Critical Mass

Critical Mass is an event held typically on the last Friday of every month in cities around the world, where bicyclists, skateboarders, roller bladers, roller skaters and other self-propelled people take to the streets en masse. Critical Mass is not led, and as a group has no official goals other than to meet once every month and enjoy the security and companionship of riding, rolling and travelling through the city together. The general philosophy is expressed by a widely used slogan: "We aren't blocking traffic; we are traffic."

Critical Mass rides are self-organized and independent - often only the meeting place, date and time are fixed. In some cities, the route, finishing point, or attractions along the way may be planned ahead. There is often a backdrop of protest: through doing it actively and in full public view, participants demonstrate the advantages of cycling in a city, and show how the city may be failing cyclists in terms of facilities and safety.

Purpose

The purpose of Critical Mass is not formalised beyond the direct action of meeting and carrying out the event, creating a public space where automobiles are displaced to make room for alternatives. The one agreed upon slogan is We Are Traffic. All participants, being equal in leadership, are thought to have equivalent claim to their own intentions and the purpose of the ride. Critical Mass is undeniably linked to the environmental movement, which cites private automobile use as catastrophic to our global and local environment, in physical and social terms. Generally, the purpose of the event as indicated by the actions of the riders are meant to oppose the domination of the automobile over our urban culture, or to create something different. However, these things are often interpreted very differently and some riders may even disagree - for example, one might not ride at all for environmental purposes, but because of social justice theories. Many do not ride in opposition to anything: they simply enjoy an opportunity to cycle socially and in safety.

History and organization of the rides

The first San Francisco Critical Mass ride began in 1992 and its name soon began to be adopted as a generic label by participants in similar but independent mass rides which were starting to occur worldwide at around the same time, and some before then. It is estimated that there are Critical Mass-type rides in more than 325 cities to date. The term "Masser" is sometimes applied to frequent participants.

Origins

The term "critical mass" was adopted from an observation made by American human powered vehicle and pedicab designer George Bliss while visiting China. He noted that in traffic in China, both motorists and bicyclists had an understood method of negotiating unsignalled intersections. Traffic would "bunch up" at these intersections until the back log reached a "critical mass" at which point that mass would move through the intersection. This description was related in the Ted White documentary Return of the Scorcher (1992) and subsequently adopted by the Critical Mass movement. The first San Francisco rides in 1992 were in fact titled Commute Clot, though this awkward moniker was changed quickly after the Ted White movie was shown. Of course, Critical Mass is also a reference to various social theories which posit that a social revolution is achievable after a certain critical mass of popular support is demonstrated. This reflects the often unsaid ambition of many ride participants that the balance of mobility in our cities will change towards bicycles or other modes of transport away from the private motor car.

Structure

Critical Mass differs from many other social movements in its rhizomal (rather than hierarchal) structure. Critical Mass claims to be an "organized coincidence", with no leader, no organizers, and no membership. For example, the term xerocracy was coined to describe the process for how the route for a Critical Mass is decided: anyone who has an opinion makes their own map and distributes it to the cyclists participating in the Mass. Some rides are decided "on the fly" by those at the front of the pack. Other rides are decided on the day of the ride before-hand by a popular vote of suggested routes. Still other rides decide the route by consensus. These methods free up the movement from the overhead costs involved in a hierarchical organisation: no meetings, no structure, no internal politics, and so on. In order for it to exist, all that has to happen is that enough people know about it and turn up on the day to create a "critical mass" of riders large enough to safely occupy a piece of road to the exclusion of motorized road users.

"Corking"

Critical Mass participants are required to lead their own event, since there is no formal leadership. In order to moderate the flow of the group, riders sometimes carry out an action of dubious legality known as "corking", which involves blocking traffic from side roads so that the riders can freely proceed (sometimes through red lights) without fear of motor vehicles becoming embedded in the mass of riders. It is thought to be safer for the riders to stick together and disallow automobiles in their midst. Often such vehicles entering the mass creates a bottleneck for the cyclists and causes more disruption than otherwise may occur. However, for very large critical mass rides of many hundreds or thousands of participants, motorists may be severely delayed either way, and in this case corking is primarily conducted for safety reasons. The corking dynamic is similar to that of a parade. When explaining the principles of corking to newcomers, many riders use the metaphor of a large bus travelling with a group of people who should not be split up, even if the light turns red after the group has entered the intersection. In most cities, mass rides try to accommodate and yield to emergency vehicles and even pedestrian cross traffic; unlike a group of cars, space can be made quickly.

