Posts by Jolisa
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the flimsy blue-clothed representatives of Apollonian order.
You mean, the erect but ultimately impotent blue-clothed representatives of Apollonian order.
/Paglia(You could probably have squeezed Monica Lewinksy and Mandy Rice-Davies in there as well, on a tandem perhaps).
Andrew, quote of the week for this one:
There is a continuum of bad things done by people in power, and it runs from Things That Make You Go Hmm right up to Things That Make You Go Dead.
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And while I'm on a roll... Andrew's list of examples is really interesting, in that they pretty much all concern public space. And that the demonstrations are about making manifest a vision of who may occupy them, and how.
The thing about Greenham Common is that it was a common, which had been rather dodgily leased to the Yanks. And so by reoocupying the common, and chaining themselves to the fence, and singing alarming folksongs at nonplussed soldiers, the protestors manifested a vision of the common as public space. (Even if it was all eventually sorted out by Watership Down guy having a word in the ear of a Lord or two).
Tiananmen Square, likewise: a public space. Until it wasn't, and I think we're all pretty much in agreement about how that's a Bad Thing.
The Montgomery city buses: public space, governed by unconscionably unfair rules. (Note for GetAcross: it wasn't Rosa Parks's initial refusal that nailed the change, it was the widespread and incredibly inconvenient boycott that followed... prepare for the long-range campaign).
The pitch at Hamilton? A more complicated example, but again, in hindsight, we see the public/national nature of the playing space, and the representativeness of the players in national uniform, and how they both needed to be visibly called into question.
And the Harbour Bridge: the only direct free access between the two halves of our major city. Last walkable/bikeable a decade before I was born. Next official chance, according to the powers that be, will arrive when I'm a little old lady on a bike.
I'd be quite happy to hurry that up a little, by (almost) any means necessary. And in the meantime, a well-signalled, well-organised demonstration of what it would look like - peaceful, exhilarating, safe, quiet, human-scale and joyful -- seems like a very useful teaching tool to me.
Since I'm name-checking all the major human rights players today, this seems like a fine example of "be the change you wish to see." Also, if I can't bike, I don't want to be part of the (Auckland transport) revolution.
(And yes, point taken about not arsing up the police officers' Sunday morning - luckily, there were only a few of them :-).
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Apposite MLK quote from Frank Rich's bang-on editorial about gay rights in today's NY Times:
“For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait,’ ” King wrote. “It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ ”
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And the bridal path is a semi-reasonable alternative by comparison.
Thread-merge: but surely the bridal path should be open to everybody who wants it, and/or abolished completely.
Andrew, I hear you on the question of law-breaking thresholds, and why one might want to reserve illegal behaviour for the really big questions. I suspect much of the glee of the occasion (including my vicarious excitement) came from the chance for usually civil folks to be disobedient.
At the same time, like Sacha and James, I think that cycle-pedestrian access rights DO fall on the same continuum as your other examples. Especially the bit where the people say "we refuse to be discriminated against any more" and the authorities say "all right, hold your horses, we'll get around to it... in 30 years. In the meantime, stay at the back of the bus/in your segregated teams/in your bomb shelters/watch out, here comes another tank."
Invading the sacred tarmac...
I think the symbolic value of the event was worth millions in leaflets and petitions. Not just the event itself, but the pictures now circulating - happy children, walking families, fit cyclists, at least one chipper little dog, that cute kid in the WeeRide, and gorgeous views seen at walking pace. Auckland helped by turning out a beautiful sunny day. It was a pretty compelling glimpse of a low-carbon utopia -- or just a city bridge open to all, like most city bridges around the world.
Which is why, I suspect, the authorities tried to fight back on the fly with the only symbolic tool they had left, short of running around like Keystone Kops and tasering everyone: the decision to jam the northbound lanes in an attempt to piss off drivers.
Divide and conquer, ancient tactic. Hope the drivers of Auckland didn't fall for it!
(PS don't get your coat - stay and chat! welcome aboard!)
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Sacha, sorry -- slip of the keyboard. [From someone who shudders when her own name gains an unwanted s].
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Great minds! But you're right Sasha, strapped to their backs would be a bit easier. But the Wiis would be in the panniers.
There's just something so exhilarating about those photos. I've walked the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge... how I'd love to walk the Auckland Harbour Bridge one day. Sooner than 30 years from now.
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I mean if there is cycleway/footpath over the bridge think of all the criminals cycling down from the North Shore.
And cycling back again with all those big-screen TVs tucked in their panniers. Weasels.
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Great photos, Nick. Glorious morning for it, comrade!
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I'm wildly impressed! I haven't seen anything so thrillingly wheelie since watching a dozen cyclists Critical Mass their way down Laugavegur on a Friday night, bringing Reykjavik to a juddering halt.
Damn, I wish I could have been there. Just, awesome. Civil disobedience with wheels on.
(And seriously, "there is a plan, but it's 30 years in the future"??? That's not a "plan"! My kids will be my age by then!)
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'Overly Confident Othering': Tombstone remembrance? Band name?
Slogan/mission statement? "NACTional: Overly Confident Othering Since 2008"
Bit-before-the-colon in a thesis title?
Heh. Back when I was in grad school, it was reckoned that the definitive universal bit-before-the-colon would be "You Can't Argue with the Facts: [insert own project here]". Works for every possible topic.