Bike Club

The 99%

2011-11-09T11:27:00.000-08:00


A Bicycle Occupying La Défense

As of Monday, the Occupy Paris movement at La Défense had been reduced to a dozen or so people determined to camp in the cold & rain. Police raided a larger group on Saturday (11/5) and confiscated tents. Tents, along with cardboard, are among the items that police are banning from the area, though in the "General Assembly" meeting on Monday night, protestors voted to actively fight these prohibitions, which they assert are illegal.

The cardboard boxes may be the more important of the two because, though it can't keep protestors warm or dry, it can be used to do things like this:


"I am here because when I look ahead I see nothing."

It sounds better in French, but the statement is about the sustainability of the current economic and political system. Can we really go on like this?

In the background of the photo above are the steps leading to the entrance of La Grande Arche de la Défense, which houses the French ministries of Ecology, Sustainable Development, and Housing and Transportation.

So... all day long, the people who actually work for the government on these important issues walk past the protestors who-- to say the least-- are extremely dissatisfied with the current results of that work.

This is an interesting dichotomy. It's easy to see the protestors as... well... childish. The sharply dressed professionals that work inside the building are impressive in many ways. Obviously well-dressed, and presumably well-educated, they spend their hours working on these problems. It is also easy to imagine their attitudes towards the protestors who are camping outside their offices.

This is where the claims of "We are the 99%" become relevant. Outside, there are perhaps 50 to 100 people gathered at the protest and otherwise milling about it. But inside the impressive buildings that surround the plaza there are thousands of people. These people are busily working, or equally busy shopping. The McDonald's in the mall adjacent to the protest area is typically packed with 3x the number of protestors. In this context, the protestors are actually the 1%; the shoppers and business men & women are the 99%.

But that is not to say that the two groups have a conflict of interest-- at least not necessarily. Certainly the professionals working for the Ministère de l'Écologie, du Développement durable, des Transports et du Logement

are concerned about the environment. They work each day to address society's needs and problems. As for the shoppers, who knows what they think, but perhaps the urgency of these issues has been obscured by the spectacular sales on shiny & desirable retail merchandise.


Imagine how much you need this stuff!

The Occupation ofLa Défense provides a perfect context and opportunity for grass-roots politics to take root. But it's going to require that the 1% (of protestors) engage (and not alienate) the 99% of the population that are-- presumably-- living their lives quite comfortably.

Protest Signs Occupy a Car Advertisement

Some of that engagement is already taking place. The workers from the office buildings-- at least a few of them-- are stopping to read some of the protest signs as well as engage in the occasional conversation.

"Where resignation stops, Revolt begins".


"People first, Not Money"

"Imagine, Create, Think" 

"Peace is a virtue, a condition of the Spirit, a dispostion of goodwill, confidence, and Justice." (-Spinoza)

"There's no Planet B"

What makes your heart beat? What do you care about? What are your most cherished ideas & experiences? It's a question everyone can answer, but first it must be asked.

"And you? What makes your heart beat?"
(Please leave Your answer in the comments section!) 

"Vacation, My blood; A beautiful work of art; Life with my friends; Music..."


"My friends & family; Relationships with others; Maintaining human dignity; Looking for a job; My family; Animals..."

"Love; Coming home to France; That mankind still has ideas worth defending; The Diversity of conflicting ideas..."

Whether you are passionate about politics and the social issues of our times...

Or simply passionate...

... you are part of the 99%, and Bike Club salutes you.

Let's Roll!

Critical Mass & The Occupation

2011-11-07T03:53:00.000-08:00

Critical Mass San Francisco was (and is) a brilliant effort to reclaim public space for public use. Bike Club officially endorses this principle and therefore is in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement. There are 3 aspects of Critical Mass that helped make it become both popular and effective:

A) It's simple.

Though it is a form of "protest" and therefore a political action, Critical Mass simply says, "Let's ride bikes!"

B) It's fun.

Unlike many a dreary anti-war, anti-this, or anti-that protest, where the protestors are reduced to chanting slogans, listening to speeches, and otherwise dwelling on the grim state of affairs against which they feel themselves pitted, Critical Mass relies on, and draws energy from the inherent fun of riding a bicycle.

C) It's legal.

"Closed(except for business)."

Critical Mass is not technically a "protest". Each individual cyclist claims his/ her right to circulate on the public roadways like any other vehicle.