Critics argue that the practice of corking roads in order to pass through red lights is contrary to Critical Mass' claim that "we are traffic", since ordinary traffic (including bicycle traffic) does not usually have the right to go through red traffic lights, unless issued with a specific permit or residing in jurisdictions where bicyclists have this right (such as Idaho, USA : Idaho Bicycle Law). The act of corking also gives the Critical Mass participants an opportunity to talk to drivers or onlookers about what is going on, or why they are being made to wait. Sometimes, corking has translated into hostility between motorists and riders, which has even erupted into violence during some Critical Mass rides.

Conflicts

Critics have claimed that Critical Mass is a deliberate attempt to obstruct automotive traffic and cause a disruption of normal city functions, asserting that individuals taking part in Critical Mass refuse to obey the vehicular traffic laws that apply to cyclists the same as they do to drivers of other vehicles. Those Critical Mass participants who break the law defend their actions based on their belief that the special circumstances surrounding Critical Mass means obeying the letter of the law would be more dangerous and inconvenient for all road users. In addition, some participants feel that typical laws governing bicycle road users are unfair and different from those governing pedestrians and motorists, and that traffic law heavily favours motor vehicle use in many cities: breaking the law in the context of Critical Mass is therefore an act of civil disobedience against this unfairness.

In cases where a CM ride travels at lower speeds than recommended for major traffic routes, this may lead to automobiles idling behind them and taking longer to complete their trips. The resultant increase in fuel consumption and corresponding pollutive emissions have been argued to be counter to the stated environmental goals of the Mass. A counter argument is that the cumulative effect of the Critical Mass rides in decreasing overall reliance on automotive transportation is intended to result in a net decrease in fuel consumption (and other negative environmental impacts associated with car culture).

In 1997, the mayor of San Francisco, USA Willie Brown "declared war" on CM after being stuck in traffic behind the June ride. He wanted all participants arrested and started a war of words in the press which grew into a great controversy preceding the July 25 ride. The mayor would not meet with the riders, a small group of self-appointed leaders tried to establish order and the newspapers published a so-called "agreed upon" route. On Friday the mayor tried to address the crowd at the Embarcadero meeting place but was shouted down. Disorder resulted when the ride went a block along the supposed agreed upon route and then diverted into downtown. The event went on for hours with cyclist versus motorist fights, crushed bicycles and police abuse that eventually ended in more than two hundred arrests.

After the US 2004 Republican National Convention coincided with the August 2004 New York City Critical Mass, many court cases resulted regarding the legality of the ride, confronting issues of whether police have the right to arrest cyclists and seize their bicycles, and whether the event needs a permit. In December of 2004, a federal judge threw out New York City's injunction against Critical Mass as a "political event." On March 23, 2005, the city filed a lawsuit, seeking to prevent TIME'S UP!, a local nonprofit direct-action environmental group, from promoting or advertising Critical Mass rides. The lawsuit also stated TIME'S UP! and the general public could not participate in riding or gathering at the Critical Mass bike ride, claiming a permit was required. A documentary, Still We Ride shows the nature of these bike rides before and after the police took notice. ^*" target="_blank" >[http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/28/1434209

In September 2005, Critical Mass in London, UK, found itself in conflict with public law enforcement when the Metropolitan Police gave out notices announcing a requirement that the organisers of the mass report a route six days before the event. In addition, they stated that the mass may be restricted in the future, and arrests would result if their orders were not followed. The threat was quickly moderated when politicians and cyclists' groups voiced objections. In fact, the following ride, that of October 2005, was tremendously well attended, with estimates approaching the figure of 1000 participants. There was a long stop in Parliament Square, part of the Government's exclusion area in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. However, this event also led to a particularly corked ride which brought some debate from London cycling groups.

Another consequence of the police notice was that a participant sought a declaration from the High Court of England and Wales that there was no requirement to seek police permission for the Critical Mass rides. After what the judgment describes as a "friendly action" in which the claimant and the police agreed not to seek damages, the Court ruling on June 27, 2006 agreed with the claimant that the Critical Mass rides did not fall within section 11 of the Public Order Act 1986 and therefore no notice had to be given.

External links

Critical Mass Wikia project
Critical-Mass.org: A listing of Critical Mass rides worldwide
Critical-Mass.info: A directory of Critical Mass rides worldwide (regularly updated)
Flickr: Critical Mass group (photos)
Flickr: Critical Mass tag (photos)
Upcoming: Critical Mass group (event listings)
Critical Mass History

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