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On the 15 June 1990 67 members of the Melbourne Rainforest Action Group were arrested after occupying the yard of Timbersales, Victoria’s largest importer of South East Asian rainforest timber. Among their number was Bruno Manser, a Swiss activist who had lived with the Penan people of Sarawak, Malaysia and become a spokesperson for resistance to the destruction of their forest homes.

Following a speech from Manser 200 people clambered over Timbersales fence, many dressed in white ‘life-support’ or biohazard suits to symbolise the conditions humanity would face without rainforests. Coloured yarn symbolising the web of life was also woven around timber.

One week later MRAG carried out its thirteenth blockade of ships carrying rainforest imports on the Yarra with over 150 people present, 52 of whom were either swimming in the water or aboard kayaks and surfboards. The ship, the Carribean 1, was also blockaded in Bribane and Sydney. In all three ports the ship was made subject to bans by maritime unions, thereby slowing its discharge by a week.

To learn more about actions against rainforest logging visit- https://commonslibrary.org/australian-rainforest-action-groups-boycott-malaysian-rainforest-timber-1988-1994/

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