honoured. She has left behind a legacy filled with wisdom, strength, and cherished memories that we will carry with us always.”

A Vanuatu human rights women’s rights advocate, Anne Pakoa, said Lini was a “Pacific hero”.

‘Wise and humble leader’
“She was a woman of integrity, a prestigious, wise and yet very humble woman leader,” Pakoa wrote in a Facebook post.

Port Vila MP Marie Louise Milne, the third woman to represent the capital in Parliament after the late Lini and the late Maria Crowby, said “Lini was more than a leader”.

“She was a pioneer . . . serving our country with strength, dignity, and an unshakable commitment to justice and peace. She carried her chiefly title with pride, wisdom, and purpose, always serving with the voice of a true daughter of the land,” Milne said.

“I remember her powerful presence at the Independence Day flag-raising ceremonies, calling me ‘Marie Louise’ in her firm, commanding tone — a voice that resonated with leadership and care.”

“Though I am not in Port Vila to pay my last respects in person, I carry her memory with me in my heart, in my work, and in my prayers. My thoughts are with the Lini family and all who mourn this national loss.”

She said Lini’s legacy lives on in every woman who rises to serve, in every ni-Vanuatu who believes in justice and unity.

“She will forever remain a symbol of strength for Vanuatu and for all Melanesian women.”

Motarilavoa Hilda Lini will be buried in North Pentecost tomorrow.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji recently lost Dr Meraia Taufa Vakatale, a monumental woman leader who broke many glass ceilings with her numerous firsts. As an educationalist, diplomat and politician, she profoundly impacted on the lives of tens of thousands in Fiji and the Pacific region, particularly young women in politics and anti-nuclear activists.

Dr Vakatale was Fiji’s first woman deputy prime minister, the first woman to be elected as a cabinet minister, the first female to be appointed as a deputy high commissioner, and the first Fijian woman principal of a secondary school in Fiji.

Dr Vakatale was also a fervent anti-nuclear activist. In 1995 she took a costly stand against her party and the then Sitiveni Rabuka government on renewed French nuclear testing on Moruroa Atoll in “French” Polynesia.

Joining a protest march against French testing led to her losing her cabinet position in the Rabuka-led government, in which she served as a member of the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) party.

She held the portfolio of Education, Science and Technology in two stints — from 1993 to 1995 and then, after being reinstated, from 1997 to 1999. In 1997, she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister.

In 2000, she resigned as President of the SVT party over the 2000 coup fallout.

She was a woman ahead of her time. Dedicated to her principles, she “paid it forward” to Pasifika generations by her fight to keep the Pacific a nuclear-free zone.

Idealism inspired thousands
Dr Taufa Vakatale’s spirited and unwavering determination, her activism, idealism and her principles inspired thousands of women and youth to fearlessly pursue their dreams.

The name Taufa Vakatale was first linked to the renowned all-girls Adi Cakobau School when she became a pioneer student there in 1948, aged 10 years. She was also the first female student at the all-male Queen Victoria School.

She completed her 6th form year at Suva Grammar School, where she became the first Fijian female to pass the NZ University Entrance. She entered the University of Auckland and in 1963 was the first Fijian woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree, privately funding her studies from her wages as a teacher in Fiji.

Taufa Vakatale went on to further studies in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1971. On return to Fiji, she became the first Fijian woman president of the Fiji YWCA and principal of her old school, the Adi Cakobau School.

The YWCA in Fiji was the driving force of the anti-nuclear protest movement in the early 1970s, while she was president.

In her time as an educator, Dr Vakatale disciplined fairly, understood her students, and entrusted them with positive goals for their future, instructing them to “leave the world better than we found it”.

She was respected and honoured. Her feats helped ease the students’ own steps, to bring to life the Adi Cakobau School motto.

Towering moral stature
Of petite and elegant frame, in moral stature Dr Vakatale towered above many. In diplomacy she served as Fiji’s Deputy High Commissioner to the UK in 1980, while single-handedly raising her daughter to become a lawyer.

The University of St Andrews in Scotland awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Letters for her contribution to the cause of Pacific women, while Fiji bestowed her with the Order of Fiji in 1996.

The extraordinary Dr Meraia Taufa Vakatale died on 24 June 2023, aged 84. She leaves behind her only daughter Alanieta Vakatale, three granddaughters, and many more following in her footsteps to leave this world a better place.

