Hundreds mobilized. Thousands disrupted. Dozens arrested. “This is only the Beginning,” say activists planning to blockade a major international mining conference to be held in Melbourne in late October. In the wake of Extinction Rebellion’s successful blockade of Princes Bridge last Saturday, IMARC activists are vowing to ramp up civil disobedience, pledging to push ahead with a “defiant, disruptive” shut-down of the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC), to be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from October 28.“We feel empowered by Extinction Rebellion’s recent successes,” said Emma Black, spokesperson for the Blockade IMARC Activist Alliance. “We’re confident that this is only the beginning. More and more young people are coming to the realization that those in power don’t represent their interests, and that radical tactics are necessary to combat climate change. We’re educating and training a whole new generation of climate rebels—including high school students, university students, graduates and young workers. We haven’t seen this level of radicalism and initiative amongst young people in decades. We’re confident that, come October 28, we are going to have the forces necessary to shut down IMARC’s congregation of climate criminals!”Jacob Andrewartha, also a spokesperson for Blockade IMARC, continued: “We send our support to the extinction rebellion protestors as they continue to escalate their civil disobedience. We also stand in solidarity with those arrested on Saturday and refuse to give in to the state’s recent crackdowns on climate protestors. We’re planning a massive, vibrant protest against the corporate climate criminals and mining company spin doctors who will be gathering at IMARC. We’ve only just started to get word out about this protest, and already we’re getting strong support from across the community. We’re going all out to make this blockade a massive display of solidarity against some of the most vicious companies on the planet.”
