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.Campaign leaders at headquarters later claimed that campaign leaders on the spot had disobeyed express orders not to take such risks, and had succumbed to pressure from journalists eager for ever more spectacular action and camera shots.They had themselves succumbed to the media hype, and thus fallen into their own trap.The internal dispute was indicative of a recurrent rift within the organization, between the proponents of “direct action” and of “solid organization” (Knappe, 1994).Whatever the case, the effectiveness of the protest campaign and its media coverage were vastly reduced for the remainder of the campaign.Greenpeace had overplayed its hand.It was now early September, and everyone in Europe and France had returned from the summer holidays.Greenpeace planned to have its smaller 80CHAPTER 4ships steam up the Seine river but they were blocked by the police.It planned another crowd demonstration to form a human chain straight through Paris, but this was prevented as well.Greenpeace tried to have representatives present 7 million protest signatures to the president, but he refused to see them.Most Frenchmen, opinion leaders, and media had somewhat contradictory feelings about the entire affair.On one hand, they felt that the resumption of tests at this point in time had not really been such a good idea.On the other hand, they also felt it was none of the business of all these foreign “do-gooders.” So local protests remained relatively timid.Emotions spilled over in an entirely different spot, however.In Papeete, the capital of Tahiti and the whole of French Polynesia, at 12 hundred kilometers from the testing grounds, an unprecedented group of 200 international journalists had gathered, representatives of the most influential media throughout the world.The local independence movement, which had only received 15% of the vote during previous elections, grabbed the occasion to vent its discontent with the blatant inequalities, the neocolonial situation, and the risks of radio-active pollution.It involved the Tavini Huira-atira party, headed by Oscar Temaru, and the A Tia i Mua trade union, headed by Hiro Tefaarere.Protest marches departed from various points on the island, and 2,000 to 3,000 militants converged on the capital.The first test was held on Tuesday, September 5.There was a shocked reaction by foreign dignitaries present in Tahiti.Among them was the Japanese minister of finance, who labeled it “madness” and attributed “diaboli-cal instincts” to the French president.A protest strike had been called for the next day.Already at 7 a.m., dozens of militants converged on the airport.In the course of the morning, their number swelled to hundreds.The only direct connection to France, the Paris flight, was about to depart.A rumor made the rounds that nuclear engineers were on board, and/or the Gaullist politician, Gaston Flosse—the major power broker on the island.Demonstrators tried to get into the aircraft; when they failed to board, they blocked the runway with tree trunks, canoes, and later with trucks.The radio station of the independence movement called for calm, but instead drove more people to the airport.Riot police were mobilized, but their numbers were insufficient and they soon ran out of tear gas.Locals now barricaded access roads, reportedly armed not only with sticks, stones, and Molotov cocktails, but also with beer bottles and pacalolo (the local equivalent of marijuana).Cars in the parking lot were set afire.Violence spread to the main building.Windows were broken and luxury shops were plundered.Two people were seriously wounded, about a dozen less seriously, and some 50 people were arrested during the course of the day.At 7 p.m., several hundred paratroopers and legionairs were hurriedly flown in from Moruroa to take over the defense of the airport, while new FORMATION OF SYNERGY IN CROWDS81contingents of riot police departed from France.Meanwhile, unrest had spread to the town, where policemen soon lost control.Eight hundred demonstrators gathered in the town center, next to the office of the High Commissioner (the governor) and the building of the regional assembly.More windows were broken and more luxury shops were plundered or set afire.One journalist reported how he had seen local women quietly filling their shopping bags at a perfume store, retreat as soon as police forces arrived, but return as soon as the police left again.Another journalist reported that he had seen looters walk away with sporting articles, fashion-able clothes, fancy jewelry or even complete hi-fi sets.The incidents continued until Thursday, when sufficient reinforcements finally arrived.Total damage was later estimated at more than 2 hundred million Francs, or more than $30 million dollars.Independence leader Temaru later claimed that the situation had gone out of control, and that the entire people had rebelled out of a sense of hu-miliation, frustration, and anger.But the French minister of overseas territories retorted that Temaru had been like the “sorcerer’s apprentice” who had lit the fuse and made arsonists, wreckers, and looters commit their hideous acts.According to the local strongman, Gaston Flosse (quoted in French papers such as Le Monde and Le Figaro), it had been Greenpeace, the international delegations, and the foreign media who had stirred the trouble.Yet order was soon restored again, and protesters abroad looked for other targets.Calls for a boycott of characteristically French goods resounded all over the world.The early Primeur of light Beaujolais wine was particularly vulnerable.Over previous years, its annual “release” by mid-November had been surrounded with ever more marketing hype.It had greatly benefited from this ostentatious “Frenchie” ritual, but now it was to pay the price for that close identification [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]