A scientific bang and a political whimper

Tahiti Letter

From Al Prince In Papeete

jHRANCE’S first nuclear test of the year went off with A a scientific bang, a positive fallout, a political whimper and an historical footnote. The “bang” was the explosion itself, France’s first underground nuclear test, which occurred on June 5 at the remote French Polynesia atoll of Fangataufa, 800 miles southeast of Tahiti.

The “positive fallout” was France’s almost immediate eagerness to announce the test’s success. The “political whimper was the half-hearted, for-the-record protests from other countries, notably Australia and New Zea land. And the historical footnote came 12 days later when one of the most dramatic protesters in the history of French nuclear testing—David McTaggart of the 1973 protesting yacht Greenpeace-3—won his suit against the French Navy.

Then when there was almost nothing more to say about the test, a Paris correspondent for Le Journal de Tahiti interviewed well-known volcano expert Haroun Fazieff, who had come here prior to the test at the invitation of French test officials to examine the Fanga taufa atoll. Although Tazieff said he is opposed to all such tests, he endorsed the test site to the extent of say ing that if he could choose the exact drilling place for the underground explosion he would not hesitate to put his house right over the blast site, as long as certain security measures were taken.

Asked if such security measures were taken at Fanga taufa on June 5, Tazieff said, “I think so and I hope so. But I wasn t there at H-hour. It is impossible to confirm in the absence of control by an independent scientific organisation”. Tazieff said he would certainly formed 10 PaFt ° f SUCh an organisation if one were / n t ™* e ’ 1 f? opposed to the continuation of mch tests , he said. “But if these must continue, 1 jvouldnt be better off hiding my face. If they can’t hem” PPCd ’ 11 W ° U dbe mUCh m ° re useful to control Thus, France entered the realm of underground South Pacific. As has occurred .mce the 1973 testing programme, Australia was the rst to announce this year’s initial blast. But France llknm on S l e i.T? h time in ending its news Jtlrthlf > u J GStS aS J lt announce d in Paris four days nl wl !} h ? d .u° pene £ ? new cha Pter in nuclear test- ? d t° f 4 he tradlt L onal “ no comment” following revious tests, French officials could hardly wait this ime to express how pleased they were with the first

mderground explosion.

, "I* was , a completely successful operation”, one ietall^f nt bn SPOk ff— H i n S3l f This was ex P an ded into Unmt I h officials and technicians of the French c Energy Commission returned to the atoll within reaped 3 from * the S'S radi ° a « ivi *

A LTHOUGH France is still not a signatory to the . nu clear test ban treaty, the lack of any serious international protest against this year’s initial blast seemed to put France in the “good guy” nuclear club along with the United States and the Soviet Union, who signed the treaty banning atmospheric tests, but still conduct underground nuclear explosions.

In Tahiti, it was difficult to find any interest in the in the past had always tried to beat La Depeche the story to the world, but only carried a “news flash” of one sentence on page one two days after the test, quoting unidentified unofficial sources as saying an explosion had occurred. Le Journal de Tahiti, which in the past had always tried to beat La Depeche with a story of each test, later claimed it knew of this year’s test at the same time as La Depeche. But Le Journal acted like it had not missed anything by not saying anything.

The local politicians, who normally condemn the tests, were off in Paris discussing the future of French Polynesia with French officials. Nevertheless, Tahiti’s French National Assembly Deputy, Francis Sanford, held a press conference in Paris, calling the bomb “dis gusting”. Sanford said it was disgusting the way the French Government conducted this year’s nuclear explosion at the very time when French Polynesia’s elected officials were in Paris for negotiations with the government.

But even Sanford’s comments sounded much the same as those • Australian, New Zealand, Japanese and other political leaders—protests for the record. There was oue exception, however. Fiji officials, once the most vocal opponents of French nuclear testing, did not say a word. If they did, it never got to Tahiti or to the international news media.

Little wonder then that Le Journal de Tahiti decided to poke some fun at the tests, running next to its inter- Xjew with *h e volcano expert a cartoon showing Tazieff’s house and the surrounding land, coconut trees intact, being blown skyward by the explosion. Tazieff is shown saying, “Didn’t I tell you that the atoll wouldn’t split!”

OUT in Paris, David McTaggart, who almost lost an eye protesting French nuclear testing in the South Pacific in 1973, was not poking fun at anyone. For the rugged Canadian yachtsman, it was the beginning of the end of two years of litigation when the Paris Civil tribunal ruled on June 17 that the French Navy was guilty, as charged by McTaggart, of ramming his ketch, Greenpeace-3, and that it must pay damages. A court appointed assessor will determine the amount of dam ages to be paid by the French Navy.

McTaggart, however, has not finished his litiga tion. There was a second, related charge of piracy.

But the court ruled itself incompetent, on the ground

that this is outside its jurisdiction, telling McTaggart that if he wants to pursue the matter he must apply to another French court, the Conseil d’Etat.

“They gave me a carrot”, McTaggart told the Inter national Herald Tribune over a mug of beer at a Paris sidewalk cafe the afternoon of the court’s ruling. But he later conceded that the court’s action might also be construed as half a loaf. As McTaggart sees it, the court’s assent on the ramming charge was inevitable, and therefore winning this point is a comparatively minor victory. As far as he is concerned, the big, un resolved issue is the “piracy” charge—the boarding in cident inside the Mururoa test zone area where McTaggart’s Greenpeace-3 was boarded by French sailors who removed the ketch from the blast zone and beat him so severely that his sight was permanently damaged. (The French Navy contends that McTaggart hurt his eye when he fell during a scuffle with the boarding party.) McTaggart’s bitterness toward his own government, the Canadian, was apparent following the court’s rul ing. He contended, in fact, that the Ottawa government acted “in collusion” with the Paris government in oust ing his 12-metre ketch from the nuclear testing zone.

If there was no collusion, he said, “then why hasn’t the Canadian Government protested vigorously to the French, as the Australian and New Zealand govern ments did?”

Looking to the future, McTaggart said he plans to

press his own case vigorously enough, this time “with Prime Minister Trudeau”, and demand that the Cana dian leader try a new approach—bypassing the French Foreign Ministry officials, whom he claims have a vested interested in the case and therefore cannot be trusted to follow an objective course.

Meanwhile, he said, the book he has written about the Greenpeace-3 episodes, which was published first in Canada, is now being translated into French, Spanish, Italian and German. With the proceeds of the book sales he hopes to be able to finance the next stage of litigation. If this proves insufficient, he said, his only alternative will be “to move to the level of skulduggery —for want of a better word—that’s been used against me”. McTaggart, 42, explained that he believes there is an international conspiracy to deceive the public about atomic weapons testing and that he is one of the victims of this conspiracy.

WORD reached Tahiti in June that the one-time French nuclear testing protest yacht Fri arrived in Tokyo with its peace mission aimed at convincing all the nuclear powers to stop all testing programmes.

Upon arriving in Japan, the weathered Fri persuaded Japanese officials to help in overhauling the yacht.

The next planned stop for the Fri is the People’s Re public of China. There has been no word received here yet whether the Fri has been granted permission to enter China.