the hegemony of "non-violence" is bothersome.<br>the struggle we are engaged in has been violent for a long time, and it is lucky for us that we have the priviledge of choosing non-violence.<br>-Dan<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">
On 1/2/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">turtle</b> <<a href="mailto:turtle@zworg.com">turtle@zworg.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I see a number of things that the NYC Critical Mass community might want<br>to try, in an effort to help the situation of the antagonistic police.<br>They probably won't all will work, but I bet some combination would be<br>
really useful, and many of these may have already been tried:<br><br>- Asking the police to sit down to a public discussion about their<br>concerns, with CM participants, "Bicycle Safety Experts" from<br>Transportation Alternatives and/or LAB, and maybe some conflict
<br>negotiation folks invited to join them. This could be hosted by a<br>bicycle friendly politician or maybe a college or neutralish news<br>media.<br><br>- Making the CM ride into a true anarchy ride, where there is no
<br>seemingly organized group riding together, but rather a large number of<br>bicyclists riding all over a predertermined area (maybe a 10-block<br>radius?) seperately, each choosing his or her own start point, route,<br>
and end point.<br><br>- Asking the police to write out very specific directions for what they<br>would like bicyclists to do when riding, and then follow them to the<br>letter (creatively, of course). For example, ask ride participants to
<br>ride in single file... for 20 blocks straight.<br><br>- Get some mild mannered but popular VIP types - movie stars,<br>politicians, etc. - to ride with CM and to be "spokesmodels" for<br>responsible and fun biking. (Um... those undercover cops don't count!)
<br><br>- Encourage and sponsor intelligent, responsible, and fun bicycling<br>advocates to go to law school and become judges, DAs, politicians, and<br>other influential types to fix problems from the inside. (I know at
<br>least one very cool CM regular who went to law school, so it's not<br>impossible!)<br><br>- Invest in advocacy groups that seriously know how use PR and marketing<br>tactics to promote bicycling as a normal, healthy, fun, safe, and
<br>efficient transportation option to the general public. (Many groups<br>promote biking as "alternative" and rebellious, but this image hurts<br>us, physically and socially).<br><br>- More fun! Less seriousness! More goofy constumes, songs, laughing,
<br>decorated bikes, etc. (Perhaps used along with the non-organized-group<br>mass, so as to not provoke more complaints about "parading".)<br><br>Phew! That's a lot. Hopefully they are at least somewhat useful
<br>suggestions.<br><br>-Turtle<br>May the forks be with you!<br>_______________________________________________<br>Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br><a href="mailto:list@bostoncriticalmass.org">list@bostoncriticalmass.org
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