CALLING ALL BICYCLISTS

Marin people shouldn't count on the Golden Gate Bridge being available to anyone either. The ferries will probably be working but knowing the fascists at the CHP and the way the Bridge District discriminates against bicyclists you may not be able to ride over, even if the bridge isn't shut down by demonstrators. I heard reports that CHP were already amassing in large numbers at the GGB in anticipation of the war. This is so sick, that they come out with a domestic army to ensure smooth operation in the slaughter of so many hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

As long as I'm writing, bicyclists can also be invaluable as medic support and as quick errand crews. (Yes I know bike messengers already know this and we need you!). Whether or not you're taking direct action support those who are!

This is a very nice flyer, originally published on blue for Critical Mass recently. It's two-sided, half size, print them back to back and they should come out right (make a test first o'course!).

This version of the flyer has been updated for the new info. Not much time, please do get the word out any way you can.

Riding a bicycle is not a crime. Demonstrating is not a crime either. In fact both are ethical imperatives.

But there's always the chance that police will target you for either or both: bicycling and demonstrating.

Don't let them immobilize your group. Given the illegal tactics of mass arrest which were perpetrated at the March 15 breakaway, sitting still is the worst thing you can do. Why wait for more cops to arrive and decide to arrest the people standing on the sidewalk, peacefully and dutifully watching as their friends are harassed? Leave one or more legal observers, call in what's happening to someone not in danger of being arrested, and keep moving.

Example where this simple idea worked recently:

http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/03/1580989_comment.php#1581015

Posted some signs on Valencia today. I will be there. Hope there is a SIZEABLE response!

Rocco
http://www.roccopendola.net

The fine organizers at http://www.actagainstwar.org need as many bikes as possible (100 would be great) for their medical/communications and food efforts for the first day of action against the war.

If you have a bike that you can donate (it’s cool if it’s a beater) call Dixie at (510) 204-9634

If you are a bike mechanic and have time today to help fix up bikes, call Fran at (510)912-6834

If you can think of another list serve to forward this to, please do so.

If you think of a bike shop that could donate, let me know. I’ll forward the info



"Things below the surface affect the surface."

Elizabeth Creely

Development Associate



Bluewater Network

331 California Street, Ste. 501

San Francisco, CA 94104

ecreely [at] bluewaternetwork.org

Stop. Stop the slaughter. Stop the lies.
By Keith Hennessy

One president
with a couple of lapdogs,
an excellent media and legal team,
but with very little popular support,
is fully intending to kill thousands of Iraqi people
to massively bomb the capital city of Bagdad
- a crowded city
in which nearly 50% of the population
is under the age of 15 -
and to destroy what remains
of the social and technological infrastructure
of an entire country
in a military campaign
called "Shock & Awe."

They want to begin immediately.

Simultaneously, there is a peace community
that is larger, more global, diverse, and connected
than any liberation movement in known history.
United, we have postponed this brutal slaughter.
But we haven't stopped it.

We tried lobbying politicians.
But it didn't work.
We tried petitions.
1 million names from around the world in 5 days.
But it didn't work.
We tried marching.
11 million people around the world on the same day.
But it didn't work.
Women tried spelling Peace and No War with their naked bodies.
More than 30 actions spread like a smile around the world.
But it didn't work.
We tried going to Iraq,
meeting these beautiful,
yet war exhausted and impoverished people,
and sharing their stories and photographs around the world.
But it didn't work.
We tried praying and meditating, fasting and magic.
In every language and tradition, in solidarity and faith.
But it didn't work.
We tried performing the Lysistrata,
a Greek classic
in which the women argue
against the inhumanity of war.
Over 1000 productions on the same day around the world.
But it didn't work.
France, Germany, Russia and China
tried to block the US through the UN
but it didn't work.
We tried exposing the lies and corporate profits,
chanting no blood for oil,
but that didn't work 12 years ago,
and it hasn't worked since.

So we've decided to shut the city down.
To try one more non-violent tactic
to stop the business of war,
the business of killing for profit,
the business of privilege, of ignorance, and of denial.

We enter the streets unarmed, eyes open, creative, present, now.
And we refuse to leave.

Better to disrupt our own lives now,
to fulfill the promise of our love,
to risk our comforts, to fill the streets, to go to jail, freely,
than to wait for CNN to chill us with the statistics of death.

I urge to go beyond your previous actions and intentions
in any way that you desire.

There are hundreds of ways to take direct action to stop the war.

Peace,
March 16 2003

Direct Action to Stop the War
http://www.actagainstwar.org
510 601-8116

I wouldn't bring an expensive bike - my magna is freshly fixed up. razor scooters let you go amazingly quickly if you don't hit a pothole, plus can be folded up, and are down to $35 at some mission street locations. Target doesn't sell mid-range magnas, but mainly extremely cheap magnas for as low as $60, so one could possibly get one of those and then sell it for $40 the next week if it survives for two days. They're not that bad if you know anything about brake adjustment. a few flea markets have decent used bikes.

