Critical Mass Pubic Meeting Report

by lib. soc. Thu Jul 19, 2007 23:29

5-6 years ago when we were finding our feet as a libertarian movement things like critical mass, reclaim the streets and so on were a vital part of building confidence and getting out on the streets. But following on from the victories, the lessons learned in struggle and the maturing of libertarian politics what exactly is the point of a bunch of cyclists blocking traffic?

The simple reality of it is that critical mass is, for most people, a juvenile effort to disrupt traffic and feel disobedient. It is activity for its' own sake and the very definition of activist-ism. Your discussion should have been about what constitutes meaningful political activity, but by the sounds of it some people there think politics is a dirty word.

by anna choic chamber Fri Jul 20, 2007 00:17

Sorry, what victories is that exactly with the CM? The delivery of the letter to the Department of Transport when it was closed, or the posting of the box of waffles to the Road Safety Authority in Ranelagh? What "struggle" exactly are you on about?

The CM went around and around in circles for a few years. Literally and metaphorically. The lack of diversity in the trip meant that it was pretty much the same month in, month out... so as a cycle with a bunch of friends to see the city it fell flat on its face. When I go for a cycle to enjoy myself I generally try and take a different route I havent seen or done before.

The CM could never come to terms with hundreds of angry bus passengers standing in line at the stop shouting "you're blocking my fucking bus home you pricks" (and seriously, what is the answer to that? - who has the precedence over the streets - 50 cyclists or several thousand commuters waiting for public transport? - yeah I know the cars block the streets too - but the slow cycle does slow down the buses too, and the waiting passengers see it, its right in front of their faces, so their ire is directed at the cyclists rather than the motorists)

Personally I think it should pick up a bit of pace as a group and head off to places like Ringsend, Chapelizod, Ballyfermot, Glasnevin, and other suburbs which are slightly closer to town, but which still have a lot of motor traffic heading into the city. I think it would be a good advertisement for people living in these areas to see that cycling into/out of town is an option, and to leave the car at home. 50 cyclists show up in the middle of a suburb, lock up, have a pint, and then head off back into town again as a group. How inspiring would that be?

YET - again it starts from the Garden of Remembrance, the starting point for EVERY gawd-awful plodding politico march in this city, the same place where its always began (and people wonder why its dead), and there's plans to have stuff like a medic, legal observer, photographers, reporters etc on it, you'd swear it was a black bloc or something, jesus christ. If it is going to be a repeat of every single previous incidence then why do you think it will magically revive itself after years in the doldrums?

Talk about not wanting to over-politicise a bike ride to make it into a fun activity to attract people back to it... come on! SNAP OUT OF IT! The best part of the days' ride was the post pint in Conways, like most of the city do at the end of the week, not watching crusty activist videos in a crusty activist centre afterwards on a Friday evening (get a life!)

CM needs direction and a defibrillator - but this isnt it
(and no, i wont "come to the next meeting with your ideas if you have so many", please dont throw that line back in my face, I'm not into seeing the CM turning into a wing of the anarchist movement in the city, thats like telling me telling you to run for election if you tthink the country is fucked - i just dont believe in the entire process of what is being done. you understand?)

by Starstruck Fri Jul 20, 2007 08:31

maybe you should inject some of your internet energy into going to a meeting and making your suggestions a reality.
Crusty centre,ha.

by x Fri Jul 20, 2007 09:09

didnt you read the last paragraph?

starstruck you saying that is the same as "why dont shell to sea run for election in mayo"

get it? CM never needed meetings in a political centre before

by dingdong Fri Jul 20, 2007 09:56

bit early in the morning for this, but anyway...

(the link is real BTW)

Join the alphabet soup - SWP, SP, CYM, WSM, CPI, etc etc etc...

by G Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:28

Having been very involved with CM a few years ago (was it really 2001?) there are a few point I'd like to make.
I broadly agree with the post above this new proposal is largely about repeating what went before, not developing a new energised critical mass.
The original poster says that Dublin Cycling Campaign dissociated itself from CM because it was 'too anarchist' I'm not in DCC or never was, but my undersanding at the time was there was a feeling among regular CM people that DCC used the ride to further their own agenda at times. Since the agenda of DCC is to promote cycling and cyclists that may not be a bad thing, but there was no clear dialogue. Then again how do you have dialogue with an organisation/event with no members or structure.
The emphisis for critical mass has to be on cyclists, it is vital that the general public are aware of the ride and feel welcome to join, Annas idea about having a faster cycle outside the city centre is a good one.
Dialogue with the cops is vital, support from the boys in blue will a) make drivers behave better b) legitimise the ride in the eyes of the public c) Increase safety. This will mean that the ride will not need its own medical team or legal people.