Thirty eight years on from the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and the adoption of the Pacific nuclear-free zone treaty, the Rarotonga Treaty, and with the imminent release of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant radioactive waste into the Pacific ocean, the leadership and sacrifices of Dr Vakatale must be hailed, and her life celebrated.

Asenaca Uluiviti is a community legal officer in Auckland. She has worked as a state solicitor in Fiji and at its diplomatic mission in the UN, and has served as chairperson of Fiji YMCA, and on the NZ board of Greenpeace. She went to the Adi Cakobau School. Sadhana Sen is regional communications adviser at the Development Policy Centre. Republished from the DevPolicy blog through a Creative Commons licence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji recently lost Dr Meraia Taufa Vakatale, a monumental woman leader who broke many glass ceilings with her numerous firsts. As an educationalist, diplomat and politician, she profoundly impacted on the lives of tens of thousands in Fiji and the Pacific region, particularly young women in politics and anti-nuclear activists.

Dr Vakatale was Fiji’s first woman deputy prime minister, the first woman to be elected as a cabinet minister, the first female to be appointed as a deputy high commissioner, and the first Fijian woman principal of a secondary school in Fiji.

Dr Vakatale was also a fervent anti-nuclear activist. In 1995 she took a costly stand against her party and the then Sitiveni Rabuka government on renewed French nuclear testing on Moruroa Atoll in “French” Polynesia.

Joining a protest march against French testing led to her losing her cabinet position in the Rabuka-led government, in which she served as a member of the Soqosoqo ni Vakavulewa ni Taukei (SVT) party.

She held the portfolio of Education, Science and Technology in two stints — from 1993 to 1995 and then, after being reinstated, from 1997 to 1999. In 1997, she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister.

In 2000, she resigned as President of the SVT party over the 2000 coup fallout.

She was a woman ahead of her time. Dedicated to her principles, she “paid it forward” to Pasifika generations by her fight to keep the Pacific a nuclear-free zone.

Idealism inspired thousands
Dr Taufa Vakatale’s spirited and unwavering determination, her activism, idealism and her principles inspired thousands of women and youth to fearlessly pursue their dreams.

The name Taufa Vakatale was first linked to the renowned all-girls Adi Cakobau School when she became a pioneer student there in 1948, aged 10 years. She was also the first female student at the all-male Queen Victoria School.

She completed her 6th form year at Suva Grammar School, where she became the first Fijian female to pass the NZ University Entrance. She entered the University of Auckland and in 1963 was the first Fijian woman to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree, privately funding her studies from her wages as a teacher in Fiji.

Taufa Vakatale went on to further studies in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1971. On return to Fiji, she became the first Fijian woman president of the Fiji YWCA and principal of her old school, the Adi Cakobau School.

The YWCA in Fiji was the driving force of the anti-nuclear protest movement in the early 1970s, while she was president.

In her time as an educator, Dr Vakatale disciplined fairly, understood her students, and entrusted them with positive goals for their future, instructing them to “leave the world better than we found it”.

She was respected and honoured. Her feats helped ease the students’ own steps, to bring to life the Adi Cakobau School motto.

Towering moral stature
Of petite and elegant frame, in moral stature Dr Vakatale towered above many. In diplomacy she served as Fiji’s Deputy High Commissioner to the UK in 1980, while single-handedly raising her daughter to become a lawyer.

The University of St Andrews in Scotland awarded her an Honorary Doctorate of Letters for her contribution to the cause of Pacific women, while Fiji bestowed her with the Order of Fiji in 1996.

The extraordinary Dr Meraia Taufa Vakatale died on 24 June 2023, aged 84. She leaves behind her only daughter Alanieta Vakatale, three granddaughters, and many more following in her footsteps to leave this world a better place.

Thirty eight years on from the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and the adoption of the Pacific nuclear-free zone treaty, the Rarotonga Treaty, and with the imminent release of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant radioactive waste into the Pacific ocean, the leadership and sacrifices of Dr Vakatale must be hailed, and her life celebrated.

Asenaca Uluiviti is a community legal officer in Auckland. She has worked as a state solicitor in Fiji and at its diplomatic mission in the UN, and has served as chairperson of Fiji YMCA, and on the NZ board of Greenpeace. She went to the Adi Cakobau School.

Sadhana Sen is regional communications adviser at the Development Policy Centre. Republished from the DevPolicy blog through a Creative Commons licence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz