Reclaim The Streets Goes Global

Contents

Feature Articles

The Regulars

INTRODUCTION

An Eight-Sentence Editorial
SPREAD THE WORD!

Welcome to issue #2! We think you'll like it even better than issue #1 - and find it useful.

We've been able to pick up many professional and activist magazine distributors in North America and Britain, but we still have far to go in spreading the word in mainland Europe. Please help us out by becoming a distributor in your area. (Contact us for details.)

The Esperanto article summaries in Car Busters 1 incited some lively reactions. Do you want us to keep them in?

We're on the edge of our hard office chairs waiting for your articles, graphics, announcements, accounts of exciting new tactics and more.

STUDIES AND REPORTS

A car causes more pollution before it's ever driven than in it's entire lifetime of driving, Neopolitans spend 140 minutes a day in traffic, and European pro-bike policies explain the higher level of bike use in Europe than in America.

Urban Italians Spend 7.2 Years in Traffic

Naples residents spend 140 minutes in transit each day, says Legambiente, an Italian green group.

Assuming an average life span of 74 years, a Neapolitan will lose 7.2 years of his/her life in traffic. A Roman, who spends 135 minutes travelling each day will lose 6.9 years.

The situation is almost as bad in other cities. People in Bologna will lose 5.9 years, and those in Milan 5.3 years, reports the newspaper La Republica.

- Awake! magazine

The Environmental Cost of One Car

These figures explain why car-caused pollution cannot be fully addressed by switching to alternative fuel sources or solar-charged car batteries:

Extracting raw materials:
26.5 tonnes of waste
922 million cubic metres of polluted air.

Transporting raw materials:
12 litres of crude oil in ocean
425 million cubic metres of polluted air.

Producing the car:
1.5 tonnes of waste
74 million cubic metres of polluted air.

Driving the car:
18.4 kilos of abrasive waste
1,016 million cubic metres of polluted air

Disposing of the Car:
102 million cubic metres of polluted air.

These figures are based on a medium-sized car, three-way catalytic converter, driven 130,000 km over 10 years, averaging 10 litres/100 km of unleaded fuel. (The study was published a few years ago.)

- Cradle to the Grave study, Umwelt-und Prognose-Institut Heidelberg (Handschuhscheimer Landstr. 118a, 69121 Heidelberg, Germany; tel./fax: +(49) 6221-47-35-00).

Country Percent of Trips by Travel Mode (all trip purposes)
bicycle walking transit car other
Netherlands 30 18 5 45 2
Denmark 20 21 14 42 3
Germany (western) 12 22 16 49 1
Switzerland 10 29 20 38 3
Sweden 10 39 11 36 4
Austria 9 31 13 39 8
Germany (eastern) 8 29 14 48 1
England/Wales 8 12 14 62 4
Italy 5 28 16 42 9
Canada 1 10 14 74 1
United States 1 9 3 84 3
Source: Pucher (from various transport ministries and depts., latest avail. year)

Germany's Bicycle Boom

In the current Transportation Quarterly Rutgers University planning professor John Pucher documents a dramatic 20-year increase in German bicycle use (while car driving has dropped).

Pucher eliminates factors like climate and geography as explanations for cycling's far greater presence in European than in North American transport, and says that the longer average U.S. urban trip distances cannot account for the dramatic difference.

"In short, bicycling has been thriving precisely in those countries that have adopted policies to make bicycling faster, safer and more convenient," Pucher argues. "Bicycle use has been falling in those countries that that have been neglecting the needs of bicyclists."

Pucher examines in detail how western German cities have nurtured bicycle use. He says the German examples are more interesting than Danish and Dutch ones because cycling was not particularly prominent in Germany in the 1970s, and the big cycling increases since then have come about alongside rapid suburbanization and the world's second-highest (after the U.S.) car ownership rate. But even in major cities like Munich, cycling's share is 15 percent of all trips.

Germany's most extensive bicycle systems consist of elements like:

  • Bicycle path networks reaching all major commercial and residential areas. These are generally separated from traffic and feature ample sign systems and color-coded route plans.
  • Traffic-calmed local street networks that slow and re-route car traffic while providing easy, direct access for cyclists. Many cities with high cycling levels also have policies that restrict urban parking and highway capacity supplies.
  • "Bicycle streets" that permit car traffic but are designed to give priority to bikes - others are one-way for cars but have two-way bikeways.
  • Traffic signals that give intersection priority to bikes.
  • Strong public education on bike safety and the many personal, social and environmental benefits of cycling.
  • Adequate parking facilities of scale that varies from large central bike parking depots to wide coverage of low capacity on-street parking racks.

- Tri-State Trans. Campaign

HOW TO CURE A CAR ADDICT

John Stuart Clark

Drivers are more likely to switch to cycling than walking or public transport. What prevents them from converting is far more complex than cycle campaigners and planners might have previously believed.

Cataloguing the results of the most comprehensive British public survey of its kind, Attitudes to Cycling is a new report from the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). Perhaps the most striking results hinge on the contradiction that while cycling is perceived as good, and something to aspire to, cyclists themselves are viewed as poor, weak, eccentric social failures. Cycling is something you give up when you grow up and buy a car.

Motoring, on the other hand, is rapidly losing favour but motorists are managing to hang onto their kudos. They are still perceived as endowed with financial success, social status and personal power. That is a lot to give up for a push-bike.

It seems the decision to reject cycling is heavily influenced by three factors that advocates have previously glossed over or failed to address: image, inertia and negative peer pressure.

According to Attitudes, the public just do not have a mental picture (a stereotype) of the ordinary, everyday cyclist, and therefore cannot put themselves in his or her place. Even in York, where a 20 percent of journeys are made by bicycle, "Images of cyclists as tourists or students tended to dominate."

They will only respond, however, if given a clear image they can readily identify with. The report states that corporations and institutions, employers and "other social influencers," have a crucial role to play in up-rating the image of the down-trodden pedal pusher. By endorsing cycling, providing incentives and facilities, they will effectively legitimise the activity as something suitable, even desirable, for the "professional" classes.

The non-cyclist suffers from chronic inertia. S/he can think of no good reason for taking to the saddle, and views the whole exercise as troublesome. Furthermore, cyclists are a nuisance, "the most arrogant ******* anywhere" (quoting "male, non-cyclist, Ealing"), and they are taking up road space. All the arguments about convenience, enjoyment and health are lost on these people.

Fortunately, the report suggests, the inert are vulnerable to two "triggers." They are wide open to the moral argument and becoming increasingly "social minded," a condition "in which concern for the environment and excessive car use outweigh negative associations with cycling." Our mistake is to hone in on cycling as the alternative they aren't looking for, rather than much broader issues of urban life enhancement of which cycling is simply a part.

This gels with the rather alarming discovery that cycling promotion initiatives (specifically the National Cycle Network) have failed to make an impression on non-cyclists.

Although driver behaviour and traffic speed were cited as the principal deterrents against cycling, "strategies such as (the) provision of safe cycle paths were not sufficient to induce a change in anticipated behaviour." It seems no amount of segregated cycling infrastructure will induce people to leave the car in the garage and pedal to the shops.

The image of the new model cruising down an empty highway still holds credibility, despite its patent misrepresentation of the truth. As comedian Ben Elton says, "It's not the car I want to buy, it's the open road!"

The report is inspirational in identifying public health campaigns as marketing models that cycling promoters should study if they wish to successfully win over diehards and encourage occasional cyclists to become regular users. The important thing is not to "seek, or be seen, to confront the car."

Attitudes is ground breaking in identifying the link between car use and dependency. "In a very close analogy to smoking," we need "strategic initiatives to break the habit. It is difficult to get people to contemplate change by attacking the very behaviour they rely on."

Car addicts need to be weaned off their twice-daily hit, which can't be achieved by the rather simplistic notion "that by promoting and advertising the personal and environmental benefits of cycling, people will cycle more."

Acknowledging that individuals are at different stages toward conversion, TRL further recommends a targeted campaign taking people by the hand and leading them to enlightenment.

- Bicycle News Agency

John Stuart Clark is a freelance journalist, cyclist and cartoonist.
Attitudes to Cycling is available free from TRL, 266 Old Wokingham Road, Crowthorne, Berks RG45 6AU, U.K.

Help Reduce Short Car Trips

Send the Centre for Transport Studies information on successful efforts to minimize short car trips.

The centre is launching a study to estimate the potential of various local initiatives, especially experiments that included systematic monitoring.

The centre also welcomes data on the nature of short trips (less than eight km), (e.g., mode used, trip purpose, etc.), to compare with U.K. figures.

Contact Roger Mackett, Centre for Transport Studies, UCL, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, U.K.; tel: (44) 171 391 1554; fax: (44) 171 391 1567; rlm@transport.ucl.ac.uk.

SKILL SHARING

FIRST CAR WALKING, NOW "CAR BIKING"

Alison Ewald

I live in Budapest, where there are a few good bicycle paths, a few bad ones, and thousands of drivers who think the streets and even pavements (sidewalks) were built only for them. When cycling and walking in town, one frequently has to deal with cars parked all over the pavements and the bicycle paths, which themselves are often simply lines painted on the road.

For example, there is quite a good bicycle lane between the parallel parking lane and the kerb of one boulevard that I ride on most every day.

However, the only thing to prevent cars from parking diagonally on this bike lane are some small metal bumps a few centimetres high. Needless to say, the drivers frequently ignore these little bumps.