A strategy needs to be developed to publicise the ride as much as possible, flyering bikes, posters, articles in the mainstream media etc. just putting it on indymedia, and getting 20-30 of your mates is a waste of time if you are serious about building the ride.

I'm looking forward to going on CM rides again but not unless there is a serious effort put into it in terms of organisation and promotion, the thoughts of hanging around the garden of rememberance waiting until there are enough people there, ringing mates urging them to come down and then watching 20 cyclists spread over 3 lanes of traffic, blocking busses just for the sake of it does not really appeal to me.

By the way how many people were at the meeting last night?

by Jack White Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:06

I used to go on the Critical Mass around 2001/ 2002. Around that time I got involved with RTS and we used to try and incorporate CM into those events. (we would do something like have a group or two of cyclists reach the meeting point ahead of everyone else and block the traffic until people on foot arrived). We always thought this was fair enough because those CM’s would be advertised as being part of the RTS and because the DCC used to use CM to do the things anna choic chamber mentioned i.e. delivering a letter to the closed Department of Transport, or pushing soggy waffles through a letterbox in Ranelagh (nice pint in the hotel near the RSA offices out there though).

I think one of the problems with CM and one of the reasons people became unhappy with it is that different heads have different ideas about what it should be and tried to push it in those directions. For DCC and us in RTS it (sometimes) was used for our politics. Other people want a bike ride with no overt politics at all.

Looking back I think that the ‘politicisation’ of CM in this way by the DCC and RTS probably turned a lot of people off and contributed to its decline. Another reason was that the DCC chap who had everyone’s email address seemed to stop going to CM and stopped sending out the mails – no-one else had access to the list. ACC’s other points about the repetition in terms of the route is a good one too.

Re busses – I think it would be fairly easy to let busses through – or just stay out of the bus lane altogether on certain routes… actually maybe that requires a bit more thought…

This idea is great:

“it should pick up a bit of pace as a group and head off to places like Ringsend, Chapelizod, Ballyfermot, Glasnevin, and other suburbs which are slightly closer to town, but which still have a lot of motor traffic heading into the city… 50 cyclists show up in the middle of a suburb, lock up, have a pint, and then head off back into town again as a group. “

Mind you I don’t know how you get people to agree to it without talking to them (yes, I’m throwing the “come to the next meeting with your ideas” line into your face here - though maybe putting the idea up here isn't a bad start)

ACC says: “CM needs direction and a defibrillator - but this isnt it”
I think it’s quite hard to give direction to something like CM without having things like meetings. I can take your point about not being interested in going along but I don’t understand how you’d organise a revitalised CM without some sort of discussion with other people. I think G made a good point above when he said “Then again how do you have dialogue with an organisation/event with no members or structure.” And I think this is one reason why meetings in this case are a good idea. I don’t think they’d be necessary before every ride but they might be good to have to work out an idea of how CM could be developed in a way which would keep everyone happy.

G also says: “A strategy needs to be developed to publicise the ride as much as possible, flyering bikes, posters, articles in the mainstream media etc. just putting it on Indymedia, and getting 20-30 of your mates is a waste of time if you are serious about building the ride.” I’d agree with that idea.

For me, I’m an anarchist but I have no interest in seeing CM “turning into a wing of the anarchist movement in the city”. I like CM because it’s a (sometimes) enjoyable, (sometimes) liberating cycle ride in a city where being a cyclist is usually stressful and often dangerous.

by DUNK Fri Jul 20, 2007 13:18 fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk Barcelona

What would a sustainable Dublin city look like?
What can be done, or has been done to try to make it happen?

As activists, we spend a lot of time moaning about whats wrong, pointing out faults, or simply slating. It is good to make constructive criticsm, and the wider the group that is involved in this discussion the healthier the output will be. Coming from this criticism, the important thing is then to build from that, to work from the lessons learned and to make the idea of the "alternative reality to the existing order" the reality tomorow by organising and creating spaces and events in which people can participate. It is critical that people ENJOY this act of change and that they feel their input counts (Alberts stickiness theory). Only from this can things grow.

