Last battle for Elaine Shaw

One of the Pacific’s quiet battlers finally met something she couldn’t

overcome. Greenpeace campaigner

Elaine Shaw died in October after an 18 month fight with cancer, The New Zealand mother of three had devoted most of her life to Greenpeace, She spent 10 years as a voluntary worker U°/ e b )eCO T! ng a paid em P lo y ee in 1985. One of her personal missions was to focus more of the organisation’s time and money on the Pacific. She was a strong advocate of iindigenous selfdetermination, something which brought her into conflict with the Greenpeace

International hierarchy.

tt D r o • nrHinator Rimnv ampaign coo dmator, Bunny McDiarmid believes aine was e rig person or the times.

“I’m not mythologising Elaine, be-

cause she was a stroppy person to work with,” says McDiarmid, “but she was very courageous. She had principles and was willing to stand up for them.”

Even in (he mid . |97o when Green . peace was a small organi ation focussed mainly on Europe and North America, Elaine was backing New Zealand visits by indigenous activists. She helped sponsor Kanak writer Dewe Gorodey a nd present Vanuatu Justice Minister, Donald Kalpokas, long before his party

became the independent government.

. . . ears °f her internal lobbying resulted in jhe Rainbow Warrior Pacific Cam paign of 1985. After evacuating the residents of Rongelap, in the Marshall Is ands> from 5 Vheir radiation contaminated atoll, the ship went on through Vanuatu to reach Auckland on

Auckland, killing one crew member.

Ironically, that tragedy has proven the

making of Greenpeace. Internationally,

it has more stature and money. In New Zealand, its membership has rocketed,

Today, Greenpeace has two ships sta

'‘°"e “. the f , PaC /' < ;’ “tnpa.gnmg on drlf ' net ln g> the Antarctic and French nu « lear J estl "g -w • b °™ b ' n g ? f d ? e Ral " bow Warrior devastated Elaine Shaw. ; It was

“TbU/ThJnUh, Til

M ,P d ' i„ dont thlnk she ever rea y recovere .

A lew months alter the bombing, Elaine left for six months aboard the

Greenpeace yacht, Vega, and then

quietly left the organisation. From the time she returned to New Zealand to fight the cancer, Elaine remained invaluable for advice and her extensive network of Pacific contacts. □