The kerb is high, and there are large trees planted along it, so it's quite an ordeal to pick up the bike and carry it around the trees and back onto the bike lane.

One day last year, frustrated once again at having to manœuvre around a car in my path, I remembered the famous German car-walker Michael Hartmann, who blithely walks over any cars in his way. I decided to do the same with my bike.

So when I came to the next car (a shiny black BMW) parked arrogantly across the bike lane, I got off, picked up my bike, and "rode" it over the car's windscreen and bonnet, making sure to get lots of muddy tyre-marks on the clean glass.

Then I got back on and rode away feeling vindicated and exhilarated. I hadn't harmed the driver's property, but (s)he would think twice before parking in the bicycle lane again.

A few weeks later, I was "riding" my bike over my fourth car of the day when the car-alarm went off. A passing pedestrian started scolding me, and I defended myself in rudimentary Hungarian.

As we argued, a small crowd gathered. One man asked what had happened. The first man explained what I had done, and the others looked at me, then at the car, then at the street. Finally one woman said, smiling, "She's right." I gave her a wave and rode off. Since then I have been cheered by several people who watched me ride over cars.

Most of the time, if there is someone in the car, I simply tell them it's a bike lane and they move their cars. But there have been a few less pleasant incidents. Once I tried to convince a taxi driver that the place where he was parked was for bikes, not taxis and he reacted violently.

I encourage all cyclists to try riding their bikes over cars that are parked where they shouldn't be. It works best if you can manage to ride through a puddle or some mud first. Then just pick up your bicycle in your hands and run the tyres over the windscreen and bonnet of the car. But first make sure there's nobody inside-it's always best to educate the ignorant person.

Alyson Ewald is an anti-nuclear activist from the state of Vermont, USA, living in Budapest, Hungary.

SPACE FRAMES

Tooker Gomberg and Bob Silverman

The infamous "manif spaciale" developed by the Montreal group Le Monde a Bicyclette stands as one of their favourite types of demos.

First, there is the humour of it-a bicycle taking up so much space is kind of ridiculous. And that is precisely the point: why take up so much space to move one person around? How wasteful!

Even with a small group of people, or alone, this demo feels great. The motorists finally give you wide berth, and don't squeeze up next to you and scare you. So you can pedal along at your own leisurely pace, not worried about flying car doors, having to ride right next to the curb, speeding cars coming close to you, etc. Car drivers are afraid of marring their paint job, so they leave you plenty of room.

The frames are cheap to make, and can be transported in pieces to the demo site, and then assembled there. The frames can be made more colourful with balloons, clever "licence plates" like "Ça Pue" and "I Kill" or "Carmageddon" and the like.

The action is very "media-genic", so that with only ten cyclists the event looks substantial. If you have a megaphone you can ride along and chant slogans, or just tell passers-by, who are usually quite curious about the event, what's going on. Of course, if you have a small leaflet to hand out, that improves the event even more.

From its creation in April 1975, Le Monde a Bicyclette performed "cyclodramas" (street theatre) attempting in this way to change people's perceptions of the bicycle and car in the city.

The immense space that each car uses-to transport an average of 1.3 people every working day-has led to the mass destruction of buildings into parking lots in Montreal and other North American cities.

To graphically illustrate the huge waste of space of the car and the negligible space taken up by the bicycle, we used wood frames to convert our bicycles into the approximate size of small cars and cycled in unison down the main street of Montreal.

Operating instructions

Drill a hole in a 3x2 metre-long piece of wood. Do this four times. Make sure the wooden narrow planks are a little longer than the bicycle itself. Insert a long cord or wire into the four holes. Grasp the cord or wire with the same hands as the handlebar and brakes. Assemble in a park near downtown and practice riding together with these attachments. It is best to peddle together on a main street downtown as turning is tricky with these attachments and best avoided.

LOBBYING YOUR CITY COUNCIL

Experiences from five corners of Europe

Whether you agree with lobbying, your local government is not going to disappear in a hurry. Here are the experiences of some activists who have tried to influence their local council's transport agenda.

Michael Bridgeland
Southwark Cyclists
London, U.K.

The impact of our cycling group changed when, two years ago, we started to act more constructively. We got our borough's cycling officer out on a bike with us to look at some of the facilities in the borough. Instead of telling him "this is crap" we'd say "what would happen if you were to change this slightly?"

Now the cycling officer actually rides his bike to work and understands the problems much better.

We thought big but started small. State the ideal, but be realistic, e.g., "What's needed here is a complete redesign of the entire junction, but if we were to move this island a bit and make it a bit bigger, maybe that would help."

We started making suggestions on strategic issues, for example our idea of a local network to compliment and link into the current network of planned routes. We proposed a short route as a flagship route of this local network. We brought this up in every casual conversation with the council, promoting it as the way to get every person in the borough closer to a safe cycle route. Six months later, our council has this great idea! How about a local network?

We have built up mutual trust with the council without losing our independence. We avoid "slagging them off" in the press; there is no point jeopardising the future for the sake of a rant. Many of us take part in actions such as the London Critical Mass, but as individuals, not as a group. Image and professionalism can count for a lot.

We accepted that this campaigning lark is a long game; you can never expect instant results. We always try to get something out of our defeats as well as our victories. Pat backs when things work, look to the future when they don't and learn from these lessons. Two years ago we would have to demand meetings with our council. Now the cycling officer and his "chief" ring us up regularly saying "What do you think of this idea?"

Teo Anastasoaie
Tinerii Prieteni ai Naturii
Timisoara, Romania

An important factor in any lobbying campaign is the position of your group in the city's community. We are a student group based on a well-established student campus, a factor which cuts us off from the wider community. This has proved a significant barrier to our lobbying. A member of the city even stated, "You are not serious, you are not from the city." We have found that by making it a conscious strategy to integrate ourselves in the local networks and seek strong contacts we have improved the situation.

Evert Hassink
Milieu Defensie
Groningen, Netherlands

A strong anti-car policy was formed in Groningen in the'70s but town officials are now becoming more tolerant towards car-traffic from the fear of losing economic development. Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth Groningen) has been fighting this trend by exposing local authorities' failure to follow their official (anti-car) policies. We're now fighting a several-million-guilder proposal to build a giant car park under our central square. We have formed a broad coalition to oppose it, consisting of political (Green and even Christian) parties, bicycle groups, public transport users, neighbourhood groups, and individuals.

We have attracted press and political attention by emphasising that big sacrifices must be made for the sake of this project, and that projects like this have got to stop. Our efforts have helped keep non-car transport and the importance of a compact city on the planners' agenda.

To publicise our campaign, we organised a friendly blockade last winter against V&D, a big department store that has threatened not to invest in the city centre unless the underground car park is built.

Ferenc Joo
Hungarian Traffic Club
Budapest, Hungary

We have found the environmental committee of the municipal government to be the best lobbying target because this committee has a strong voice in the assembly. Unfortunately its members can still be convinced by persuasive planners, especially as most members of the environmental committee are car users.

We have tried another approach, teaming up with citizens' groups who organised demonstrations and blockades, against the passage of lorries through a densely populated area of South Buda. This was a success; the chief transport planner eventually promised to erect traffic signs forbidding lorries there.

Every year we try to influence the city transport budget. We present arguments in different committees about the need for better public transport, how more roads do not solve congestion, etc. It is always important to know some of the economic aspects of projects you are opposing, such as external costs, and to present alternatives.

Each year we have a petition campaign. This spring we went one step further, renting a bus, and decorating its sides with slogans such as "We are waiting for better public transport!" and "Do the decision-makers ride with us?" We drove the bus around town for a week and as a result, 113 organizations (mostly non-environmental ones) signed it.

To strengthen our campaigns we often use a study that we ordered from a city consulting firm. We have dubbed this study "Our Shocking Transport Habits." It shows most inner-city congestion is caused by cars travelling from the suburbs, not from circulation of traffic within the city.

Fred Rollet
Pour une Ville sans Voitures
Lyon, France

In France, a lack of environmental activists often means petitions and actions don't work. Building a relationship with the council via letters, meetings with the "right" people, approaching speakers after public debates and discussions over a drink often proves more effective.

We have learned you must chose who you target in the council very carefully. Politicians are more easily seduced by the technicians and engineers than the public, therefore it is often interesting to try and convince these people first. It can be hard to sift through the layers of bureaucracy and find the appropriate council department to target but after a few tries you find the one which most closely echoes your ideas.

If you are to be taken seriously, you need to study the planning and transport documents that you can obtain from the council. Show that you consider the economic arguments, since you will often be fighting the commercial sector, with their "dollar-sign" philosophy.

It is not impossible to learn your facts so well that you know the files and the project proposals better than the politicians. You can then trip them up in public, at some television event or public meeting, when you expose the faults in their arguments.

You can contact any of the authors through Car Busters.
Contact transport or environmental NGOs in your country to see if they provide lobbying guides. Transport 2000 in the U.K. produces a number of lobbying guides.

LETTERS

Alcohol has the capacity to regress motorists to a pre-industrial state of mind, incapable of operating complex machinery in a "responsible" way.
But let's not divert our attention from the true cause of alcohol-related car crashes: our dependence on cars and the lack of alternatives.

- Ken Avidor

Global Anti-Car Infection

Received "Car Busters." An excellent journal which, I hope, will infect the world with a great idea! America has turned into a national automobile slum. I doubt our culture will survive it.

Jim Kunstler
[author, The Geography of Nowhere]
Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

Chiapas Bike Revolution

Here in Tuxtla Gutierrez (Chiapas, Mexico) I have been witnessing a growing cycling culture within mobile food services, human-powered pedi-cabs and water delivery.

A yellow, front-loading tricycle delivers a 20-kilo glass container of drinking water to my doorstep. It's an inspiring and heartwarming sight to see these riders out in the streets braving the everyday insanity of motorized traffic.

These same three-wheeled wonders are used by food vendors to peddle (pedal) their "comidas de diablos" (meals on wheels) in public parks and plazas.

In nearby Ocozocoatla, pedi-cab drivers dominate the streets, having created a sustainable niche that both the townspeople and visitors alike rely on.

But the majority of these vendors have taken to the bicycle primarily because of the desperate economic situation; Tuxtla Gutierrez is a long way from becoming a transportation mecca.

On the flip side, the seeds of ideological change are germinating. If, like in Cuba, they can infuse economic disparity with sustainable transportation education and infrastructure, these seeds may have a chance to grow into something truly beautiful.

Calvin Smith
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
bicyclesmith@hotmail.com

Car Show Hits Tallinn

A huge car exhibition came to Tallinn last weekend [April 18] and congested half of the city. Visitors had to drive 30 minutes and then park two km away.

"The country must be filled with cars, as car ownership is the democratic right of free citizens," the newspaper editorials concluded. "The exhibition ground should have a proper parking house to accommodate all cars."

But a nearby festival ground holds more than 200,000 people (1/4 of all Estonians) at a time. If this place should have a "proper" parking house to fit all the car-driving "free" people of Estonia, it would mean building at least ten 15-story parking houses that would stay empty 99 percent of the time. Meanwhile people can't even cross a street safely in Tallinn. <

Mari Jussi
Tallinn, Estonia

Anti-Traffic Street Football

Since Norway is going ape over our brilliant football team, we have started playing football (once with 90 people) in Prinsenkrysset, Trondheim's most heavily trafficked and polluted intersection. Bergen has done it twice, with great success. Why can't the French do this during the World Cup?

Kristian Aas
Bergen, Norway

Put all Articles in English

Bravo, votre magazine est tres drôle et instructif. Les allergiques a la bagnole se sentent moins seuls. A mon avis, je mettrais tous les articles en anglais avec résumés dans diverses langues.

Patrick Ricou
Bourg la Reine, France

Critical Mass Hits Croatia

We just had Croatia's first Critical Mass-in Zagreb 35-40 people on bikes rode through the city for almost an hour, during a sunny Saturday morning. The streets (3 lanes) were filled with bikes, and we managed to block the traffic completely. There were no reactions from the cops, and that was liberating.

Marko Lenjivac
Zagreb, Croatia

Berlin, Too!

Berlin, Germany also participates in [Critical] Mass. See . Rides take place the last Friday of every month starting 16:00 from Brandenburg Gate.

Mitya Suchin
Berlin, Germany

Warsaw Couriers Inspire

We can see every day more and more cyclists in Warsaw. One Danish company has started delivering letters and packages by bike. This has proved successful because cyclists don't have to wait in traffic jams. A few other companies have started using bikes, too, for sending messages, delivering pizza, etc.

"Ordinary" people have been inspired by these couriers, and there are crowds of cyclists now-"crowds" by Warsaw standards-which don't compare to the Netherlands at all, not yet.

Zuzanna Iskierka
Green Federation, Warsaw, Poland

Bicycle Terrorist Threatens

Recently the Green Federation painted with our help a 600-metre-long bike lane on one of the main streets in Warsaw. The government of the city was not able to do it for two years, so the greens decided to do it themselves. The bikers' demo of 150 people joined in with the painting afterward. They demanded more bike lanes within a month, or else they will repeat these Critical Mass bike rides every month.

Warsaw papers recently reported about "menaces from a bike terrorist" threatening to spray over cars that park on the self-made bike lane.

Zaczek
Polish Anarchist Federation
Warsaw, Poland

Fuel Price Rises Bring Down Suharto?

The recent tumultuous events in Indonesia have been splashed all over the papers.
Escalating demonstrations in April and May finally led Suharto's key allies to desert him and he had little choice but to resign. The fuel subsidy reductions demanded by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) were widely reported as the catalyst for the rioting and demonstrations before the downfall.

Probably just as important, but less widely reported, were the steep rises in public transport fares occurring at the same time.

Other factors were responsible for the public outcry, for example rising prices of many goods and people's refusal to continue to accept Suharto's corruption-tainted regime. Nonetheless, leaders elsewhere are probably making a mental note to themselves, "Never raise fuel prices; never raise fuel prices."

That would be a shame. The sudden removal of fuel subsidies certainly can hurt desperately poor people. But on the other hand, fuel subsidies, especially on gasoline, always benefit the rich much more than the poor. Removal of fuel subsidies can be a sustainable solution if carried out with policies that directly benefit lower-income groups.

It's urgent for governments and international bodies to give serious attention to fuel pricing policy. This attention must go beyond the purely economic and financial focus of the IMF and include a sharp focus on sustainability, and what is politically possible in each country.

- Paul Barter (SUSTRANS) Mitsubishi Boycott Fizzles What About the Car?

After five years of railing against Mitsubishi's rainforest clearcutting, U.S.-based Rainforest Action Network recently struck a weak deal.

The Mitsubishi boycott had begun with car show shut-downs and powerful newspaper ads such as "Dahmer, Bundy, Manson, Mitsubishi: You Get the Picture."

Later the campaign degenerated into "Turning Mitsubishi Green," featuring the company's logo evolving into a sprig of leaves. On top of that, the deal struck in the end isn't even legally binding, yet everyone thinks the boycott is over.

Even worse, the issue of Mitsubishi's cars was completely off the negotiating table - even though 40 percent of the world's forests will fry from global warming by 2010 at the current rate of temperature rise. If you thought Mitsubishi's logging destroyed forests, just wait 'til you see what its cars can do. Let this be a wake-up call to forest activists.

- Burnie Dozer

Strategy/philosophy

We Can't Win a "Me" Battle

"Taking transport personally" is an error many of us are making, the one the oil and car industries promote to high heaven: "It's not just a car, it's your freedom."

No community-based group can win a "me" battle, such as, "individual drivers mustn't drive." By playing to "me" we are accepting the false reality of the advertising industry, and wow are they ready to whip our behinds! They can put car ads on the sides of buses.

Just look at the ads. It isn't the language of practical transportation, it's the language of a simple drug pusher, telling us all real power comes from me, me, me.

The goal of advertising is to turn every choice into a decision about your own identity so that you will feel a personal connection with your chosen product and will a) buy it again, b) recommend it to your friends, and c) never consider not buying it.

It can be very hard to go give up the false control the ad world offers us, but we have to in order to live together.

Transportation is not about personal preference-it's a public decision, a public process. Before you argue that individuals shouldn't drive, how about arguing for a world where cars are useless?

- David Powers

CAR CULT REVIEW

Cecile Porc drove for eight miles with a cyclist spread-eagled across her windscreen, refusing to stop. Madame Porc, 83, hit the man near Valence, France, catapulting him onto the bonnet to hang for dear life. As she accelerated to 110 kph, she shouted "Murderer, Murderer."

The man hammered on the windscreen screaming "I'm a cyclist" but Porc just turned on the windscreen wipers. Police eventually stopped her.

"My only regret," she later declared, "is that I didn't drive into a wall and squash him like a truffle."

- Public radio's "Car Talk"

While the U.K.'s RoadPeace actually assists victims of car violence, a California group by the same name has popped up to offer plastic windshield stickers, pledge cards and driving tips for motorists "tired of people being mean on the motorways."

After founder Ann Clark encountered a rude guy on the road, she exclaimed, "Enough! Let's do something to turn this craziness around!"

Just decide to help make the roadways a more peaceful place, and send for your RoadPeace Kit, says Clark's web site. "Your stickers will remind you to stay calm and serene even if every other driver is going berserk."

Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Lipinski is turning 'Sweet Sixteen' and, like many teenagers, is looking forward to the day she can drive a car. With her mind on the dream, Tara takes a look at Autoweb.com, the biggest automotive retailer online.

"I travel a lot [by car], so doing things online makes sense because I don't have much time,' said Lipinski. 'The Autoweb.com site is really fun and a real quick way of looking at all my favorite cars from Chevrolet."

- Autoweb.com advert

Car-Free Cult Review: The Christian Ecology Link promoted Car-Free Sunday on June 14, persuading churchgoers across Britain to give their cars a day of rest.

WORLD NEWS

"Why do people have to dash off somewhere? Just look at your kitten-it's dozing so peacefully! Machines will bring a new oppression of man. They will only stir up envy and competitiveness. The Revolution is in Jeopardy, but it will not be destroyed. If we win, then we shall annihilate these motors. Instead, we shall plant the groves of Jean-Jacques..."

- Unknown, Moscow, 1921

GREAT BRITAIN

Blair Sets Back Radical Transport Proposal

Meant to be published in May, the U.K. government's Transport White Paper had been put off until at least July.

This document, proposing radical pro-cycling measures, is still in the disapproving hands of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet. They consider it too "anti-motoring."

The White Paper proposes taxation of motorists to fund cycling initiatives, compulsory cycle lanes on all new roads, legislation to force train operators to carry bikes and safe cycling routes for schoolchildren, according to The Times.

The government's reaction demonstrates their reluctance to turn earlier promises to tackle Britain's car problem into action.

"They claim the White Paper has been delayed to allow some re-doing of the financial details, but they are most likely chipping away its contents," Friends of the Earth U.K. reports.

Posh Edinburgh Conference Unites E.U. Car-Free Network

Three hundred suit-and-tied car-free city advocates each paid £493.50 to gather in Edinburgh June 22 and 23. They dined in the Edinburgh Castle, were received by the Lord Provost, and got a private showing of the Scottish crown jewels.

Apart from panels that mostly covered developments in European cities, working groups looked at how to solve Edinburgh's transport problems.

Believe it or not they decided the name of their pan-European intergovernmental network-Car-Free Cities-was too radical for them. But the name will likely stay intact with an explosive subtitle such as "Avoiding the Transport Timebomb."

POLAND

Hitler's Road Plan Nearly Complete-Fifty Years Later

Police raided a protest camp June 8 and arrested 24 people near Opole after its month-long defence of a forest reserve threatened by the A4 motorway. The camp has disbanded for now.

"The police were okay, better than the private guards who tried to attack the camp chasing protestors with off-road vehicles and beating them with clubs," recounted Marcin Hyla of Green Federation.

The motorway would slice through Mt. St. Anna, fragmenting a reserve of ancient woodland, destroying habitats and a village. The activists built tree-houses, tunnels and lock-ons to defend the site.

The motorway, to be funded by the European "PHARE" project and the European Investment Bank, has an eerie background. "The road was part of Hitler's plans for the region. Spurred on by their eagerness to join the European Union and search for the cheapest option, Polish authorities are displaying the same totalitarian zeal in pushing their plans through," remarks one activist.

Contact tel: +(48) 33 183 153; e-mail: wopienica@pnrwi.most.org.pl.
Stop press: We just heard June 30 that a group have re-blocked the site.

GERMANY

Autofrei Leben Hits Bonn

Nicholas Huhn, who organised last year's Car-Free Life conference in the U.K., has moved back to Germany and set up the similarly named Autofrei Leben in Bonn on June 6.

This second car-free life conference united over 100 car-free campaigners for the day. A follow-up conference is planned for this winter in Weimar.

INDONESIA

Reforestation Fund Used to Develop National Car

Indonesia was unable to use a special reforestation fund to cope with massive forest fires last year because the money had been transferred to develop a national car, International Monetary Fund managing director Michel Camdessus revealed. The Timor Putra Company, responsible for the national car project, is controlled by Indonesian ex-President Suharto's youngest son.

- The (Malaysia) Sun

ZIMBABWE

Cars Increase In Harare

Zimbabwe's capital of Harare, a city of nearly two million, now has a total of 261,059 vehicles, making it possible for every eight people to share one car, a government official said.

The number of vehicles is expected to grow in the next few months, bringing about more traffic congestion problems.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Energy said the situation had created parking space shortages and traffic jams, adding that most motorists could only use public transport if it is improved.

Last year, the Harare City Council banned heavy vehicles in the city during peak hours and increased parking fees in an effort to reduce the flow of vehicles.

- Xinhua

NIGERIA

Shell : humour noir

Le président de la société Royal Dutch Shell, Co Herkstroter a demandé le 8 mai, au Nigeria d'accorder "un traitement juste" aux détenus politiques de la minorité ogonie. "C'est un exemple de notre engagement a soutenir les droits fondamentaux de l'homme". Non seulement il se moque du monde, mais Shell continue dans les faits a soutenir le régime nigérian et sa répression féroce contre les Ogonis.

Nigeria Releases 15 Ogoni Political Prisoners

On May 22, 15 of the 20 Ogoni political detainees held in the same cell since May 1994 were granted bail by the Nigerian High Court.

A ruling on bail applications by another five prisoners is expected this summer. They face the same politically motivated murder charge which sent Ken Saro-Wiwa, and eight other Ogoni to the gallows in 1995.

Since 1993, Ogoni people have suffered shootings, rapes, arbitrary arrests, mass looting, extortion, torture and imprisonment in degrading conditions at the hands of a military that is armed and paid for by Shell.

The Ogoni 20 have been in prison because they opposed Shell's dirty operations in Nigeria and the devastation of Ogoni land by 30 years of oil drilling.

Shell has its own private police force operating in the region, an elite detachment of the Nigerian police.

Meanwhile Shell has threatened to sue Canadian Post workers refusing to fuel their company vehicles at Shell stations in solidarity with the Ogoni.

For news on Ogoni, Shell and Nigeria contact Delta, Box Z, 13 Biddulph Street, Leicester LE2 1BH, U.K.; tel: 0116 255 3223; web: www.oneworld.org/delta.

Or contact Project Underground: 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94703, USA; tel: +(510) 705-8981; fax: +(510) 705-8983; web: www.moles.org.

First Made-in-Nigeria Car Launched

The first made-in-Nigeria car known as Z-600 has been launched in the eastern city of Owerri.

Nigerian engineer and Chief Executive of Izuogu Motors, Ezekiel Izuogu, said he conceived, designed and manufactured the car.

The unit price of the new car is between 150,000 and 180,000 naira (between U.S. $1,800 and $2,000).

Nigeria has several vehicle assembly plants, but new cars have been priced beyond the reach of the average salary earner, forcing many to patronise the booming market of imported used vehicles.

Izuogu said it would require 200 million naira (U.S. $2.4 million) to set up a factory fit to produce only about 30 Z-600 cars a year.

- Nicholas Ibewuike, PANA

CHINA

Tibetans Turn to Taxis

In the vast and sparsely populated Tibet Autonomous Region, people traditionally visit relatives by riding horses. However, more and more Tibetans are turning to taxis.

"It's more comfortable and more fashionable to take a taxi," said one Tibetan youth getting out of a taxi.

"Being a taxi driver is good," said 30-year-old Cedan, a Tibetan farmer-turned taxi driver. "It not only promises a modest salary, but also makes me more clever as a result of communicating with all types of people from different places."

Since the first taxi company set up in Lhasa in 1994, taxi numbers have surged from 10 to 970. "To take a taxi" has become one of the most frequently used phrases among Lhasa's residents," said Cedan.

- Xinhua

Cars at Fault in all Accidents

In China, "in any accident involving an automobile and a pedestrian or cyclist, the driver of the automobile is presumed to be at fault. Foreigners often complain of racial treatment when they are considered at fault in an accident."

- Consular information sheet

Economic Growth = Cars and Motorcycles

In Guangzhou, one of the pioneer cities "opening up" to capitalism, bicycles are giving way to buses and motorcycles.

Even during rush hour, bicycle flow is light on city streets and half of the original bicycle lanes have been converted to motor-vehicle use.

The Wuyang Bicycle Company, once a profitable manufacturer here, has merged with a motorcycle group.

Deng Xingdong, engineer of the Guangzhou Institute of Traffic Planning, said the city's choice of traffic tools has always reflected the level of economic growth. In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, the per capita gross domestic product is 3,000 U.S. dollars and 617,000 cars and motorcycles are registered in the city.

Guangzhou has a population of 3.9 million. Now every two families share an automobile or a motorcycle.

- Xinhua

Beijing Oxygen Bars

In Beijing, air pollution is so bad that people patronize "oxygen bars," where the only mood-altering substance available is pure oxygen.

"When I was a little boy in Beijing, the blue sky was really impressive," said Liang Congjie of the local group Friends of Nature.

Today air quality is up to five times worse than Los Angeles. Breathing Beijing air for a day is equal to smoking three packs of unfiltered cigarettes.

- San Francisco Chronicle

KENYA

New Fee Cuts Bike Sales

Sales of bicycles have been depressed by an annual licence fee of Sh200 for bicycle owners introduced by the Nairobi City Council February 20, a trader said yesterday.

"Bicycles are meant for the poor and the licence fee can make a big difference to the income of a poor person," said M. Shah, the bicycle shop owner. "It can scare a prospective buyer away and this seems to be what has happened."

Shah said that before the licence fee was introduced, bicycle sales were remarkably higher.

Shah appealed to the council to scrap the licence, noting that bicycles, unlike cars, did not damage roads. The trader noted that he had lately witnessed the arrest of bicycle owners unaware that they were required to have a licence.

UNITED STATES

Nation's First Car-Free Street Lost to Developers

In 1959, Kalamazoo, Michigan closed off several city blocks and constructed America's first pedestrianised street since the beginning of the car age.

After a successful petition drive in 1996, area business and politicians convinced Kalamazoo voters to pass an initiative that would introduce traffic back onto Main Street in hopes of sparking developers' interest.

The Kalamazoo Chamber of Commerce and the local Business Council spent thousands of dollars swaying citizens to vote for the redevelopment plan. Removal of the first two blocks of the car-free street began during the third week in April. Traffic is expected to be flowing down Main Street by September.

Fewer Taxis, Better City

New Yorkers saw a real-world traffic reduction experiment on Wednesday, May 13, courtesy of taxi drivers who stayed home to protest against new reckless driving rules.
With dramatically less traffic, the Manhattan central business district was a pedestrian and urban paradise compared to gridlock-as-usual May 12 and the exhaust pipe-generated haze of May 14.

- Tri-State Trans. Campaign

Clinton Transport Budget Ignores Global Warming

On February 2, President Clinton unveiled his proposed transportation budget for fiscal year 1999. It includes flat funding levels for highway programs, but a cut in funding for transit.

Funding for federal transportation programs would increase from $42.8 billion to $43.3 billion, an increase of one percent. As usual, the bulk of resources in the bill go toward the highway program. The proposal now awaits Congressional action.
The Clinton budget provides $4.77 billion for transit funding in 1999, $67 million less than fiscal year 1998.

- Friends of the Earth

Charges Dropped from July Critical Mass

Eight months after 105 people were arrested in the infamous July '97 Critical Mass bike ride, no one has ever gone to trial. Charges in every case have been dropped.

Mayor Brown and police brass vowed at the time to get tough on the arrested bicyclists.

"It's a complete vindication of what the bicyclists have been saying all along." said Jennifer Granick, a San Francisco attorney representing 100 defendants. "Their arrests were the result of efforts by The City to shut down a legitimate form of political protest."

- S.F. Examiner

CANADA

Opinion Turns Against Cars Another "great green wave" is swelling in Canadian public opinion, just like the one that made environment the top issue of the late 1980s, the head of a major polling firm says.

The car seems set to be the most important issue, with 45 percent of people saying driving a car is the most environmentally damaging thing they do.

- Ottawa Citizen

BRASIL

Renault : a vous d'inventer la friche qui va avec

Renault s'installe au Brésil a Curitiba, a 300 km au sud de Sao Paulo, au bord de l'Océan Atlantique. Parce que le constructeur souhaitait un site "tres pur pour que rien n'abîme la peintures des véhicules fraîchement produits", la municipalité a alors défriché une zone de source protégée a l'intérieur de la foret tropicale; les pouvoirs publics retirant a ce territoire le statut d'espace protégé.

- Amis de la Terre

THE WORLD

Car Sales Thermoter: West Up, Asia Slumps

Europe and America reported record sales in early 1998. May saw the U.S.'s highest sales since 1986.

Meanwhile world car sales have slumped four percent since last year, according to the Orwellian-sounding Economic Intelligence Unit. Its report attributes the decline to collapses in Asian economies.

Ford and G.M.'s Hypocrisy Exposed

"We just can't make our products any cleaner or more fuel efficient," say the "Big Three" U.S. car manufacturers.

This argument has always been a lie, but now they've admitted it. While in the U.S. they're using this argument to oppose higher fuel-economy standards, the European operations of Ford and General Motors have announced they are supporting a plan to raise the average fuel economy of new cars sold in Europe to 39 mpg within 10 years. That's dramatically higher than the current U.S. standard of 27.5 mpg.

AU TCHAD, ELF RECRÉE LE NIGERIA DE SHELL

Fred Rollet

Des opposants a un oléoduc sont torturés et tués

Au Tchad, le député Ngarlegy Yorongar est détenu par le gouvernement pour avoir insulté et diffamé le président du parlement, Wadal Kamougué.

Celui-ci, selon les déclarations de N. Yorongar au journal L'Observeur en juillet 97, aurait obtenu de la société Elf 1,5 milliards de Francs CFA pour sa campagne électorale lors des élections présidentielles de 96.

Yorongar avait également dénoncé la main mise du président dictateur Idriss Deby sur l'exploitation du pétrole tchadien et le financement de sa campagne par la même compagnie pétroliere. N. Yorongar qui a déjà été arreté une dizaine de fois et subit la torture, devait passer en procès au mois de juin avec deux journalistes de L'Observeur. On craint pour la sécurité de Yorongar. On sait que ses conditions de détention et sa santé ne sont pas bonnes.

Au centre de cette affaire donc, le projet de captage des champs pétroliers du Sud tchadien ainsi que la construction d'un oléoduc de 1258 km les reliant à la côte camerounaise.

Ce projet de 3,5 milliards de dollar (pres de trois fois le PNB tchadien) est mené par un consortium réunissant Elf (20%), Shell et Exxon (40% chacun). Ce projet est soutenu par la Banque Mondiale qui accorderait un pret de 250 M$ au consortium et un de 115 M$ aux gouvernements camerounais et tchadien pour leur participation dans l'affaire. Celui-ci, au taux tres bas (0,5%), provient d'un fond destiné a lutter contre la pauvreté!

En fait, les revenus estimés a 600 MF/an profiteront surtout au clan Deby, le Comité du Pétrole étant constitué de membres de la famille présidentielle... L'habitude d'Elf et des autres groupes pétroliers a soutenir les régimes les plus répressifs (Nigeria, Gabon, Birmanie...) s'illustre a nouveau au Tchad.

Les premiers déplacements de personnes ont commencé en juillet 1996 vers des zones sans eau potable, ni infrastructures. Ils concerneront 40000 personnes. Les équilibres écologiques sont également compromis sur tout le parcours du pipeline. Déja en octobre 97, pas moins de 80 personnes, principalement des civils, ont été tuées, victimes d'une campagne du gouvernement contre l'opposition au projet de pipeline.

INDUSTRY WATCH

Ford Allegedly Helped Torture Argentine Workers

Argentine workers who were "disappeared" under the military dictatorship had been detained and tortured in a secret detention centre at Ford Motor Company's factory in an industrial suburb of Buenos Aires, according to legal documents submitted March 16 in a Madrid court by the Congress of Argentine Workers.

The documents state the victims had been selected for detention, torture and execution in consultation with management at Ford's Argentine subsidiary, which provided the military with facilities in Ford's General Pacheco plant and even donated vehicles to transport prisoners to military prisons and torture centres. Evidence against the U.S. automaker was presented as part of a 5,000-page report detailing dirty-war repression against workers and union members.

The case in Spain was initiated two years ago by relatives of some of the estimated 600 Spaniards who disappeared in Argentina during the military repression. The Spanish court has claimed the right to try the Argentine military leaders under international law, citing as precedent the prosecution of fugitive Nazi war criminals.

The union document described the repression by Ford and other major Argentine companies as an attempt to "implement state terrorism and genocide with the objective of socially disciplining the working class and thereby obtaining a higher rate of profit."

Within a year after the junta seized power, Argentine wage levels were cut in half, all union contracts were suspended, factory committees were outlawed and tens of thousands of union activists were fired.

- International Workers Bulletin

Suit Claims Ford Collaborated with Nazis

"The Ford Motor Company reaped enormous profits" from collaboration with Hitler's Nazis, a class action suit claims. Ford allegedly used slave labour to build tens of thousands of military vehicles at its factories in Germany during World War II beginning in 1941.

The case, filed on March 4 in a U.S. federal court, demands that the company turn over all profits derived from slave labour to the labourers involved.

Ford admits slave labour had been used at Ford Werke's plant in Cologne but claims its U.S. head office had lost contact with its German operations before the U.S. entered the war in December 1941, regaining control only seven years later.

"Ford Werke AG, Ford's German subsidiary, was an eager, aggressive and successful bidder for forced labourers" after the Nazi government introduced forced labour, say the claimants. By 1943, 50 percent of Ford Werke's workers were slave labourers, mostly non-Germans. As many as 10,000 men, women and children were forced to work for Ford during the war.

"Relieved of the necessity of paying wages," Ford Werke doubled its profits by 1943, charge the claimants. The lawsuit said "the personal friendship" between Henry Ford and Adolf Hitler led to favourable treatment for the Ford company even after the U.S. entered the war.

The plaintiffs allege Henry Ford each year gave birthday gifts to Hitler, and Hitler awarded him the Great Cross of the German Order of the Eagle in 1938.
- Antifa Info-Bulletin

ACTION

"Wicked" London Street Parties

Streets in North and South London experienced staged car crashes on June 6, for the kick-off of two London street parties.

The genial atmosphere at both parties continued until nightfall with shoppers joining the dancing and even policemen tapping their toes to the drums and samba. Police were relaxed, avoiding a previous mistake of sealing off people's exit routes.

Violence was minimal, a "spokescreature" recalls, referring to children venting aggression on the North London scrap cars.

Pluk De Straat III -

(Amsterdam Street Party III)

Sunday, April 5 saw a Car-Free Sunday action in Amsterdam, with a few hundred people occupying a bridge for over three hours.

The demonstration left a square in the city centre with bikes and walkers for an official demo for Car-Free (Sun)days.

At a big bridge on the River Amstel, the demo stopped, three tripods materialised and a bike barricade was set up by locking over 30 old bikes together in a chain. The sound system started playing and people with stilts and jugglers appeared. The Rampenplan mobile kitchen brought drinks and food. Party! Some drivers left their cars to join in.

Later the police cut open the locks to take away the bikes and removed the road blockade materials. Some struggles resulted in police horses almost hitting tripods.

After several hours we moved on, stopping in a tunnel nearby for some more dancing, and ending in a park where the sunny day stopped and people danced in the rain with a beautiful rainbow. Next party? You'll hear about it!

- Pim Van Gaelen, Amsterdam

North America's First Reclaim the Streets Party

On April 18, 200 people occupied Charles Street in the first Reclaim the Streets Party to be held in North America.

People first gathered to celebrate Anti-Corporate Earth Day, when the appearance of the Food Not Bombs truck heralded the start of the street party.

A huge banner unfolded. A rusty car was pushed to the end of the street to block it. Orange traffic cones, signs, sofas, barrels, drums, and boxes of free food drew the crowds onto the street.

The street had been turned into a dance floor, a dining room, a theatre, and a playground for people.

Police watched from a distance. Afterwards, one of them tried to arrest a few people for "stolen property" who were cleaning up the street. The allegedly stolen property? A few traffic cones and signs.

- Elisa Peter, Vancouver

Romanian Nature Friends Fight Timisoara Traffic

On April 22, Tinerii Prieteni ai Naturii (Young Nature Friends) organised its first traffic action.

We got a police permit to distribute "educational leaflets" to car drivers at a busy intersection. The main message: "Beware: Cars Aren't Good in the City," with funny drawings and shocking data about the impact of car use on health.

The 15 of us wore filtering masks, which turned black in two hours from high pollution. The traffic was not blocked, but since there was a big jam anyway we didn't miss a single car. We praised the (rare) passing bikers and public transport drivers.

Car drivers' reactions depended on the individual and the way we approached them. Generally, the older and more polluting the car, the more aggressive the driver.

Timisoara is the most liberal and multicultural Romanian city, but car numbers have increased in past years.

Decades ago, bikes were common as a result of German influence. Today no bike paths exist and only a courageous few ride bikes. But we have good public transport.

We plan to start a traffic campaign in October to bring car-related problems to the public conscience. Young Nature Friends hopes to receive campaign ideas, fund-raising, and even international volunteers.

- Teodora Anastasoaie
Timisoara, Romania

SIX LANES? YOU MUST BE CHOKING!


Activists squat disused railway station

"You must be choking," baldly declared a six-metre banner outside Oxford's railway station.
Curiosity aroused, I turned the corner to find a decorated building and a sturdy tree house. Was I dreaming? A protest site in the middle of Oxford?

No, this is the London-Midland Scottish railway station, which stands in the way of Council plans for a six-lane "spaghetti junction."

The station is decorated with banners, artwork, and "alternative" traffic signs. Inside, the spacious building provides a sleeping room, kitchen and information area and a hanging net to provide a quick escape. A circle of sofas beckoned to me and here I heard the story over a bottle of cider.

"This six-lane development is designed almost entirely with cars in mind, in spite of the Council's denials," explains Gary, a former Newbury activist. "People on foot will have up to seven crossings to contend with, waiting for two minutes at polluted islands in between. Two of the lanes are bus lanes but according to the council's own model, only a quarter of the traffic in these lanes will actually be buses."

Ironically, the council described it as a "junction realignment" when it's in fact the biggest Oxford road planned in years. The public have been kept totally in the dark. "The real reason for building the road seems to be the sweeteners of £400,000 each given to the council by Persimmon Homes and the University of Oxford, who both want to develop the area," Gary told me.

Wafic Said, an alleged arms and torture-equipment dealer, has donated £20 million to the university to build a business school here.

How symbolic of today's transport attitudes: a disused railway station (Oxford's railway station from 1851 to 1951) about to be removed to make way for a car-centric polluting project! As well as removing this historic building, the road will destroy several mature trees.

A hundred years ago, the building was full of ticket buyers and resounded with trampling travellers' feet. Today, work on rope walkways in the trees progresses; activists plot "lock-ons" and tunnels to resist eviction.

The exhibitions of photos and news clippings are placed in the front and the station's "public relations" team go out with their smiles, encouraging passers-by to sign the petition and take copies of the "Nightmare on Park End Street" info sheet. Every Saturday is open day, filled with music, info, tours, painting and games. Once you have sunk into one of the comfy sofas, it's hard to leave.

"We want as many people to pass by and hear about what's going on, even if they only stop for a cup of tea," Gary said with a laugh.

- Bethan Stagg

Guerrilla Bike-Lane Painter Cited for Malicious Damage

A frustrated cyclist who painted fake bike lanes along Sydney street was let off a malicious damage charge March 31 with a warning from a magistrate and a $51 fine.

Manuela Crank, 27, was one of a number of people who painted bicycle-lane symbols around midnight on November 26. More than 40 of the symbols were applied to a busy thoroughfare before police arrived.

Said one anonymous member of the group: "the action was carried out by a group of cyclists who had become tired of asking nicely for better facilities.

"In the past we've had no success working within the system," he said. He said more bicycle lanes were likely to pop up soon.

"The councils don't seem to have enough money to build enough bicycle facilities so we're helping them out," he added.

- AAP

Fight Trans-Israeli Highway

This motorway would cross 300 km of central Israel, covering our remaining green spaces with asphalt. Much of the destruction would be caused by development planned along the road.

The companies involved:

  • Africa Israel Investments (Israel)
  • Société Générale bank (France)
  • Canadian Highways (Canada)
  • Hapoalim bank (Israel)
  • Hughes (U.S.A)

Please act against these companies. See www.users.idc.ac.il/green/road6.htm for details.

- The Wolf

Car-Free Day Hits U.K.

Minister turfs the way for Car-Free Day

Transport minister Glenda Jackson, had a busy day on June 12. She was laying the last turf on the civic offices' car park to mark the launch of Environmental Transport Association's Green Transport Week.

The day included a "Commuter Challenge Race," and the Electrical Vehicle Association's Annual General Meeting. Let's hope the electric vehicles weren't so conspicuous later that week on National Car-Free Day.

Over 80 towns and cities held car-free events, many organising several on the same day. Kingston went one step further by declaring both the Tuesday and Saturday as Car-Free Days.

Councils everywhere asked staff to leave their cars at home. Shepton Mallet offered free breakfasts as an incentive and Hertfordshire asked a donation to charity from "anyone that absolutely must come in by car that day." Oxford City Council closed the staff car park - permanently!

Meanwhile in Totnes, participants competed in trying to cross the district using only public transport (hopefully not too challenging). Bradford-upon-Avon held rickshaw and pony and trap rides. Tooting's mayor proudly led a procession of gas- and electric-powered vehicles.

The day in Gloucestershire was "sheer car-lessness" with a "vast range of initiatives" including a street theatre of dancing traffic wardens.

Many conferences and debates happened throughout the country: on "better use of road space" in Kensington. Cambridge held one on re-opening national rail lines.

Echoing the Global Street Party exactly a month before, Crewe organised a street party for "Pedestrianisation and Participation."

Britain was indeed blessed that day. Even the Highways Agency supported Car-Free Day, holding initiatives on several congested motorways to encourage users to use alternative transport. (Not building motorways would be an even better initiative).

The diversity and innovation of the different events is truly dazzling. Anyone planning a car-free day themselves to look at this website or contact the organisers for ideas.

- B.S.
Contact the ETA at 10 Church Street, Weybridge, KT13 8RS, U.K.; tel: +(44) 1932 828882; fax: +(44) 1932 829015; eta@eta.co.uk; www.eta.co.uk.

Respirer la ville maintenant!

Ce titre est le nom d'une association crée a l'initiative du groupe Chiche! Il s'agit d'améliorer le cadre de vie d'Avignon pour le rendre respirable, plus vivable et y installer plus de sociabilité. L'association a pour projet de réclamer un ville sans voitures un samedi ou un dimanche par mois.

Elle souhaite participer a l'élaboration du Plan d'aménagement urbain qui doit etre finalisé au 1er décembre prochain.

D'ores et déjà, l'association accueillera le SET (Sustainable Europe Tour) du 24 au 28 juillet afin de sensibiliser les Avignonais aux transports soutenables.

Christophe François, 3 Impasse des Pavillons, Ile de Piot, 84000 Avignon
- Chiche! Avignon

Confronting Car Violence

Twenty-five New York City activists aim to build a movement reclaiming all streets as safe for cycling and walking.

They plan to:

  • confront car violence by putting pedestrian and cyclist deaths and injuries in context, rather than trivialising and dismissing them as "accidents."
  • Expose intimidation of cyclists and pedestrians as antisocial;
  • Attack technologies that endanger cyclists and pedestrians (such as car phones and, coming very soon, dashboard PC's)
  • Hold corporate and public policy accountable for car violence

The group has memorialized 100 pedestrian and cyclist fatalities through images stencilled on streets. The group has begun a database of hundreds of fatalities in order to gain a more precise understanding of how they are occurring, and to document the failure of agencies and elected officials to stop, or even acknowledge, the slaughter. The group has also written articles, fed information to reporters, and assisted victims' families.

Activists in other cities are taking notice, and "in our biggest dreams we envision linking up with and helping ignite a worldwide movement against car violence," the as-of-yet-unnamed group stated.

For more info, visit www.cars-suck.org. You can e-mail them through the website.

BOOK REVIEW

SORTIE DE ROUTE

Paul Verseau, Ed. du Cerisier,
1995, 60 FF.

Isolé dans sa voiture, au milieu des embouteillages, l'homme a le temps d'observer ses voisins, eux aussi isolés dans leur carapace métallique autopropulsée. Il lui arrive de s'interroger sur le pourquoi de cette "file", sur les notions de mobilité, de bonheur et de progres, et plus généralement sur sa vie elle-meme. De cette attente forcée se dégage un véritable mal de vivre, que Paul verseau exprime au jour le jour dans ce récit écrit en mettant a profit les heures gaspillées. Extraits:

"Le matin, dans un grand battement, la ville aspire les automobiles dans un mouvement implacable, comme si un grand aimant attirait toute la ferraille a lui. Le soir, la ville expire et repousse pour l'espace de la nuit, tous ces globules dont elle a goulument extirpé la substance pendant le jour."