As an architect, urbanist, eco activist, cyclist, gardener I made a proposal to the city council for a proposal to develop the Dublin Greenway, unfortunately I got no response from the head city architect, at the time it was Jim Barret, but I was scheduled to meet head city planner Dick Gleeson 2 times after speaking briefly to him at the "rethinking the city" event organised in Convergence festival by Sustainable Ireland. But both times we were to meet, he was "pulled away at last minute so unable to speak with me", I did not attempt a 3rd repeat and left it, very frustrated.

While a student I wrote an architectural thesis about the idea "Catalyst @ Botanic Spine" which looked at connecting green spaces and connecting communities and was a proposal to move Dublin to becoming an eco city, The main idea behind this was to create a greenway (non-motorised transport route, already very popular in Europe, Canada and US and becoming more so, normally old walkways, trainlines, canal walks, that have been left abondandoned, unsafe, unused....communities do them up and walk, cycle or horse ride along them...win win situation no?) which would also double up as a
CPUL (continous productive urban landscape), that being a local food production corridor.... a thread with nodes, points or places along it which local communities can once again plant food together to feed themselves...partly based, but adapted, from the Cuban model which was their immediate response to dealing with their artifial peak oil due to fall of soviet bloc in 1989.

The route we chose was simple: connect the 2 canals of the city and the derelict train tunnel under phoenix park and the little bit to make a circle, which conveniantly is the ring which actually defines inner and outer Dublin city. Discussion happened with public transport group platform11, in conjunction with their plans for an alternative metro system for Dublin city, so that under the spine might run the interconnnector metro loop. The Thesis can be found in DIT library Bolton Street, and An Taisce have a copy of the part relevant to this discussion.

We tried to inform the widest community about these ideas and to invite them to participate, with some success. I spoke on community radio about the ideas and with some fellow bike riders set up the Dublin ECG (eco city group), with others set up a community / guerilla / squat garden network in Dublin city, with others organised some critical masses. I posted a good few times to Indymedia informing the "activist community" of what was going on and what we were up to... in the hope that more people might participate from this group which leads me to a personal, and somewhat negative view of this "activist community"...

My experience of participating in the "activist community" in Dublin for some time (I left nearly a year ago and now live in Barcelona, which is a city there is much Dublin can learn from, in all regards) was that we are quite negative , especially to new and somewhat irregular or strange things, and have little real wish or ability to push out from "the way things are done". Perhaps its a personal thing, perhaps its because this world in Dublin is quite small...? Im not exactly sure but I have found that since leaving and talking with Irish people, or with people who spent a considerable amount of time living there, there seems to be a general consensus of feeling that the overall feeling is NO in Dublin, while, elsewhere its Yes.

The mechanism of communication can not always be a clear and easy thing, and indeed I have my own problems with my communication been a little scattered, but there were gatherings and assembleys in which the "activist community" could organise in the real world, alongside the ongoing dialogues which happen on email lists and blogs like indymedia. Perhaps my criticism is too harsh, or I am not in the right position to make these statements, or perhaps Im not connected enough into these "movements" to make them. But my stance and viewpoint has always been: our "activist community" is tiny and to be successfull and to change things more people have to get invovled, or we have to widen out of the ghetto to connect with wider struggles or situations (It doesent always have to be fighting this or that, it can be positive and called by us, ie: setting up a gardening space, clown workshop, making a bike tour...). To make this happen a welcoming open world must be created through which they can enter, making it easy for people to take little steps... I think in Dublin, how it was when I left, things can be improved....On one of the email lists there was a helpfull discussion about these comments, my thanks to those who voiced their views. I attempted to present some of these views on a previous threads about Hotel Ballymun. Perhaps this might open up some sort of wider dialogue?
Or maybe it might lead to less talk talk talk, and more talk, action....
I think this is what Z-mag founder Miceal Albert means when he talks about "Making the movemnet sticky"

Dealing with peak oil and climate chaos
Regarding the CPUL, local food production idea as a practical means of dealing with the core issues of the enviromental crisis we are in, I found that our work was rarely talked about or even acknowledged by most of the "eco" activists on imc-ie....most of people who participated in the community garden network during my time in Dublin were outside the main "activist" community, and with them some of my most pleasurable and memorable times were spent.