Obviously Critical Mass is about more than just riding bikes, but it always is just riding bikes. Bike Club would like to invite commentary and discussion on this issue, specifically as it relates to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Critical Mass is indeed crossing paths with the OWS movement, and a pretty good discussion got started here.

The Parisien version of Critical Mass (Vélorution) took to the streets on November 5th and eventually made its way to La Grande Esplanade de la Defense where the Parisien version of OWS movement had assembled. Upon arrival, however, the riot-gear glad functionaries of the state blocked the Critical Mass cyclists and declared that (for the time being) bicycles were not allowed in the area.

This prohibition appeared to be rather arbitrary and "un-legal". First, the prohibition seemed only to apply to cyclists who were part of the Vélorution group (though when this was pointed out, les Gendarmes kindly applied the same rule to children and others who were inclined to accept it at face value.

"Where do the Children Play?"

However, one member of our little group (either in an effort to push the issue, or in a sincere desire to go home) insisted on her right to walk her bicycle past the police line in order to reach the metro [subway] station on the other side of the plaza.

"Excusez moi, messieurs, mais il faut que je rentre!"

She was being blocked and was perhaps about to be arrested when a women appeared on the scene and declared-- adamently and clearly-- that the police had no Right to stop her. She declared, furthermore, that she was a lawyer, and produced an identity card which she brandished in front of the officers to great effect.

"Je suis avocat, monsieur."

A protracted and very interesting conversation ensued. First of all, the lawyer freed the cyclist from the hands of the police, who conceded to let her take her bike into the plaza and off she went. Secondly, the lawyer argued on behalf of the rest of us, continually asserting that there was no such law prohibiting bicycles in the area and-- when contradicted-- demanding a citation of the statute as well as the names of the officers responsible for giving the order. None of this information was provided, and the lawyer cited the failure to provide it as a separate, and perhaps more serious, violation of French law.

The question might well be asked... are we having fun yet?


Training in the "joys" of burning fossil-fuels begins early.

The answer (my friends) will be found in the streets of NYC, Oakland, CA and in cities around the world where concerned & interested citizens are engaging the Occupy movement in one way or another. But please add your comments, questions, and links below. Bike Club invites everyone... the more the merrier.

The end result of the confrontation with the powers-that-be, or as they say in French with effective brevity... Résultat: on advice of counsel we walked our bikes 1/2 mile down the plaza, locked them there, and hoofed it back to join the other Idignes.

A few footnotes:
1) There were 3 or 4 times as many people in the McDonald's adjacent to the Parisien OWS protest area as there were at the protest. Sad as that may or may not be (dependin' on the way you feel that you live) it certainly is a challenge to those of us who would like to see the forces of the "free market" better harnessed for the good of the 99%. Billions served, or billions and billions ill-served? A question again for both the streets and the comments section.

2) Unlike the event at Hotel de Ville (see previous post: 10/17) this "protest" was small and lacked vitality. There was a rumor that the initial encampment of Occupiers had already been busted up by the police earlier in the day. In any case, something was missing. More specifically, there were no drums or bongos; there was no PA system, nor was the "human mic" system employed.

3) The site for the Paris occupation was well-chosen. La Grande Esplanade de la Defense is an interesting location. It is on the outskirts of Paris and one of the few areas in Paris that looks nothing like Paris. The architecture is proudly and compellingly commercial and capitalist. It consists of a very large (public?) plaza ringed by impressive sky-scrapers. With it's commercial office space, shopping malls and industrial food outlets, like the NYSE, it is a veritable Belly of the Beast.

"A Velorutionaire Approaching La Defense on a custom built tall-bike"

Let's Roll.

Occupy Paris

2011-10-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Pretty good turn-out for the October 15th OWS solidarity protest in Paris; it seemed like about 2,000 people.

Though 2,000 is not so many compared to the 10,000+ estimated in Rome. But from what I understand, Italy's corruption runs much deeper and the economy there is in worse shape.

The French don't have it so bad, and actually what they already have would be an astonishing victory in the USA. Imagine if OWS movement were able to achieve:

5 weeks paid vacation for everyone
universal health-care for everyone
a 35-hour work week
free college/ university education for every student
$1000 per month minimum wage

Not too shabby. Still, the French (at least several thousand of them) are "indignant" about the system of multi-national banks & corporations whose power over national governments and whose control over the lives & aspirations of common citizens appears to be extreme.

