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AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): Author David Robie and Little Island Press are soon releasing the fifth edition of the Eyes of Fire book, marking the 30th anniversary of the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.
Dr Robie, who was a journalist on board the ship in 1985, says his focus was on the humanitarian voyage to Rongelap Atoll and the new edition will put the bombing by French secret agents on 10 July 1985 into context.
“When I thought about it and planned what to do, I thought, well this is going to be quite an extraordinary thing,“ he says.
“So I planned the book right from the start."
Publishing director at Little Island Press Tony Murrow says an innovative microsite was launched this week and it is bridging the print and digital worlds.
"It’s all about connecting communities," he says.
“I think what we’ve seen with the 30 years that have passed since the Rainbow Warrior bombing, there’s a whole generation that doesn’t really know about this part of the Pacific, this episode in Pacific history."
Finding out more
French journalist Amelie David, who is now living in Auckland, wants to find out more about what the event means to the average New Zealander.
She says older generations of French people who live in Auckland know about the ship, but in her native France, it is a different story.
“Back in the country though I would not say it’s a big topic and it’s a big issue,” she says.
“I’ve been trying to talk to French newspapers about that and I didn’t get that many answers at the moment."
Through her work, David hopes to educate local French communities and encourage younger generations to learn about the incident.
The Eyes of Fire book wll be the third edition in New Zealand following editions in the United Kingdom and the United States.
This edition's digital component involves a collaboration between Little Island Press, AUT University journalism and television students, the Pacific Media Centre and Greenpeace.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
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