In terms of organising and working with the critical mass mechanism. I see it as part of a wider movement: to make cities sustainable and car free. In attempts to widen the discussion about what would be a car free city and how to achieve it Id bring you back 2 years to international car free day 2005 where we organised, with others in a loose way, a 4 day programme of events to counter the current car culture. Perhaps this we could at repeating, or better still, building on that experience....and if it goes well perhaps by 2015 we might actually have our car free city :)

International Car Free Day 2005 : 4 days of counter carbon culture

Thursday 22- critical mass
@ 40 turned up at very short notice

friday 23- seomra spraoi arts night
@ 60 people at arts night, discussions and a table were out about car free activities, gardens, greenways....also: homeless network meeting, theatre of opressed workshop c/o raul from brazil + free healthy vegan food part of which came from (y)our community garden in dolphins barn.

Saturday 24 - take back the city (sort of Reclaim the Streets)
@ 300?- good fun, could have been better, always good to meet up and celebrate again- good to see civic zone being used as it should be - for the citizens to use it as they wish and there was much love and play from the clowns.

Sunday 25 - Open garden day + Greenway cycle + Opening of new garden
the monthly dublin greenway cycle (3 people) and a garden day in dolphins barn which was really great @ 20 people over day, much work done. also another garden was visited and plans put in place for its opening.

This was a reaction of sorts to the minimal action taken by the Irish government who have lessened how much they do in participating with the wider global community on international car free day. Some token streets with litle pedestrian usage were CAR FREE for a short while, in other cities whole chunks of city are closed off for the full day or longer.

In Budapest Critical Mass 2005, 2 years ago, 30,000 people participated for their car free day. Clearly they must be doing something right and we must be doing something wrong. Perhaps people could get in contact with them and ask them to join this discussion. Also in Dublin 2 years ago was the first Dublin City Cycle and 2.500 cyclists crossed Dublin, as part of the VeloCity Docklands Cycle, which was part of the international VeloCity forum that year. They are organising another cycle for Sunday, July 29, 2007.

I think there seems to be a real effort in Dublin to improve the critical mass events as well as generally improving things for both the city and bike users. I Still think that there is more to the discussion than just bikes or cities: sustainability, eco cities, peak oil, alternives to petrol, creating a wider car free culture, making it easy for peole to get invovled.....Theres loads that can be done, I wish you well in your attempts and I leave you with an extract from an essay which I hope people take the time to read, its entitled: The Significance of the global ecovillage movement

The crucial point here is that these are not preferences or options among many others. This is the general form a sustainable society must take whether we like it or not! We cannot solve the big global problems facing us unless in rich and poor countries we move to settlements, lifestyles and economies which enable The Simpler Way.

related links:

Critical mass public meeting - wed 18th july 6.30 seomra spraoi
http://indymedia.ie/article/83408
Including the following links...
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82888
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77489

Dublin Cycling Campaign
http://home.connect.ie/dcc/

World Carfree Network
http://www.worldcarfree.net/
Car Free Day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Free_Day

3rd Annual Dublin City Cycle ; Sunday, July 29, 2007
http://www.dublincitycycle.ie/registration.html

Velo-city 2005 Dublin
www.dto.ie/velo/velocity_registration.pdf

PDF that give indebth details about cycling in Dublin
home.connect.ie/dcc/docs/VeloCity07_JIS.pdf

Dublin City Greenway
PDF online summary version
http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/feb2007/botanic_spi...e.pdf
basic website
http://www.dublin.ie/botanicspine/

Dublin City Greenway Cycle (May 21, 2005)
report of first greenway cycle, setting up of the Dublin ECG (eco city group)
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/69929

Dublin City Greenway Cycle (June 15, 2005)
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70281

Dublin : first Greenway cycle of 2006
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75672

some previous IMC-IE bike stuff

4 days of car free stuff- and a whole lot more -
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/72157#comment122485

Budapest Critical Mass 2005 with up to 30,000 people - http://www.indymedia.org/en/2005/09/825163.shtml

Dublin : First Critical Mass of 2006
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75670

International car free day 2003
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/61330

The wider discussion___________________________________________________________

community gardening, food production, combating climate choas:
Dolphin's Barn community garden under threat
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75438
http://dolphinsbarngarden.org/

rethinking the city" event organised in Convergence festival by Sustainable Ireland
convergence 7- feedback
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/69638

platform 11
http://www.platform11.org/about_us/

previous attempts to generate bikes and food action on IMC-IE
Ireland and Climate Chaos
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/80959
Climate Chaos Brings the Big Melt to the Far North
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/73614
Whatever Happened to Anti-Capitalism?
http://indymedia.ie/article/80676
Seedot: "Before this thread descends into another dunk scrapbook"

Hotel Ballymun + Alberts stickiness theory
making more positive space with more and more a diverse network: toward a more participative future
from: Photo Story from Hotel Ballymun
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81816

"ART" : what drives people to life and death
from: Hotel Ballymun - Uplifting Art or Poverty Tourism?
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81761

Alberts stickiness theory
how to change the world - make the movement sticky
http://ie.indymedia.org/article/78818#comment170481

2015
World Peace by 2015 - according to Harvey?
http://indymedia.ie/article/83513

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GLOBAL ECOVILLAGE MOVEMENT
http://socialwork.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/D09TheSigOfTheGE....html

cycling action in Dublin city: attempts in 2006 to make a Greenway for the city

Dublin Eco City Group.

an 18km ecological loop and bike route for Dublin ECO city in 2015

by Someone from Somewhere Else Fri Jul 20, 2007 15:36

At least in LA there was a distinct lack of happiness with CM (too many people seeking aggro interactions with motorists and too many boring politicoes). CM never got numbers beyond about 250 at its absolute peak and was regularly as low as 10/20 (this is from roughly 2000 to 2005) That's in a huge city.

Then people started organising their own rides purely for fun purposes: architectural tours, pub crawls, alleycats, art rides, restaurant rides, long-distance touring, all-night rides. One of these (MidnightRidazz http://www.midnightridazz.com/) became huge with regular numbers between 500 to 1000 riders. MidnightRidazz themed their rides (e.g. after Tron, Alien Invasions, Pornstars, etc) and people loved dressing up and going out to meet other people for a good time and ride en masse and later split off to bars or wherever.

Many of the other rides organised on a regular basis (in what is really a renaissance of cycling in L.A.) can be seen at http://www.bikeboom.com

CM is a turgid, old idea based on the futile logic of making other road users uncomfortable in order to further no particular end.

Personally I stopped going to CM because it was dominated by people that were afraid of cars and wanted to foist more bike lanes on me. I wasn't interested in showing up and being co-opted by them as a voice in favour of bike lanes or any other of the "Fear of Cars" mentality ideas.

by Someone from Somewhere Else Fri Jul 20, 2007 16:57

One other thing:

Personally I loathe the idea of a horrible, poky little bicycle ghetto (called a "greenway" above by dunk). The idea in the minds of fearful, incompetent cyclistst is that bicyclists can't coexist happily and safely and enjoyably on the roads with cars so they need a special restricted environment. In the minds of motorists its great because they think it allows them to travel at higher speeds without "slow" cyclists (who will in reality beat them on average speed within a city) "getting in the way". We already see something like this in the awful S2S (Sutton to Sandycove) bike plan (supported by the Greens including councillor David Healy (Howth)).

There's a lot of incoherent thinking about the use of bicycles on the road which always points to the Netherlands and Denmark as an ideal. Many cyclists that have learnt to follow safe traffic principles (http://www.johnforester.com) don't like this idea. There's a good deconstruction by Sheldon Brown of one propaganda video in favour of physically separated bikelanes (produced by TransAlt out of NYC). Sheldon points out some of the main problems very ably here: http://sheldonbrown.com/physically-separated-bike-lanes....html

by Ann-Marie Mon Jul 23, 2007 13:02

From my experince of CM the cyclists do let buses and taxis through. Two options were discussed at the meeting one was cycling on all lanes and one was cycling in one lane. We also discussed whether CM should move in opne group to avoid as littel dusruption as possible as the main aim of CM s to draw atention to the fact that cyclists are road users and promote it as a more feasible means of transport in the city.
The commentss re the meeting place and route are valuable. The Garden of Remebrance is an easy place for people to meet. Everybody knows it and there is space to congregate pre-cycle. The route is not yet decided but there has been discussions around bringing it out of city centre perhpas Phibsboro. These commnets are valuable perhaps posters could phrase tem in more constructive ways rather than attacking an attempt to revitalise CM.
There was discussion around developing CM as an ongoing campaign with more than jsut cycles perhaps bike workshops. But with very few showing up in person to dscuss ideas and creat a dialogue this is difficult. It is hoped that the social afterwards will provide this forum .
Some may criticise the need for a medic or legal observor etc but as I stated I have seen someone get out of a car to push a cyclists and this was while we were all patiently waiting at the red lights and had angry motorists attempt to drive through the middle of the group. Thse roles add legitimacy and ensure responsibility on our behalf.
In regard to CM becoming a wing of the Anarchist movement that was one of the main topics of the meeting and the desire is there to prevent this happenign so that all people feel thay can take part without becoming memebrs of political activty that they are not comfortable with.
Discussions likehese are valuable but by being sidelined to the internet mean they may not become reality unless people join the dialogue in person to put in their two cents.

(Please ignore all the typos in tis I don't have time to edit)

by flash gordon Mon Jul 23, 2007 17:31

Having a meeting which decides that CM is 'libertarian' and 'anarchist' gives me a good idea why i showed up for one in Dublin late last Summer to find no other cyclists in attendance. It was raining but that is hardly a reason to cancel events in Ireland. Ive been going on these rides for 10 years or more all over the place. One of the many great things about CM is the fact that people attend because they enjoy riding around with lots of strangers. The most important aspect of CM is that, with enough people, the ride becomes traffic. It is not about blocking traffic, or banners or superficial politics. It is about alternative non polluting transport. Dublin is one of the most bike unfriendly cities in Europe and the casualty rates prove it. That is a basic political point that CM can get behind, expecting a popular ride becasue it is in essence 'anti-capitalist'. There is a strong political cross over where CM is well established like in SF and NYC. There rides routinely visit striking workers and can become a site for political protest and the expression of dissident political power, but that happens when CM is well established. If that is invested in it before it has a broad section of adherents and participants we will end up with a ride of paper sellers, or no-one on the ride at all.

by dunk Tue Jul 24, 2007 13:02 fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk

few points

re "Bikeways suck":
are you familiar with them, have you spent time on many, if so, where?

"I loathe the idea of a horrible, poky little bicycle ghetto"
its not an eithor or, its both: better and more bike facilities in Dublin city AND improved bike greenway along canal zones

Currently much of the track along the canals is very underutelised, its simple to do up here, if there was a wish to which i feel there is not, from both the government/council and the bike +/ activist community. Presently biking along the canal is prohibited, im led to believe. In Wallonia, part of Belgium where bikeways are huge, the mayor took a stand and made the bold move: all routes along canals to be opened up for bike zones, funding was also thrown in for general improvement. At the Velo city I tried to participate so as to bring this idea into the general discussion but had a very difficult time as the event organiser labelled me as a "critical mass type person" (quote). The heritage council are responsible for the development of greenways in ireland and when the international greenways conference happened in Dublin 2 years ago and someone said from the floor "what are the HC doing to promote the ideas of greenways in ireland" "actually we have not done too much and need to do more" was the response (paraphrased)- to this i added that i had developed the idea outlined above and stated that i had recenly spoken on 2 different local dublin radio stations to spread the idea to the communities and that there was a bike ride organised for 2 days time. the HC were not too happy with my response but the greenways reps from czech republic, again somewhere its blooming, (the rep was also an activist and involved in car free cities and many friends in car busters...but was there with his cz rep hat on there) was very happy with what we were doing and indeed visited us when we bugun the first greenway cycle. We were also scheduled to have a presentation and community discussion in the north wall centre in Sheriff Street after being in consultation with the after schools projects and local community groups: they were really keen about getting kids on bikes, unfortunately this talk did not happen due shootings by police.
Another positive thing about the creation of greenways, normally in zones that are off limits or that have turned into no-go zones: the community get the go ahead to take control of "their" space and do it up and become the controllors of the space (self-policing), a small amount of funding helps for this but is not always needed, often it can happen with just a bit of an idea, organisation, work.

currently the wall alongside the canal Sheriff Street is coming down and a park is being put in, previously the calming canal was off limits to the community.. Water is a great tool for calming, in all forms and in all situations....this move should have been made long ago, perhaps if it had happened there would have been less car burnings...?
in Ballyfermot the council stuck a slip of sorts in for fishermen followed by a canal canoe point. In previous years when boats came through they were often stoned by youths, now they stop and the community and boat heads talk, people visit the boats...win win..no?

ex deputy lord mayor from labour , andrew montigue, did the greenway bikeride with us and thought it was a good and feasible idea and enjoyed it, he enjoyed it and even stopped in the old community garden with us and did some weeding of the spuds.

