The island is an ever-changing landscape of news and current affairs and keeping up can be a challenge. In this four-part series we break down the key issues and celebrate some of the successes from the year that was 2024.
January
2024 started on a sad note for Waiheke, with the death of trailblazing environmentalist and Greenpeace UK co-founder Susi Newborn. She died peacefully in hospital on New Year’s Eve, aged 73, and tributes poured into Gulf News celebrating a woman who confronted whaling vessels in the Arctic and protested nuclear testing in the Pacific. It was Susi who secured the funding to buy the trawler that became the Rainbow Warrior in 1977, and she joined its crew to sail out of London for a series of missions that made international headlines, most shockingly when it was bombed and sunk by French intelligence in 1985. Susi remained a staunch advocate for grassroots action and expressed pride to be just one of an island full of “lunatics and activists”. Most recently she was front and centre with Protect Pūtiki, fighting for kororā during the Kennedy Point Marina development, and co-founding Stand With Palestine, Waiheke.
• Paul Mitchell
Full story in this week’s Gulf News……. On sale now
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