"L'etre humain est fait pour travailler chez lui, pres des siens, avec des gens qu'il connaît, dans un environnement qui lui est familier. Ou alors au contraire, il est fait pour partir au loin, pour explorer, pour découvrir. Mais il n'est pas fait pour se transformer en termite, pour s'accrocher chaque jour a un rail qui le dépouille de lui-meme pour l'emmener dans l'anonymat des grandes villes.

Il n'est pas sain de travailler chaque jour a des dizaines de kilometres de chez soi. C'est une déviation qu'ont permise les concentrations urbaines et le développement de l'automobile. Il serait peut-etre temps de laisser aux gens la possibilité de prendre racine."

- Oliver Large

RECLAIM THE STREETS GOES GLOBAL

Bethan Stagg

The World Partied Together

On May 16 the Reclaim the Streets party went global, with at least 20 cities in 21 countries celebrating together.

Culture, music and resistance raged against corporate domination, which is strangling the globe.

"Since the system has gone global, so has the resistance," one banner stated. The majority of the street parties also voiced a loud anti-car message.

Over 25,000 people took to the streets, with party numbers varying from 40 to 8,000. Critical Massers, activists, hippies, dogs, punks, ravers, kids and artists pushed back the cars and pounded the tarmac.

As a newspaper in Geneva warned, it was not a good day to venture out in a car, since you would find that the polluted streets were no longer a car driver's domain.

The first "Reclaim the Streets" party, in which car-choked spaces are "liberated" (usually using a blockade) was born in London on May 14, 1995. Since then, the street party has danced and diversified across the U.K. and more recently worldwide.

A Party with a Purpose

The idea of a global street party had been hovering in the air for a long time. Events around trade liberalisation, such as the G8 and WTO summits fired up groups in Finland and the U.K. to propose May 16. The street party proposition circulated to many other activists, mainly by e-mail, many of whom grabbed the idea with glee.

At the May 16 G8 Summit in Birmingham, the eight leaders of the world's most industrialised nations plotted how to advance the corporate take-over of the world. Two days later, the World Trade Organisation's Ministerial conference in Geneva celebrated the fiftieth birthday of the WTO, an institution that helps corporations challenge international trade barriers. The car and oil industries represent an overwhelming part of this corporate bullying, companies such as General Motors and Shell.

Just as these barriers to the hungry spread of global trade are bulldozed aside, so are the physical ones. Corporations lobby governments to expand road networks and construct high-speed rail links for transnational trade, sucking money out of local public transport services. An example: the Trans-European Networks scheme.

Where's the Party?

Many cities chose a car-choked urban landmark, those monstrous junctions or link roads "crying out" to be liberated. Utrecht activists took a six-lane highway close to the station. Birmingham organisers chose the infamous Bull Ring roundabout, "a huge centre of tarmac surrounding a sunken market space."

Sydney and Berlin strategically decided against "prize" targets. The Berlin group believe their party remained peaceful because "...for the first time we did not choose one of the very big squares." Sydney police were "relieved we didn't intend to block a major thoroughfare."

Squares were popular for several reasons. Lancaster's was: "a nice space and without cars whizzing past the whole square is transformed. This worked well because the police could not block off the road for us, there were too many ways round."

Lyon chose a location on the corporate theme, holding its party in the shadow of "the pencil," the Crédit Lyonnais tower (a French bank).

Block the Road and Boogy

Tripods were used to block off the party zone in Lyon, Sydney and Birmingham. In Birmingham the police attached wheels to one of the three tripods and wheeled it away! (The tripod's days are numbered if the U.K. police can work out how to remove them.)

Sydney's tripods must have been the most photogenic: "orange and black bamboo tripods marked out each end of the reclaimed space, the massive main tripod reaching up to a height of at least eight metres flying the Eureka Stockade flag."

In Berkeley overturned skips (dumpsters) barred the street and another "old favourite," the defunct car.

The larger parties must have found that sheer volume of people helped to block the road, helped no doubt, by carefully placed music systems and other large objects. Lancaster had hoped to use horse-drawn carts for their blockade, but they were not able to obtain them in the end. In Lyon, farmers from the Confederation Paysanne nearly came...in tractors.

101 Ways to Party

You could move to the beats of four music systems and 20 DJs in Prague, or a women's drum group in Lancaster. You could provide the energy for York's pedal powered music system or join some individuals in Berkeley who were dancing to the "baaarp" of an overturned cab's horn! The Valencia party-goers tell this story: "Finally we visited the Virgin at the cathedral, who certainly didn't expect us and therefore didn't join in the dance."

Sydney's street party offered a dazzling array of distractions: "...carpets and sofas in the lounge space, hot drinks stalls, 'give what you can' food stalls, skate ramp, a five-terminal internet station (virtual party?), two sand-stone sculptors, poets, fire twirlers, street gardeners, recycling and rubbish bins and loads of mayhem and frivolity."

Among the many other ways to enjoy yourself at a street party somewhere on May 16: fire shows, puppets, "give what you can afford" clothes, books and food sales, hand-painted twister games, inflatable castles, chalk pictures on the roads, graffiti, banners, flags, breakdancers, live music, drum circles, flag burning and a mobile "vote for what you want" poll booth.

In Toronto posers danced in leopard-skin jock straps, in Stockholm people carried "beautiful nature-inspired flags," while in Lyon there were some intriguing party-goers: "a devil scuttled around, with huge horns, saucy red tights and a giant 'Marl-bourreau' (torturer) cigarette packet on her back. Some evil multinationals in black coats loitered, their company logos on their cloaks (Coca Cola-nisation, McMerde, sHELL). A giant serpent (G8) marching around the square, a warty pig and a Mickey Mouse among its eight horrible heads."

Official Action or "Sauvage"

In countries where police violence thrives, organisers didn't much discuss whether to announce the event to authorities. In Tel Aviv the group decided to announce it so they could carry out more publicity. In Utrecht, the party route was announced but not the destination: "police were surprised that the demonstration at one point decided not to follow the rest of the announced route, simple barricades were easily placed."
The majority of street parties were held at secret, unannounced destinations known only by a few of the organisers and using a publicised meeting point.

Let's Swap Police, Finland!

Police violence was horrific in Prague and Geneva and the arrests often random (as I found out). Turku in Finland may make some of us envious: "The police were fine (Finnish police are worth exporting) two said 'no problem with your illegal demo, but please a bit less volume' and that was done." Similarly, in Utrecht "at the party site itself they kept a low profile, although some even moved to the 120+ BPM (Beats Per Minute) music."

Some organisers approached the uninvited guests to calm them down and gauge their reactions. In Birmingham "seasoned diplomats" negotiated with police, resulting in the sound system's safe exit.

Sadly, in many cities the police were in no mood for a party. Toronto organisers said "Officers were going through the crowd with knives to cut streamers and burst balloons, pushing people out of the way and threatening to arrest people who interfered with them." Leeds police over zealously sprayed tear gas cans at a peaceful crowd and later denied it.

Police often had riot gear at hand and in Prague and Geneva the street parties did indeed dissolve into riots at the end. Prague's were the worst riots in ten years: six police cars, three McDonalds®, a Kentucky Fried Chicken® and 22 policemen hospitalised. "We know the street party used to be non-violent but we finished it and people moved spontaneously on to the streets," recalls an organiser.

In many countries, a large street party runs the risk of attracting rioters. This outcome, apart from injuries and wrongful arrests, makes the police paranoid and adopt an even more heavy-handed attitude in the future. This argues for a smaller, more local street party (as well as being more appealing and enlightening to non-ravers and locals).

And Now?

The street party is a "well-travelled" phenomenon. Many cities where no one had previously considered holding a street party organised dazzling ones. The cities shared many of the same frustrations and thrills while discovering that different cultures shape different parties.

The links made amongst these cities through the street party will continue to be explored. As one activist regaled, "the only thing [police] can be sure of is that there will be more of this sort of thing."

ASIAN GREENSPIRATION

From January to mid-June, Angela Bischoff and Tooker Gomberg traveled by bicycle, foot and public transport on their "Greenspiration Odyssey" to document and write about the environmental situation in Asia. The following are excerpts from their travels.

January 22, 1998: Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Bikes and boats are a natural combination: neither are too fast, they're ecological, sociable, and relaxing. Arriving at your destination you just untie the bike, roll down the ramp and you're in the heart of the old city.

Getting around Taiwan's second-largest city we had to keep our wits about us. Scooters and cars alike often slipped through red lights, came at you from the wrong side of the street, or sped by so close that you could feel the wind brush. And at night they often drive without lights thinking it saves fuel (it doesn't). Many locals wore face masks. What a switch from Japan where all types of people rode bicycles.

Sidewalks are at irregular heights, so pedestrians have to climb up or down a step while winding your way through a maze of parked scooters. Often it's easier to just walk on the stinking roads.

March 18, 1998: Hong Kong and Lamma Island

Hong Kong: the densest place on earth, where towers shoot up like a bamboo forest. Pedestrians in Hong Kong are herded off the street onto elevated walkways, jammed shoulder to shoulder in a heaving mob of humanity. Underground, a subway train snakes by every minute swallowing up thousands of people at a time. Sardines would find it cramped.