I think Dublin is ideal for such a greenway and we did about 6 bike rides along the route, anyway thats the 2 cents on that one
more info;

heritage council
What are Greenways?
http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/walkways/project7.html

European Greenways Association, Belgium
http://www.aevv-egwa.org/

Majority World Velo City Special
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=70101
_______________________________________________________________________________________

other points:

--------------------------------critical mass can get dangerous and illegal acts by motorists, my last CM, nearly a year ago before i left ireland, i got hit 3 times by cars and the last was outside the Dail, when a minister or someone important ordered his driver to drive into me, i was knocked off my bike, sound system in basket fell and broke. When i responded angrily "what the fuck are you doing..." a cop came over and threathened to arrest me, even though i had been clearly knocked down by the car and hat a cut knee. "get off the road or you will be arrested"... i went to the path. I think having someone to record such events and maybe there with something to clean the cut and stick a bandage on would help.. no harm in being prepared.

---------------------------------i think there is a need for this meeting, discussion and from that an ongoing space or platform from which to organise things, what did they do in budapest???

---------------------------------idea of heading out to places is great idea. i know many people, both individuals and community groups, would like to get invovled but dont from fear, if the CM did become a respected tool in which to get on a bike and secure in knowing that a local bike ride would happen and would be SAFE, then it would flourish. We talked with community groups in dolphins barn about this and even secured a grant with this in mind. (see dolphins barn community garden for more info http://dolphinsbarngarden.org/ )
This could be a direction to work toward..... picking an area for next month, contacting local community groups, inviting them to participate, asking them for a safe space to put on a bit of a workshop, show film....then do the SAFE bike ride. involving the council and asking them to improve bike ways would be a good thing. for this a strategy plan would be needed....you can see the greenway plan above...unfortunately in Dublin no one really wanted to discuss it, or do it.

--------------------------We did organise bike workshops, but very few peole participated and in the end it folded, this was out of DIT mountjoy square.
there were bike workshops in the old warehouse, but this was a ghetto type affair and could not be publicised officially, perhaps the new dublin social centre might be able to have a bike space... i hear theres roof space there.....

before leaving i gathered 10 bikes from the rubbish and they were left in a punk house for future bike workshops, i dont think these ever happened. in barcelona there is about 3 or places to do free bikeworkshops: all free. again part of difference between dublin and BCN, is it to do with numbers or attitude??? i think in dublin we dont have the will, or else a bit disorganised....not sure how this can be improved.

-------------------------- who is CM
agree it should not be seen as a part of a polit group, should be very diverse, having clowns and color is good for me... not enough of it in our boring logic only world....

if the organising happens in a social centre, so what....if the organisatin happens that leads to a better Dublin CM world, great... perhaps in time it will rotate and happen in local community centres, which personally id prefer, but today it seems in dublin there is not a wish to make this happen......YET

------------------------- publicity

why not make a webstite or wiki ( eg: http://wikihost.org/wikis/casas_bcn/wiki/el_barco )which everyone can edit
pick bike ride days and bike ride organising time/space...follow it with a social unoffficail bike ride..

make it fun

make it diverse....................the present (small) lot, the docklands cycle lot, the community groups, schools and kids

------------------------- 5 days time 1000's will be on bikes on the streets, join them, ask them to join u

you have a golden opportunity now, get your stuff sorted and make it happen

5 days time is the "official" cycle, get flyers out for that, invite them to make it not a once a year affair.

