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News :: Miscellaneous |
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CMI Critical Mass Bike Ride on 8/30 a Fun Success |
Current rating: 0 |
by Paul
Email: paul (nospam) mediageek.org (unverified!) |
01 Sep 2001
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Yesterday's ride was a fun success with about 30 riders and a lot of new faces. The next Critical-Mass ride is Friday, Sept. 28, 5:15 meeting at the Alma Mater. |
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Yesterday's ride was a fun success with about 30 riders and a lot of new faces. With any luck some of the new folks got themselves signed up to the mailing list.
The weather was beautiful and perfect for a bike ride, while traffic was relatively light for a Friday, perhaps because people cleared out early for the holiday weekend. Angry drivers were pretty scarce, aside from one incident. Going South on Neil Street, just South of Stadium Dr., an impatient motorist cut into the middle of the Mass, coming close to hitting at least one bicyclist, but then finding himself boxed in by the Mass. On that same stretch some jokers who appeared to be at the Verizon wireless store announced to the Mass over a loudspeaker for us to pull over. Some of us were briefly confused, looking for a police car, but quickly realized there was none.
Towards the end of the ride, going North on Lincoln Ave., Critical-Mass had the opportunity to meet sorority rush season in progress. A sea of identically white-t-shirted young ladies looked on in apparent confusion as the Critical Mass rode by.
A lot of publicity was put into action for this first ride of the new schoole year, with flyering, and announcements in the DI and the ISEN environmental mailing list. We hope that similar energy and momentum can go into September's ride.
While the Champaign-Urbana Critical Mass was relatively calm and free of harassment, our sister ride in Madison, WI was not quite so quiet. This report was posted to the Urbana-Champaign IMC site:
"Madison's Critical Mass bicycle ride ended this evening with the arrest of one rider, 'Martin,' who was cited & released. He was charged with "failure to obey an officer's signal" and "impeding traffic." The roughly fifty cyclists looking on argued that they had not been impeding traffic because they were traffic."
You can see pictures at the Madison IMC.
This arrest in Madison follows similar harassment that they experienced in their July ride.
THE NEXT CMI CRITICAL-MASS RIDE IS FRIDAY SEPT. 28, 5:15 @ THE ALMA MATER -- HOPE TO SEE ALL THE BICYCLISTS THERE! |
See also:
http://critical-mass.groogroo.com
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More info about Madison CM Ride and Arrest |
by Paul
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
01 Sep 2001
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As posted to Madison Indymedia (http://madison.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=951&group=webcast):
Friday evening, about 50 or 60 bicyclists met in downtown Madison at 5:30 pm for a once-monthly "critical mass" ride. The purpose of a critical mass cannot be distilled to one simple message, as each person has his or her own reasons for riding. Without leaders or hierarchy, a critical mass is organized only by the common goal to unite and move together in the street, for safety, protest, celebration, or all of the above. The group of riders changes from ride to ride, and anyone can put out the call to action. A critical mass ride is essentially a moment of self-governance in our public streets. Rides around the country have seen both fierce police repression and violent reactions from car drivers. Yet, from its origins in San Francisco in the early 1990's, critical mass has grown to be a vital component of worldwide direct actions against car culture.
Simply put, there are tainted people in Madison and around the world who have tasted the liberation of car-less streets. For whatever reason, they found themselves in a street that had been momentarily freed of car traffic…a street that was open and inviting and safe. There is no going back. A city without cars is a living city. A city dominated by cars is doomed to choke on itself. Critical mass dares to confront the car on its own terrain.
After gathering at the top of State Street, the mass circled the square to King Street, where they headed east down to Williamson Street. The group was full of different ages, with parents pulling kids in trailers and other kids on bikes. Many riders had spray-painted banners on their bags that read "One Less Car." It was a lovely afternoon of sun and cool winds. The ride continued east onto Atwood Avenue as far as the intersection with Cottage Grove Road when the group doubled back to return west on Atwood. The trip east had been pleasant, with little driver aggression, and no cops at all. Countless cars honked with smiling drivers raising fists and many people on the side of the road shouted and waved in support. Going back west to the Isthmus, this changed.
As we turned around on Atwood, the last biker stopped in his lane to hold traffic while the mass swung a 180. The driver in the car behind him revved her motor and nudged forward into his back wheel, jolting the biker in his saddle. I was right next to him as it happened, so I stopped to talk to the driver. I took a photo of her through her window and said, "You just hit him with your CAR!" or something like that. She rolled up her window and responded, "I really don't care," and looked calmly ahead. Then she got out her cell phone. This was when the tone of the ride changed for me.