BIKES AGAINST BOMBS: one peace lover's story

The day after the bombing started, i was terrified. how could my country kill innocent people by the thousands like that? were people so blind that the reasons for the war were made up?

my friend joey was also scared but she was stern with me. "no one has power to check the government, let alone construct a sustainable world any more. look around you. workers and the environment are exploited for short term gain, with inevitable collapse around the corner. our rights are being taken away. our mental space is flooded with advertisements and propaganda while our living space is flooded with toxins. when we try to go outside we're overwhelmed by cars, which main and kill us. cars have killed more people than all wars combined. and this war has a lot to do with cars, because it's all about oil."

i respect joey's opinions although i disagree with her methods. she thinks it's justified to take direct action against cars to oppose this system as a whole. she doesn't think anything else is going to work. at least she doesn't hurt the cars.

the next morning, people came to downtown from every direction to protest the war, starting at 7 am. joey and her affinity group (those are her protest friends she trusts) got an even earlier start. joey had a device to let the air out of tires without hurting them, called a valve core remover. they come in many forms, you can find them on valve caps, or for a dollar get a tool, or even make one by whittling wood. she said legally, she might be charged with misdemeanor tampering (cvc 10852). but she didn't care, because the thought of children being killed in her name and her need to communicate outweighed the risk. besides, she was only removing a 19 cent part, and she left the part there. "just make sure it goes all the way flat so it doesn't go flat while they're driving". she put a flyer on each car. she only did suv's. she was really fast because she glued a cap with the remover on it onto a drill bit with epoxy, and then used it with a cordless screwdriver. i'm glad i wasn't there because that isn't for me.

i went downtown on my bicycle and quickly found a group of 50 other bicyclists. even though the situation was really severe, it was so good to find a group to demonstrate with. i wore a sign on my bike and on my back. we were really energized by the excitement of the day. we went from intersection to intersection, doing bicycle merry go rounds and holding our bikes in the air against the oil war. we would stay for a short time and then go to the next one before people got too impatient. everywhere we went, we'd see another group of 20-100 people on bikes doing the same thing. it's great to do high-fives as you pass one another. it was the best critical mass i've ever been on! my friend mandy missed out because she was stuck in the east bay when they closed bart to bicycles. figures 'cause they always target bicycles unfairly. can you believe they closed off all the bike lockers? sheesh. she still found a good demo in oakland. some people thought ahead and slept in sf the night before.

at one point i saw joey and her friends. they were gathering in a group of 3-5 people on the end of cars and bouncing them until they could bounce them out into the street as a barrier to car traffic. they always left space for muni and made sure not to scratch the paint, and were careful not to hurt their backs. joey said she didn't know any law they could be charged with, and that it was a poetic use of car culture against itself. i said who can tell the difference, they double park all the time anyway. they had to practice before they got really good at it.

at one point in the day my group of bikes met another group and the people at the front went up onto the freeway. half of us went up and the rest of us stayed because we were scared. a motorcycle cop tried to go up after them but was delayed because we were standing in front of the onramp. he just tried to waive them off. it turns out he couldn't do anything to them anyways, legally, because freeways are legal for bikes unless there's signs posted at the entrance and along them, specifically prohibiting bicycles. (cvc 21960b). then it's an infraction and there's a small fine. but for some reason there were no such signs all around the city.

it wouldn't matter anyways because the police had too much to do that day and a mass arrest of bikes on a freeway protesting oil war would shut down the freeway and would make really great news headlines. next time i'm going to join them and i hope we go on the bay bridge. my friend who biked the bay bridge in a protest said the charge is a $100 infraction for biking on a toll crossing. they do that unless there's a sign specifically permitting bicycles, too bad (cvc 23330b). he said if you bike the bay bridge, be careful because periodically there are expansion grates that can catch a tire. and it's a fabulous view. ciao chow.

Disclaimer: only try this on your own car. This is not legal advice. Don't break the law. Obey all commands from only one source, GW Bush.

bump, bump

We will meet at Justin Herman Friday morning at 700am or something....for BIKES NOT BOMBS, that is

I assume Friday, it will continue - -what's the deal?

If he gives me the fingeR?

dear poor and pissed,

your comment perfectly illustrates what we're protesting.

the idea that your car and your oil is so important that you can kill for it.

no, it isn't legal to run us over even if "provoked" with a rude/lude gesture. that is no defense in under the theories of Criminal Law in the U.S. you would be guilty of a crime such as attempted murder, assault, battery, etc., or worse depending on what happened.

cars are weapons, as people who walk and bike experience everyday. the rise of the automobile has done much to destroy freedom just as it destroys the environment. the automobile is intimately and inextricably connected to the military-industrial complex.

the totally undemocratic rise of the private automobile is essentially the militarization of everyday life.

BIKES NOT BOMBS!

Bike for peace! Also, bike for pizza.

Bike for peace! Also, bike for pizza.

Tell your friends!!! Tell them to come into the city on BART, CalTrain, whatever. Bring your bike downtown for a HUGE Critical Mass this FRIDAY!!

Justin Herman Plaza, assemble at 530, leave at 600pm!!!!!!

Make a mobile, peaceful, YET DISRUPTIVE statement against WAR, oil/car-dependency and the automobile's degradation of public space!!

We can also celebrate the beginning of the Central Freeway demolition!!

Rocco