Challenge to the Social Strike Organizers

This morning, I caught the 24 inbound at about 7:30. Usually that bus is fairly full- I have a hard time finding a seat. This morning, after a longer than usual wait, I had a hard time even getting on, the bus was so full. By the time we reached Castro and Market, the bus was packed, people were standing on the front and the back steps, and the bus had passed up over 20 people waiting at stops.

At Castro and Market, I got on a train headed downtown and it was the same story, the train was so packed the doors could barely close, and we left about 75 people standing on the platform.

Meanwhile, I saw that the buses and trains going in the opposite direction -reverse commute- were also full.

So this is the cut backs that last week Muni officials were saying riders would barely notice.

As far as I can tell, the Fare Strike/Scocial strike had minimal impact in terms of affecting the fare hike and service cuts, but I respect the organizing thatwent into it. i think it's very cool that the coalition included hard core ideologue anarchists, riders, *and* Muni drivers. But, like I say, it seems that the effort has had little to no concrete impact.

Now however, seems like an excellent time to agitate and to activate people. The people left shouting on the curb, late for work because there was simply no room on the bus for them, are in an excellent position to be organized. The mamas who are falling down while holding their babies because there's no room to sit and the bus is too crowded to even find a pole to hold onto, they're ready to be organized. Now is a damn good time to get out there and take all thefrustration and rage and turn it into action.

I challenge the social strike, though...to consider broader ways of demanding change. the fare strike was a damn good idea, but it did not work. Meanwhile, in the process of organizing the fare strike, y'all have gotten very familiar with the policies, the decision makers, you know all the stuff to kow on this issue. Also, you got some good press for such a direct action oriented effort, and people are thinking and talking about the situation on MUNI right now.

I challenge the social strike organizers to step it up, and to broaden the tactics you are using to demand that MUNI meet the needs of it's riders. Help us, the pissed off and pissed on commuters who depend on MUNI and have no other options, to come together and flex out people power. Offer alternatives that won't lead to fines we can't afford or risking law enforcement interactions that some of us can't risk. Come up with actions the mamas among us can take, and the grandmas, and the undocumented workers.

The fare strike didn't work, but you've built amazing momentum, created a neat coalition, and gathered the information you need, so step it up!