Drivers on the return trip were less sympathetic, yelling and racing their engines, and they're probable the ones who called the police. According to officer #2408, we "upset people, and they're calling in droves to complain about this." And so, as we moved west in the late evening sun, the police found us. The first black car overtook us but it kept going; maybe it had more pressing business? Soon enough, a different striped cruiser slid into an intersection ahead of us. We rode around it. It followed with siren and lights. Somewhere near Fair Oaks and Atwood, another cruiser appeared in our lane, its lights spinning. We rode around it, too. Each cop we passed turned to follow in slow pursuit, with lights and sirens going. Somehow, we wove north, off Winnebago, along the Yahara River, across East Washington Avenue until we turned to go west on East Mifflin. There were three cruisers with lights and sirens on behind us this whole time.
We went one block on East Mifflin, when a single cruiser appeared ahead of us, alone in the intersection of North Baldwin and Mifflin. People in the mass yelled back and forth to just ride around, as we had done a few times that day. I was truly impressed by then that 50 or so middle class biker folks were so cavalier about the police sirens ordering us to comply. We were a good mass, sticking together and meeting the psychological hurdles of authority with glee. People whooped and barked in imitation of the annoying sirens, and we were ready to keep riding.
Just as we approached Baldwin Street, it fell apart. Five other cop cruisers blasted from out of view into their blockade position near the first. One rider in front got there ahead of the mass and was grabbed as he tried to ride between the cruisers to cross Baldwin. Arrested by officers with badge #2408 and #3093, he was pulled off his bike and handcuffed. Before we knew what had happened, an unmarked car lurched onto the yard to the right of us at the corner, and a plainclothes cop got out and held back the riders trying to skirt the knot of cops in the street. We stalled, they acted, and we were corralled. Someone started the "Whose streets? Our streets!" chant, and we huddled up as a group.
"Martin" was arrested sometime around 6:30pm and charged with "obstructing traffic" and "failure to obey an officer." The arrest was fairly peaceful: I didn't see pepper spray canisters on any of the cops, and they didn't force him to the ground to arrest him. He was put in a car and taken away, while the rest of us were still surrounded on the east side of the Baldwin/Mifflin intersection. I didn't see any cops with video cameras, which was just fine, but a little suspicious. They might have reacted differently if our crowd wasn't full of people taking pictures and video and audio. As we negotiated our departure and pressed for details about "Martin's" charges and detainment, the police engaged us with typical arguments about our safety and the laws behind the charge of obstructing traffic.
In my analysis, this logic falls short. The issue for the police is simply the control of the street. We took the streets, and they took it back with legal and physical intimidation. First, their claim to care about the normal flow of traffic is hollow. On Friday, and whenever the police get involved, they impede traffic. They slowed and blocked traffic on three blocks around us. Eight cop cars and at least 15 officers tied up the area for an hour. Second, their concern for our safety also rings false. Considering the statistics of traffic fatalities, if the cops were interested in our safety, they would cite the corporations who fill the public streets with speeding death machines. The auto industry levies heavy costs on both public health and budgets, but the police ignore the overall ambient risk we live in. Instead, they chase, corral and arrest bikers in order to keep us safe. Makes sense.
We were finally able to leave as a dispersed and single-file group. People drifted away in small clusters. As a mass, our power was absorbed and dissipated by the circle of police, the arrest, the boring explanations, and the lack of real dialogue with those who govern. Some went back to the Square, but most went their separate ways. But despite the frustration of being coerced and cornered by misguided cops, I loved this ride. I felt the joy that keeps me coming back for more.
This stuff is full of tricky questions. Did we actually make enemies today? Did some middling car drivers decide to hate all bikes because of the inconvenience we forced upon them? Did we do more harm than good for the ultimate acceptance of bikes? Maybe so. Protest is a confusing thing. Critical Mass or critical mess? Critical mass is both confrontational and celebratory. It is both chaotic and cohesive. It is both effective and sort of like shouting at a wall. In the end, I don't know why anyone else does this stuff. For me, I go to the street every day with my bike because I want nothing less than to see cars come to a dead stop. Car culture is death culture. Critical Mass.
Attempt Made to Arrest All CM Riders
by Martin 7:50am Sat Sep 1 '01
phone: 608.213.6345 tofubicycle (at) yahoo.com
First off, very nice piece. I think it very adiquately represents the evening's events.
I was the arrested rider. There is one extra thing I would like to add:
While I was in the squad car I could of course hear the radio. A male Officer -I think my arresting Officer- asked permission not once but twice to bring a Metro buss down to the scene and arrest the entire Mass on a "1019" (traffic violation?). His request was denied. He then requested to get a camera down on the scene to "I.D. people". I did not hear whether or not this request was actually denied over the radio but I am told by the riders who remained at the scene that no photos of any riders were taken.
Keep riding.
-Martin
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