Green Peace Original Article
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Transcript of Green Peace Original Article
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8/2/2019 Green Peace Original Article
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Questions 1 to 7 are based on the following passage.
The passage below describes about Bob Hunter, the first President of Greenpeace, who changed the
whole world by going against the activities done by
One Monday morning in 1971, Bob Hunter walked into the Vancouver Sun newspaper office
we shared and told me what hed been up to the night before. It was in a church basement, hebegan, and related how he and a gang equally crazed activists at this meeting had decided to do
something about the US nuclear test due to take place at Amchitka, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
Hunter had come up with the idea of starting a committee called Dont Make a Wave, which
would sail to Alaska to block the explosion. He told us that as he had left the meeting, he had raised
his hand in that 1960s hippie mantra and said, Peace. A young social worker then replied, Make it
a green peace!
And so this young man became the first Greenpeace president by 1973, led its
transformation into what it is today: an international organization with a presence in 41 countries
and with more than 2.5 million members worldwide. Time magazine once named Hunter one of thetop environmental heroes of the 20
thcentury. He died in May 2005, only 63. He also changed the
world.
When we worked at the Vancouver Sun, I had been yearning for years for my own political
column. But these were anti-Vietnam, pro-pot years, so our managing editor decided he needed
someone who could explain and relate all of that to our readers. Thats how Hunter to his great
glee became the first counterculture columnist in all of Canada. I eventually got a slot where I
could do my dull political stuff, but meanwhile we became close friends, matching insult with insult.
Hunter and his crewmates didnt succeed in their first quest to stop the nuclear test at
Amchitka: their sagging 24-metre fishing boat which became the Greenpeace I was blocked by
the US coastguard from getting near the island, and the underground bomb was eventually
detonated. But the Vancouver Sun columnist on board filed a dispatch every day of the epic 45-day
journey.
Hunters daily reports made headlines across North America and, eventually, the world. In
the process, these early activists won the battle. Washington became aware of the power of the
symbolism of the Greenpeace, which now had a growing international following. Amchitka was
never again used as a nuclear test site.
However, while the US, along with Britain and the Soviet Union, had agreed to stop
atmospheric tests and to restrict and to restrict its explosions underground back in 1963, France and
China had not made such a commitment. France was doing nuclear tests above ground on islands in
the South Pacific, and in 1972 Greenpeace eco-warriors decided to try to put a stop to it. But French
warships surrounded their vessel, one coming in so close that it collided, causing so much damage
that they had to abandon the mission for that year.
In 1973, French commandos boarded the boat and beat the skipper so severely he was
partially blinded in one eye. One of the activist crew had photographed the incident and wad able to
smuggle the film ashore. News of the beating was reported around the world.
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8/2/2019 Green Peace Original Article
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In 1985, when French secret service agents blasted a hole in the side of the Rainbow Warrior
while it was berthed in Auckland harbour, Greenpeace photographer Fernando Pereira was killed.
The French eventually admitted to sanctioning the attack.
The Rainbow Warriors destruction ultimately helped turned the world against nuclear
testing. The birth of Greenpeace and its protests brought public attention to the hunting of whales,
as well as the dumping of toxic wastes into the oceans. Thanks to Hunters style of attracting
publicity Greenpeace tree-huggers blocked oil tankers, hung banners on New Yorks Statue of
Liberty and climbed Torontos CN Tower the world woke up.
Bob Hunter ended his journalism career though he readily confessed that he was a traitor
to his profession, since his writing was always opinionated doing a regular breakfast-time TV gig in
Toronto. On camera in his dressing gown, hed go through all the morning newspapers, explaining to
viewers the slant and distortion depending on each newspaper owners political persuasion.
When he lost his long fight against prostate cancer, his death didnt go unnoticed. It made
headlines in North America, Europe and Asia.
At his memorial service, nine speakers gave their tributes, including two of his children,
Conan and Emily, and Bobbi, his wife of 31 years. Dalton McGuinty, premier on Ontario, told those
gathered Hunter was a citizen of the world who altered history. The then Canadian Prime Minister
Paul Martin also sent his condolences. And Paul Watson, with whom Hunter faced down a sealing
ship on ice floes off Newfoundland, announced that a new ship dedicated to research and activist
campaign would be named Robert Lorne Hunterand to unending cheers that Bob is going back
to the sea.
Everyone leaving the service was handed a tiny seedling, accompanied by a note:
Embrace your friends
Love your family
Celebrate all life
And hug this tree
for me
Love, Bob
My little tree is flourishing, as are my memories of a lifelong friend whose idealism helped
change the entire world.