The drone of the beehive fades to a hum as we escape on the breezy ferry ride to Lamma Island. As we arrive, the sound of shoes replaces the din of cars. The only cars around are the toys that children play with: welcome to a car-free island!

Just 5,000 people live on this hilly 14-sq.-km island. Without roads there is room along the walking paths for scarlet hibiscus blossoms and towering banana plants. Clumps of jungle host hooting birds, moaning frogs, giant night snails and butterflies.

A few dozen single-seater "village vehicles" motor around the concrete sidewalks carrying construction material or garbage. But the real "grunt" work is done by hand carts. Stores and restaurants are serviced by four-wheeled trolleys that can handle a thousand pounds no sweat.

If only our cities could be car-free too. We've walked there, and it's magic.

May 10, 1998: Nanning, China

There was something about Nanning that we appreciated right from our arrival, though we couldn't quite put our finger on it. It was a student who pointed out to us that Nanning had banned honking!

With the rapidly growing numbers of cars and motorcycles in China, honking and noise pollution have become a constant irritation. Every motor-vehicle driver seemed to be constantly leaning on the horn. A man we met, Mr. Liang told us: "Chinese people want to own cars. It sends a message that I'm rich, that I have a high social status."

Elsewhere in China, drivers honk incessantly, racing around cyclists and pedestrians as if to say "if you don't get out of my way I'll run you over".<

But in Nanning, since drivers cannot honk others out of the way, they must drive slowly and carefully. A simple measure, which cost nothing, has made the city much more livable. Other cities are copying Nanning's silent treatment.

Last September, a one-month propaganda campaign was followed by police warnings. Repeat offenders-honkers-had to publicly apologize on television. In the following months, over 350 had their moment of public shame. That had the desired effect. Very few have received stiff fines. The city is quieter, and the traffic much calmer.

June 5, 1998: Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi, a city of one million, retains much of its charm, especially in the Old Quarter. Low-rise buildings are jammed together along narrow, winding streets.

Early in the morning, you can hear birds singing from cages hanging in the trees. But by 8 a.m., the streets are full to capacity. Motorcycles are everywhere, weaving, accelerating, and swerving within a hair's breadth.

Peddlers push a ride in a cyclo-a three-wheeled, pedal-powered taxi. A popular mode of transportation for tourists and locals alike, this unique Vietnamese vehicle is custom-made in small shops. And a cyclo can be easily used to transport bulky and heavy freight.

But there's a common attitude that cyclos "get in the way" and hinder traffic. So the government is cracking down, banning them from certain streets during certain hours. We wondered by what logic motorcycles were allowed on any street however narrow, and at any time day or night, while cyclos were banned?

"Many feel regret that the Vietnamese are forgetting the bicycle," Nguyen Linh of the Vietnam Women's Union told us. "Many miss the romantic past; it was quieter and less polluted."

A Honda Dream costs over U.S. $2,000, and with annual salaries averaging less than $400, somehow people can still afford them. From 1995 to 1997, Vietnam's motorcycle population increased from 3.5 million to 4.8 million.

It is hard to imagine what Hanoi was like just five years ago when there were virtually no annoying motorcycles. Or ten years ago when streetcars still plied the leafy boulevards.

In the countryside, the bicycle is still common. Once we rode in a special lane reserved for bicycles and water buffalo (no joke). They may have horns, but at least they don't honk obnoxiously.

To ease the coming crisis, driving must stop

OIL CRISIS TO TRIGGER CAR-FREE PLANET?

Randy Ghent

Society depends on it. Industry can't do without it. Yet world oil production will peak within two years, and discoveries peaked 28 years ago. What will happen in coming years when demand outstretches supply?

Shell Oil geologist M. King Hubbert predicted the coming crisis with alarming accuracy back in 1956. Once viewed as heretical for suggesting the world would run out of recoverable oil around 2040, Hubbert's forecast is quietly accepted today.
Why quietly? Oil companies and oil-producing nations want to keep their corner on the energy market as long as possible. As long as oil remains cheaper than the alternatives, the status quo continues.

For example, after OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) implemented a per-country quota system in 1985, the world experienced a curious leap in reported oil reserves. Iran, Iraq and Venezuela's reserves jumped 100 percent, while Abu Dhabi and Dubai's skyrocketed 200 percent. This means the world has much less oil than people think.

Meanwhile the oil industry claims we have enough oil until 2040. Enough oil for what? This claim ignores world consumption doubling in the next 35 years and the coming production peak, after which a quick and continuous decline is inevitable.

So what happens after 2005, when the energy required to find and extract a barrel of oil will exceed the energy contained in the barrel?

Can we simply switch to other energy sources? Can such sources provide the same amount of energy and in a form usable by today's infrastructure?

Many experts say "no" or "not likely" to both questions, seeing no practical replacements for petroleum in transport, agriculture and chemical manufacturing. They wonder how we can support today's population on alternative energy sources, which by and large won't be ready or sufficient.

No other energy source equals oil's intrinsic qualities of extractability, transportability, versatility and cost. This explains how oil allowed the global economy to take over from the local. So anyone dependent on the global economy will be at risk after oil's demise. People are even starting to wonder whether such an economy-based on ever-increasing energy use and ever-expanding markets-can continue past 2020.

Brought on by oil depletion, a world without cars may arrive sooner than you think. But who-and what-will be left to enjoy such a world?

Possibly not much will be left. After the end of cheap oil, industry will likely scrape the Earth's surface in search of energy. Formerly oil-dependent people could find themselves razing forests for wood energy.

We can't know for sure. But preparing now would make the picture less bleak. Whereas if we wait until the last minute to move away from oil use-which is required to build even solar cars-"many of the world's 'developed' countries may look like today's Russia," says analyst Jay Hanson.

Why such a drastic prediction? To find out you must analyze the energy-profit ratio of various energy sources, that is, the amount of energy expended to recover "new" energy.

With petroleum, one "gains" up to 100 times the energy expended (an energy profit ratio of 100). But with most renewable energy sources and coal, the ratio stands below 10.

This means that today's energy consumption level cannot continue past 2020, and will have to drop rather quickly thereafter. In an economy based on growth and inflation, this spells "the end of the world as we know it," as R.E.M. once sang.

"The coming oil crisis will be an economic and political discontinuity [chaos] of historic proportions," says Colin J. Campbell, a senior oil industry geologist. Campbell authored "The Coming Oil Crisis" last year and works as an associate of Geneva-based Petroconsultants, widely regarded as the foremost authority for the global oil industry.

Oil depletion on the horizon means we need to abandon the car as soon as possible. Doing so now would allow us to make the transition to a solar economy much less painful and deadly. Building more cars-and driving the existing ones-will only exacerbate the coming crisis.

Economic implosion could easily result. Today, for example, when car sales drop four percent, we have a recession. What happens when sales drop ten percent? 20 percent?

All this might reek of gloom and doom to industrialists, but after a harsh transition we're looking toward many positive possibilities: a turn from transnational to local, a reversal of the concentration of wealth and power, and a return to sustainable economics based on non-motorised transport.

If it hadn't been for what's probably the largest industry cover-up in history, we could have begun this transition back in 1956, with far less serious consequences. When the harsh transition finally begins, we will find little consolation in holding industry to blame.

DRIVER DISTRACTION TAKES ITS TOLL

From cellular phones to Tamagotchi pets

The "Big Three" U.S. car makers have started to draft voluntary guidelines for the manufacture and installation of car gadgetry-cellular phones, dashboard-mounted PCs, etc.-in the hope of fighting off regulation.

But the actual use of such devices is the unaddressed real issue-not how they're manufactured or installed. The "Big Three" are simply trying to expand their profits by selling these dangerous products.

Tamagotchi Pet in Distress Kills Marseille Cyclist

A French driver killed a cyclist and injured another after she took her eye off the road trying to save her Tamagotchi virtual pet, police said Wednesday.

The 27-year-old woman became distracted when the electronic pet, which was attached to her car key ring, started to send out distress signals.

She asked a friend in her car to attend to the Tamagotchi, but in the confusion she failed to notice a group of cyclists on the road ahead. One died instantly and another was hospitalised.

The woman was arrested after Sunday's accident near Marseille.

Tamagotchi virtual pets, egg-shaped devices invented in Japan, have become a worldwide fad. They send out electronic bleeps when they need "feeding" or "cleaning." If they are not looked after they "die."

Using Car Cellphones Quadruples Accident Risk

The risk of having a traffic accident while using a cellular phone is the equivalent of driving drunk, claims a study published Feb. 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

University of Toronto researchers found cell phone users four to five times more likely to get into traffic accidents than those who do not use them.

"Telephones that allowed the hands to be free did not appear to be safer than hand-held telephones," they said. "This may indicate that the main factor in most motor vehicle collisions is a driver's limitations in attention rather than dexterity."

The Toronto study by Dr. Donald Redelmeier and Robert Tibshirani said the risk "is similar to the hazard associated with driving with a blood alcohol level at the legal limit."

Brazil, Israel and Australia have banned the use of cellular telephones while driving and the new finding may spark similar moves.

Redelmeier and Tibshirani used 13 months of accident data and phone billing records of 699 volunteers to pinpoint the time of the accident and determine when a cell phone customer was last using the phone.

Only after the driver had been off the phone for more than 15 minutes did the risk seem to dissipate.

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