The word for the French protestors is les idignes (the indignant), and the French language's preference for verbs turns this phrase easily into a call for action:


"Become Indignant"

Those who are in solidarity with the OWS movement are already indignant, and that's a lot of people around the world. But it is not everyone. Despite the claim "We are the 99%", much of that 99% is comprised of people who are not interested in "politics". They are not at all "indignant"; or they are more likely to become indignant about a traffic jam caused by protestors taking to the streets than they are by the oil industry or the public's lack of transportation options.

As vital as the gathering of indignes seemed, outside the protest area a larger number of people were contentedly shopping, dining, and driving their cars. Nice smiles on their faces and nice clothes on their bodies, what could possibly induce these folks to join a movement for a fundamental change in the system that provides them with comfortable lives?

The plight of those less fortunate perhaps? A few blocks from the Paris/ OccupyWallStreet protest, there was another, much smaller protest against whatever the French government is doing in the Ivory Coast.


"French Army Out of Africa!"

This protest consisted of a very small group of about 30 to 50 people, almost all of whom were black (French-African), holding signs and speaking about how the French government supports puppet dictators in the Ivory Coast for the benefit of French private businesses. I don't have any facts about this situation but of course there is a long history of Western/European exploitation and imperialism in Africa. Instead I would like to document and comment on the treatment of these protestors and the brief--but unfortunately tenuous--solidarity that united the two protests.

The Ivory Coast protest was in a very small park in the center of Paris called Chatelet. The OWS protest was a few blocks away, in front of L'Hotel de Ville. At some point during the announcements and soliloquies someone spoke about the protest happening at Chatelet, and there was a call for support because those protestors had been completely surrounded by the police. It significant to note that, at this point, there was no police presence at Hotel de Ville-- not a single officer.

At Chatelet, the small group of black protestors was indeed surrounded by riot police and nearly 100 more police were on the scene, most of them in full riot gear.

As the a contingent of the OWS protest arrived on the scene a stand-off developed. The riot police were encircling and detaining the (mostly) black protestors inside the park, while simultaneously maintaining a perimeter outside the park to keep out the (mostly) white OWS protestors. Again I note that while there was not a single officer present at the OWS/ Hotel de Ville protest, there were nearly 100 riot-police deployed to mangage the 30 or so Ivory Coast protestors.

There was a significant boost of joy inside the Ivory Coast protest as they saw the hundreds of (white) protestors arrive in support. Now the police were outnumbered. So there was 5 or 10 minutes of joy and solidarity.

But not for long. The police charged, and the protestors retreated. Retreated behind chants of "Police partous, Justice nul part!" (Police everywhere, justice nowhere), but retreated all the same. Fifty riot-police can indeed clear a couple hundred OWS protestors off a street. And the reasons they wanted to were apparent: 1) we were blocking traffic (automobile traffic is sacred... kind of like cows in India... though the police themselves had blocked traffic for nearly an hour prior to the arrival of the white protestors), and 2) they didn't want us to witness what was about to happen with the Ivory Coast protest.

What happened (we learned later that evening from a series of announcements back at the Hotel de Ville protest-- which continued late into the evening, without police present) was that several (I don't have an accurate number) of the Ivory Coast protestors ended up in the hospital. Fifty riot-cops can handle 200 white protestors, but 100 riot-cops couldn't peacefully arrest/ disperse a few dozen black people...? Perhaps the Ivory Coast protestors fought harder. I don't know, because, along with everyone else, I was chased from the area and so witnessed nothing.

That was as far as the solidarity went. An effort was made, but the (mostly) white protestors against the system of global capitalism which places inordinate power & wealth in the hands of the few could not see their way to doing anything more--on these streets at that hour-- for those living under dictators supported by that system.

Back at the Hotel de Ville, the crowd dwindled but the protest continued and the music began. We were comforted. We were happy. Highlights included the crowd locking arms and forming a giant circle and then dancing to a re-worked version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"...

Dans la jungle, terrible jungle (In the jungle, the awesome jungle)

La Bourse est morte ce soir (The stock-market is dead tonight

Et les hommes toujours en forme (And the people are still fine)

La Bourse est morte ce soir (The stock-market is dead tonight)

Y'a plus de monnaie, y'a plus de...* (There's no more money, there no more...)