2007
http://www.dublincitycycle.ie/registration.html

------------------------- ann marie + typos

a classic mistake, whats that word, sort of freudian slip?: Just a few pints in response

make it SOCIAL,

best part the pint in conways after....when it finished in same place..

finish off with a sup in the local of the area you cycle around, make yourselves known and seen, go into "their" places.... sometimes this can be the stumbling block for activists..... politicos in polito "safe" circles and spaces, including confronting cops etc... but then the inability to enter and chat to "normal people" in their spaces: centres and pubs...... essential to get over this and become more friendly... in ireland there is still so much farting about this area.....drop the shit, say hi, say what your about, ask if people feel its safe for their kids to cycle the streets ....."no, there was a young one killed a few weeks ago"...................."well, we did this thing... critical mass...its this bikeride too..."

you get the gist....a bit different from who said what in the seomra spraoi, but that chat had to happen, well done for organising and doing it...keep at it.....and soon ill see you up in the barn house, in dolphins barn. hopefully after or during a load of events and days of counter carbon, pro eco living.....
art events in local community centre: films, bike workshop, talk about CM and greenways, picnic in local community garden, CM around the area one evening, greenway cycle on the sunday...pints in the pub

I Hope to see a greener, more bike friendly, local food growing, more people cycling city... it makes sense... and people are trying to make it happen now... invite more to do this...enjoy the ride.

by nili Thu Jul 26, 2007 20:10

i'm from vancouver, canada and have ridden in a few critical masses in dublin when i was living there. i just wanted to add some of my suggestions based my CM experiences both in vancouver and dublin.

i'm going to ride critical mass here in van tomorrow. i just checked the website and it will be a pride-themed, as the gay pride march is next sunday. "Maybe a little more colour and costumes this month? Dress up or down as much as you like! The more fun you put in, the more of a gay ol' time we will all have."

there are often themes for each month. in may we had a pirate-themed ride with several hundred riders. the june (bike month) ride was probably the biggest i've ever been in, with about 2000 people. it was pissing rain half an hour before it started, but as soon as i left my house and got near the bike route, there were clumps of costumed cyclists heading to CM. there wasn't much advertising; most is done through word of mouth.

some practical suggestions:

* critical mass is non-political. everybody has political beliefs, whether they acknowledge them or not, but critical mass is a bike ride, not a protest. you could say that CM is an anarchist act of civil disobedience, but in reality most people are there to enjoy a bike ride with the increased safety and fun that comes with joining other cyclists. the overriding political philosophy at CM is fun.

* i agree with the comment that CM should not have medics, legal observers or reporters. none of these things are normally part of a bike ride.

* have fun... themed masses, decorated bikes, costumes, kids, bikes with soundsystems, chopper bikes, unicyles

* the mass should move faster than walking speed. it's not a race, but it's more fun if you can a bit of speed going down hills. in vancouver, the front of the mass usually stops at the top of climbs or bridges, so that the people at the back can catch up.

* every person riding in CM should help cork to make the route safer. corking at every intersection or side-street allows the mass to communicate with drivers to avoid confusion and anger, and prevents cars from trying to drive through the mass. in my experience riding in dublin, no one was corking.

* if anyone asks what it's all about, tell them it's critical mass... we're not blocking traffic...we are traffic!

i noticed a comment that dublin is the least safe city in europe for cyclists. you should come to north america. vancouver is a relatively pro-cycling city, but drivers are largely unaware of cyclists. as i recall dublin has small cars and narrow streets; vancouver has SUVs and big roads for them to speed on. our bike routes are segregated on residential streets and often don't make sense or don't link up. dublin's bike lanes are awesome in comparison. i was able to follow a cycle lane along the main road between phibsboro and my job in tallaght. dublin is a bit smaller than vancouver, but there are more cyclists. you should celebrate!

if you'd like to see some info on vancouver critical mass, check out this website: http://vancouvercm.blogspot.com/

by dunk Fri Aug 03, 2007 15:45

Critical Mass : brief report and pix
http://indymedia.ie/article/83516
"the group was small but hopefully can grow from here,"

and the city bike ride...no news if anyone contacted them or participated in that.
3rd Annual Dublin City Cycle ; Sunday, July 29, 2007
http://www.dublincitycycle.ie/registration.html

is there still interest to build a wider more diverse CM (in whatever form it might take) from this attempt?

and it seems one result has come from Velo city:
fruits from velo city: New 30km/h limit for Dublin city streets
http://indymedia.ie/article/70101&comment_limit=0&conde...03481

by smartass Fri Aug 03, 2007 16:23

What exactly is a 'critical mass PUBIC meeting"?
Should this thread be x-rated?

Is that a bicycle pump?