The French nuclear testing programme in the South Pacific attracted worldwide condemnation, providing a rare opportunity for the independence movement in French Polynesia to reach the international stage. The Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement, formed in 1975, is a loose coalition of non-governmental organizations based in the region receiving financial support from the United States and Europe. This study brings together topics in international relations and contemporary politics. These include nuclear testing and non-proliferation, the aftermath of colonialism and the independence movement, and the wider ramifications affecting regional Pacific politics, the European Union, Australisia and the United States.