*(Repeated multiple times to the tune of "Wimoweh o wimoweh")

There was also a version of "We Will Rock You" reworked as "I'm not paying the [financial industry's] debt"...

Je paie pas la dette/ C'est du rackett (I'm not paying the debt. It's a racket

Je veux une democratie honnete. I want an honest democracy)

Je paie pas, je paie pas... la dette! (I'm not paying, I'm not paying... the debt)

This part of the evening was intensely joyful... a few brief moments of celebration & imagining a world not obsessed with money was super delightful.

It was just really sad when the announcement came about the Ivory Coast protestors being in the hospital and we did nothing. We didn't even have a discussion about it. Some people wanted to, and others just wanted to keep dancing. The music was important, and while Bill Maher and PJ O'Rourke alike deride the bongo drumming at Zuccotti Park, Bike Club is officially calling for more drumming and people-gathering everywhere.

But if the protest is serious, why didn't we take action to support are fellow brothers & sisters?

The same reason mainstream/ majority of people don't take action... we were too busy and we were having fun. The majority of people, the 99% who are not indignant about either the system or the protest against it, are busy too.

Bike Club is all about the protest, mostly just because we want the streets back from the cars! We also want to dance to the bongo drums and listen to live music played for free because we aren't worried about having too much or too little money. Life--it turns out-- is short, and money-- as everyone knows-- does not bring happiness.

Everyone on TV is either for or against the OccupyWallStreet protests. But everyone in Bike Club knows that The Revolution will not be televised. So go for a walk and find your own Revolution.

"Fight the Power"

Or go for a bike ride and realize you are the Revolution!

"On the Dance Floor"

Let's Roll!

Love, Love, Love

2011-10-14T03:50:00.000-07:00

Dear OccupyWallStreet,

Bike Club loves you. Ride Safe! (but, in case of police-accident, remember that a central and essential component of Thoreau (and King's) philosophy of Civil Disobedience is a willingness to be arrested and to go to jail for the crimes of others. I know it sucks, but that's the deal.

Love, Bike Club.

I really loved coming across this during my Paris wanderings. It is such an important reminder: to really have a successful change in society, we must approach our opponents with Love. This was the genius and the marvel of Dr. King, who took many of his cues from Gandhi.

It is a struggle when the outrage runs so deep. For me it was a struggle even when the outrage was completely trivial. This week, I was taking pictures in Paris, and I was stopped by 2 officers of the National Police. They asked if I had taken a picture of them (I had) and informed me that it is "interdit" (forbidden) to take pictures of the police in France. (I don't think this is actually true, but I am still researching that).

I apologized, said I did not know that, and promised not to take any more pictures of them. It seemed like they were about to let me go, but I think I expressed some pride in the fact that in America, we have a Constitutionally protected Right to photograph police officers. So suddenly, one of the officers was insisting that I hand over my film.

I refused. I refused for about 10 minutes. I offered that they could arrest me. They refused, but continued to insist on my film. Then I imagined that I might actually be arrested, and perhaps have my visa revoked, so I decided to give in. I hated to do it. I'm an American, and for me America is not just a place, but it is a state of mind. I'm also stubborn and overly dramatic. So I really hated to give in. But I unloaded my camera and offered them the film.

Not good enough. The officer now insisted that I destroy it on the spot. Now, there was no way I was going to do that. You can win, but I am not going to participate in your abuse of power. I'm not going to "dig my own grave" (so to speak, but I don't want to lose sight of the triviality of this situation, as compared with the readily available examples throughout history where prisoners were indeed forced to dig their own graves).

But I refused of course, and now I seemed to have the upper-hand. They couldn't make me destroy my own film, which I was freely offering to give them.

This new stand off lasted another 20 minutes. They insisted I destroy the film; I continued to refuse. Somehow our conversation turned repeatedly to the USA. This is what made me think that it was my pride in being an American that was really bothering the officer, because she was also apparently bothered by the Wall St. protest: "Ce qui se passe là bas, je saisbien et ce n’est pas comme ça en France!" (I know very well what's going on over there and it's not like that in France).

But I knew very well that they knew very well that... technically, legally... they could not require me to destroy my film. And since they were also unwilling to confiscate it, I supposed they didn't even have the right to do that either.

