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Bike4peace is “Gearing up” for 2009!
The year 2009 is going to be a little different for bike4peace. We will not be doing the usual August – September tour across the country to Washington, D.C. This year we are going to focus on a series of local and regional bike rides as well as an Annual Peace Concert in Everett with the Everett Peace Action and Veterans for Peace. I have been asked in the past few years if I thought I could better serve the cause of non-violence, peace and sustainable community progression by staying home all summer? So this year bike4peace organizers and I felt it would be a good year to stay and focus locally. In today’s socio-political and environmental climate we have some seemingly insurmountable problems. There are ongoing (and escalating) occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, economic collapse and environmental/climatic catastrophe. · The economy by all appearance and forecasts is headed into deeper depression; some are predicting complete collapse of society as we know it today, causing a need for us to be more and more conservative and self-sufficient in our daily lives. Ways for us to live more sustainably/self-sufficiently are right in front of us, easy for many of us to take the leap. Bicycles are an economical mode of transportation, seen as radical by many to give up a car; it is something many are turning to. · Politicians continue to push policies and legislation that benefit the few, the corporations of America, in ways that many of us are unaware of. For well over a century the United States government has used the military to further the economic agenda of these very powerful corporations. This form of fascism is evident in today’s invasion and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Military troops are securing and protecting the oil fields of Iraq for U.S. oil interests and in Afghanistan the U.S. military is actually distributing genetically modified seed (source: The soils of war The real agenda behind agricultural reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq Grain, 10 March 2009 http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=217). · We also have an ever more evident environmental and climate crisis! Our planet’s climate and ecosystems are going through some radical, catastrophic changes that many scientists say are due to human activities such as natural resource extraction, the burning of fossil fuels, pollution of our waterways, overdevelopment/populating of sensitive ecosystems, in other words, to much consumption and waste! Bicycles use not even a 1/10 of the resources needed to produce one automobile and they do not use polluting energy to ride on a daily basis. There is no toxic run-off into our water ways from leaking engines or the washing of autos at home. In all major cities around the world that adopted bicycle friendly designs there have been significant reductions of air pollution and ambient noise levels. Right here at home in Everett, the home of bike4peace, the city is developing a Master Bicycle Plan with the help of Alta Planning and Design from Portland, OR and local groups Sharing Wheels Community Bicycle Co-op, B.K.E.S. of Snohomish County and Cascade Bicycle Club. There are several good reasons for bike4peace to support this effort. Riding a bicycle is a very empowering act; it is a form of direct action against the status quo. Our car culture perpetuates the need for wars of aggression, such as the Iraq invasion and ongoing occupation and the Afghanistan occupation, known to be the “search” for Bin Laden, but another important reason for corporate America is the oil pipeline through that region. A bicycle friendly community means more people invited to use a bicycle regularly which in turn can lead to less of a demand on oil resources. Our monthly bike4peace ride through downtown Everett is to promote bicycling and create a “critical mass” in the streets to bring awareness (and it’s a lot fun!). Local activists groups, Everett Peace Action and Veterans for Peace, have been very supportive of bike4peace and we would like to do something for them this year. We are in the planning stages of several regional bike4peace rides to support local peace activities. We want to support Coffee Strong, a G.I. coffeehouse across the freeway from the main gate of the U.S. Army base, Fort Lewis, in Tacoma. This coffeehouse was started by members of the Iraq Veterans Against the War and G.I. War Resisters. The name “Coffee Strong” comes from the Army slogan “Army Strong”. The coffee house is a place where military members and families can get information and council about G.I. Rights. Wars resisters within the military are the backbone of any anti-war movement. This resistance is what ended the Vietnam War. Coffeehouses like Coffee Strong sprung up around many U.S. military bases in the late 60’s and early 70’s. They need our support!! Bike4peace will hold awareness/fundraiser rides from Everett to Coffee Strong this summer. Some of us are planning to join the annual Seattle to Portland (STP) ride in July to promote bike4peace. There are over 10,000 cyclists from around the country at this very popular annual ride from the Cascade Bicycle Club. We will also be holding our Annual Peace Concert at Wiggums Hollow Park in North Everett. Last summer we attracted such local favorite musicians as Three Chord Progressives, Mary Winn, The Dandelion Greens, Angela Reed and more. We hope to have as good a time as we did last year. This is a benefit event for Everett Peace Action, bike4peace and Veterans for Peace. If you want to participate or help with this summer’s activities please contact me!
Ron Toppi |
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bike4peace.org |