After about 20 minutes of this stand off, I told them that I was going. They tried to detain me, but as I was offering them the film, they were in a predicament. Finally, the other officer decided that he would take the film. He said to her, in a hushed voice "Je le ferai" (I will do it). And so he took my film.

Again, a minor and trivial loss for me. But I am obsessed with principles, and the principle that I have a legal and civil Right to take photographs, and police officers have no right to destroy my property--even if I have broken a law--fills me with outrage.

So I could not resist a parting shot...

"Vous avez mon pellicule, maismoi, je suis libre, et vous… vous êtes emprisonné!" (You have my film, but I am free and you-- tapping my index finger to my temple-- you are imprisoned!)

Which was clever, and momentarily satisfying for me, especially since my French is not that good... but ultimately I am ashamed of my comment and my outrage.

I didn't change the officers' attitude or point of view. If anything, they are more convinced than ever that people like me are trouble-makers and need to be controlled by people like them. During our stand-off, there was a brief moment where I attempted to reach the officer on what could be called a "human" level. Some light words, some light questions... a look into the eyes with a smile. But in the end it was outrage... on both sides.

The ironic thing is the pictures I had taken. I had paused at the intersection to maybe catch some bicycles weaving their way through the traffic. The 2 officers were directing traffic. But I was amused by witnessing pedestrians, cyclists and even cars stop-- in the middle of the intersection-- to ask the officers for directions. The officers were happy to help. I was attempting to capture the image of 2 traffic officers, in the middle of the continual traffic jam of Paris, allowing drivers to stop and "chat" in the middle of the intersection. I was not only amused, but I was full of admiration. Cars tend to isolate people from each other, but that isolation was being broken down as drivers and officers engaged in brief exchanges.

Images lost forever and oh well. Good will lost too.

But I re-dedicate myself:

1) I will continue to take photographs in Paris. : )

2) I will eventually join the OccupyWallStreet movement, and instead of being "outraged" I will be full of Love.

Bike Is Love.

p.s. another note of irony: I think one of the few times Jesus did become outraged was when he threw the money-changers out of the temple.

Allons Enfants...! or: a Typical French School Day

2011-10-14T01:31:00.000-07:00

Allons enfants de la patrie...!

One of the best things about Paris is that it's crazy. There is always so much going on. Yesterday I headed out on my bike, with no particular destination or plan and immediately encountered a group of lycéens (high school students) who were protesting in the streets.

Their grievances were the same as those of their teachers the previous week-- over-crowded classrooms and a political program of de-funding public education resulting in poor learning conditions and lack of opportunity. Nice to see the French youth getting politically active.

The protest (or manifestion, "manif" in colloquial French) consisted of approximately 3 hundred students marching down the middle of a typically very busy Paris city-street. This manif appeared to be rather spontaneous and unorganized; still the police allowed it to proceed through the streets and even seemed to escort it through intersections.

What would happen in the US if 2 or 3 hundred high school kids left school and started walking down the middle of a busy street?

But the French police are still on the job. The students made their way to La Place de la Bastille, which they occupied briefly...

before assembling together on the steps of the Opera National de Paris (for some reason a popular rallying point for many protestors in Paris)...

A few moments later, and the teens were surrounded by police in full riot-gear:

Once surrounded, they were not permitted to leave. Of course the police were not able to sweep all of the students into this "pen" and also many others escaped it by jumping over the stairwell. Because I was hanging around observing (and snapping pictures), I too was initially swept into this detention area, but upon hearing my American accent and seeing that I was obviously not a teenager, they let me out.

Question: What legal authority allows police to detain people in a dragnet fashion? I was pleased to overhear two French teenagers discussing this:

Ils’ont mème pas le droît! Qu’est ce que c’est le loi?

C’est eux le loi.

(They don't even have the right! What is the law?)

(It's them, [they are] the law.)

There may very well be a French law that allows police to detain groups of people who have assembled in the streets or on the steps of opera houses. I simply don't know. Though in the US the 1st Amendment protects the right to assembly, police can arrest people for "disturbing the peace" or "parading without a permit" or... for blocking traffic.

As Americans we should understand Thoreau (and King) and-- if we have a grievance we wish the government to redress-- we should be willingly subject to arrest. The problem for the police is the question of mass arrests. It's a lot of work and takes a lot of time to arrest each individual, and even more work, time and effort to get relatively trivial convictions of individuals for things like "parading without a permit". So the police resort to tactics. ("Tactics, comrades, tactics!").

Police can make arrests, but can they simply resort to pepper spray, tear gas, and detention without arrest? (Insert link to Occupy Wall Street videos here) But in this Seattle manifestation of the Occupy Wall Street movement, someone can be heard challenging the police for a "court order" as they make an arrest. I don't really think police need to have court orders to make arrests, but the point is the same. The law governs everyone, including the police.

One obvious police tactic is fear. I was amazed during the WTO days (and then also the Bush/ Iraq war days) of the sheer fire-power of the Seattle police department. They arrived at anti-war protests with literally enough fire-power to shoot to death hundreds if not thousands of unarmed citizens. Of course they would never, right? And the French police too, very well "prepared" to deal with... rowdy teenagers...

As I observed the scene I had 2 thoughts... 1) as a teacher, should I be showing up to class dressed like this?... 2) as in Seattle, the "equipment" was so unnecessary that it must have a different purpose. I think the purpose is simply to inspire fear (evidently not effective in this case).

Coincidentally (?) there was also a group of French retirees holding a protest on the same spot. When the police surrounded the teenagers, I was very interested to see how the older generation would respond. There was a lot of discussion, most of which I didn't understand. And there was at least some yelling of support. The older folks stood around the police, keeping an eye on them and occasionally ribbing them (again, I couldn't understand the content of the jokes, only the gist... police in Paris are certainly less nervous than in the US, as they were not bothered by the dozens of people milling around close behind them). And there was some sporadic, and supportive chanting from the adults. Things like,"Libérez la jeunesse!" and "Libéreznos enfants!" (Free the youth! & Free our children!). But in the end, the old folks went their separate way (an organized, authorized protest march that the police escorted without their riot gear) and a plea for help from one of the youth leaders to a group of older folks fell flat.

A young protester pleas for help from the older generation. 

The police detained the students until the protest of the group of retirees officially began and marched off in another direction. I don't know if that was a technicality, tactic or pretext. As soon as the older folks were gone. The students were released in small groups of 5-6 (escorted by an equal number of police) and dispersed in different directions. I was curious to see if the students would simply Twitter & text their way back together again, but they did not appear to be either that organized or that dedicated.


The last of the student protestors waiting to be dispersed by the last of the police.

And so ended another day of school for these young French students. Meanwhile, about 300 meters away, down an adjacent street, an unrelated group of lycéens piled up garbage cans and barricades against the front gate of their school. I talked to one of them and he was unaware of the protest by his peers taking place down the street and did not describe the actions of his classmates as a manif (or protest) but only said they were misbehaving and added, "C'est pas normal." (It's not normal/ typical).

A "barricade" thrown against the front gate of the school.

Not normal, but as the saying goes... No justice, no peace.

Space Invaders

2011-10-07T01:56:00.000-07:00

I am assuming this is an authentic work by the French artist known as Space Invader:

Bike Clubbers, please note the adjacent bicycle road-sign. The white-bar in the red circle means "Do Not Enter", but the word "sauf" means "except for". In other words, cars are prohibited on this street (at least in that direction) but bicycles are allowed. This is fairly common in Paris where there are many one-way streets, but bicycles are given a special lane and allowed to travel in both directions.

To this particular sign, someone has added the words "Criterium Sauvage" in celebration of an annual bike race held in this neighborhood.

And so we return to the question of public space. Graffiti/ urban artists like Space Invader and Banksy use public space-- walls, buildings, sidewalks-- as a canvas for their work. Bicycle activists fight for a bigger piece of the roadways for bikes and an end to the monopoly on public space that cars have enjoyed for decades. I recently attended a Smartcity conference and heard that cars (either parked or moving) occupy 80% of the available public space in Paris.

A popular chant at protests in the U.S. is the rhetorically shouted question "Whose streets?!" to which the answer is a definitive "Our streets!". This is especially popular when the police attempt to clear, or keep clear the roadways so that traffic is not impeded by the political unrest.

It has been interesting for me to observe the cultural differences between the way the French conduct and manage protests (and strikes) and the way those things go down in the USA. For starters, in Paris there are protests and strikes pretty much every week. Here for example, are French teachers on strike last week:

The French word for strike is grève and the French exercise their right to strike like Americans exercise their freedom of speech. But a French strike is typically just a 1 day event. The workers do not "go on strike" until their demands are met; instead they simply strike for a day-- nothing changes, and they go back to work. At first this didn't make any sense to me. But I have come to appreciate it because workers are constantly en grève, and so constantly remind themselves, and their bosses, that they do have-- or can have-- collective power. Plus, it's kind of like saying, "Take your job, and your paycheck, and shove it!" And that's not a bad thing to say from time to time.

BTW-- On behalf of the working-poor, I would like thank all the "job creators" out there in the USA and around the world. Thank you so much, for creating so much work for other people to do. Without your benevolent efforts and you determination to... be rich... "we" would not be able to spend so much of our lives cleaning your homes, serving you your dinners, building and maintaining your yachts and luxury condominiums... Not to mention the tremendous environmental mess you have created for us (and our children) to clean up, or the millions of jobs in the security, police and military career-fields you have "created" for us so that we may protect you and ensure that our "appreciation" for your obscenely wealthy life-styles is kept at a safe distance from you. Really, thank you so much for creating all this work. Thank you so much for creating the conditions of our slavery. Without you, what would we do all day??

Allez les enfants!

The Arc of Triumph

2011-09-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ah, Napolean... you appreciated your soldiers, didn't you? After the battle of Austerlitz, Napolean praised his soldiers saying, "Vous ne rentrerez pas dans vos foyers que sous des arcs de Triomphe" (translation: You will not return to your doorsteps except under arcs of triumph). He was speaking figuratively, but since he meant what he said... Voici L'Arc de Triomphe:

It really is impressive. The photo does not do it justice. At ground level the view is more like this:

L'Arc de Triomphe is situated in the middle of La Place de L'Etoile, which is the hub of a dozen major avenues in Paris. So there is a constant swirl of traffic circulating around the Arc.

In celebration of World Car Free Day a band of bicycle enthusiasts planned to ride their bikes around the Arc (for an undetermined number of laps) and then to proceed en masse down the Champs-Élysées.

Et... non.

The bike ride-- we can also call it a "demonstration" but let's not call it a "protest"-- was immediately stopped by the police. Initially there were approximately 15 cyclists riding together. We made it 3/4 of a lap around the Arc and then were directed off to the side and surrounded by police. Other cyclists arriving late were also directed to dismount and join our little group, which eventually grew to about 30, perhaps 40.

An interesting discussion then ensued. To their great credit, the French police have several of their officers in plain, casual clothes. One especially friendly officer led the "negotiations" between the police and the cyclists. From the perspective of the police, our group was holding a demonstration, and therefore special rules/ laws applied. The cyclists maintained that they were simply circulating on the road like all the other vehicles, and thus had every right to do so. Some cyclists maintained that they were not part of any group, that they were simply on their way somewhere, and it was only by coincidence if there were other vehicles (bikes or cars) heading in the same direction.

This is why the bicycle is such an interesting form of protest. Bikes generally have all the same rights to the roadways as cars. The police would never think of stopping cars and asking them why they are driving around the Arc, where they are going, if they have any other friends in other cars, et cetera. And if push came to shove, I'm not sure what any individual cyclist could be charged or even ticketed for (assuming he/she obeys all the normal traffic codes).

But it doesn't matter. Police can simple arrest people (or confiscate their bikes) because they have power. You can go to court and win, but you have already spent the night in the pokey.

Motorists (and perhaps others) will argue that the cyclists are intentionally creating a traffic jam. I think it is infinitely more fair to say that cyclists are intentionally trying to solve the problem of traffic jams by pointing out how foolish and wasteful it is to drive a car when there are much better options (like bikes, buses, trains, taxis or walking).

Interestingly, the word that the French use for "protest" or "demonstration" is manifestation-- which in English means that something is "evident" or "obvious" and is also an obvious "consequence".

It's fairly obvious-- or manifest-- that automobiles cause a wide range of problems for society: e.g., fatal accidents (tens of thousands per year in the USA); global warming; monopolization of public space.

But the police are not charged with fixing society's problems, only with enforcing its laws. So what laws were the cyclists that assembled to ride around the L'Arc de Triomphe last Thursday breaking?

Happy WCD!

2011-09-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

Today, September 22, is World Car Free Day. Bike Club celebrates this day on which we all imagine how beautiful the world would be without cars.

For non-Bike Clubbers, the it would be disastrous, right? Without your car, where can you go? If you live most places in the USA, you "need" a car. Here is a typical American city:

There are 10 lanes of interstate highway going straight through the middle of the city. But because this is Seattle-- which is a "bike friendly" city-- there is also a network of bike lanes and bike paths that allow (and even encourage) citizens to travel by bike through most of the city's streets and neighborhoods. In fact, one such pathway is actually hidden below the interstate:

An entire world that existing below an entire world. The people in their cars probably are not aware of this other world, and if they were perhaps they would say, "Yeah, that's nice, but I have to get to work." And we all do. But I am still going to argue (in this, and in subsequent posts) that cars are-- literally & figuratively-- choking our world.

But it's World Car Free Day, so let's celebrate. Grab a bike, grab a friend! And...

Let's Roll!

A Bicycle

2011-09-19T07:15:00.000-07:00

A typical vélo de ville (city bike) parked on a typical Paris street. The bicycle, the wall, and the door are charming, aren't they?

If you don't live in Paris (and maybe even if you do) the photograph makes a nostalgic appeal-- there was a simpler, sturdier, time... The Olden Days. What must it have been like to live behind that door, and to take your bike down to the market for some fresh, artisanal bread & cheese? Waving hello to neighbors leaning out of their windows above the narrow street...

This photograph was made in September, 2011. If it really was from that magical "olden time", I suppose neither the bike, nor the door would have locks.

Bike Club is dedicated to the idea that charm, simplicity, and neighborhoods full of bicycles can, and do, still exist.

Let's Roll!

Art or Vandalism?

2011-09-19T05:19:00.000-07:00

It seems that some municipal governments have realized the value of graffiti art and so designate certain walls and urban spaces for use by graffiti artists.

This wall was clearly sanctioned by le marie (the mayor's office) and there were several artists working as I rode by on my bicycle. Some where covering up previous work-- graffiti is a very temporary form or art, and therefore one that cannot be bought, sold or owned-- others were busy creating.

There were also the finished creations, and-- this being Paris-- there was this work of art/ labor of Love:

And this one too:

Is the "art" being vandalized, or is the "vandalism" being Articulated? Do these murals (sanctioned or unauthorized) improve the city-scape, or are they a form of blight? I enjoy the colors but writing is incomprehensible. The only thing that is clear in each is the sudden appearance of a pretty girl. Is this what we want in our urban centers?

Bah... oui?! Consider that these paintings are done for free (or rather at an expense to the artist) and that there is no profit, no money to be made. Consider these images in relation to billboards and other commercial images that also use sex imagery to sell products and create desires. Particularly in the United States, these graffiti images would be considered criminal acts, whereas a similar image used to sell a car would be protected by both property laws and 1st Amendment laws.

Vive le graffiti... vive l'art de la rue!

Native American in Paris

2011-09-19T00:13:00.000-07:00

"Native Americans"

I am an American in Paris, riding a very American bike. The frame is an American brand and above you see my bike posed next to a graffiti stencil of... a Native American.

How did we get here? Me, the bike, and the image? The bike makers say (on their website) that they "share a lifelong passion for [bikes], the people who ride them, and the positive changes both can effect in this world." Positive changes...? Oui... il faut qu'on les fasse. Bike Club welcomes all who believe-- all who understand-- that by riding your bike, you are making a positive change. My photography is an attempt to document, and make visible that positive change.

In the photograph above you see a bike, some graffiti, and a parking meter. Some people think graffiti is vandalism, others think it is art, or an exercise of 1st Amendment rights. I like and appreciate graffiti that is artistic, or that carries a cultural, political or existential message. But I don't like graffiti that is simply marking territory with pseudonyms or "tags". Qu'est que c'est que ce "Dion"? Tagging is not very different than a dog peeing on a hydrant to let the other dogs know he was there. We see you Dion... okay... you were here and, bravo. But what is it you want?

The stencil of the Native American, however, is more interesting. This is Paris, and if you have never been here, it is about the most urban city I have been in-- on par with NYC for crowds, cars, noise, business. The Native American recalls a by-gone era of pastoral life, of harmony with nature. And now we face a potential environmental crisis, caused--not exclusively, but to a great degree-- by cars.

Et voilà le parking meter.