Les Écomobilistes

Laurent Levesque · Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:07 pm Halloween

Comme on le sait, la prochaine MC est juste avant l'Halloween, alors on se costume? Le costume de la mort et du mort semble bien approprié... On pourrait intégrer ça à d'éventuels tracts qu'on pourrait faire.

Ale · Mon Oct 09, 2006 3:14 pm

Bon alors, nous sommes le 9 octobre déjà. 18 jours avant la prochaine Vélorution. On fait quoi pour l'Halloween, on fait quoi comme promo?

Laurent propose de s'orienter vers des costumes sur la mort. Une espèce de manif funèbre! On pourrait rappeler certains éléments du Die-in, en plus macabre encore!

Vous en pensez quoi?

Melianeeeee · Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:16 pm MC Halloween

Bon et bien moi je suis hésitante entre le thème de la mort et l'idée du déguisement au choix. Le premier pourrait être rassembleur, démontrer qu'on est uni et passer un message plus clair qui ferait le lien entre le danger associé au vélo à Montréal en ce moment. Mais se déguiser comme on veut, ça va donner un caractère plus festif à la masse critique et ayant lu les autres messages sur le forum, ce n'est pas ce qui est recherché?!

faniki wrote: Pour un mouvement cycliste vélorutionnaire à montréal, il faudrait le fonder ou ranimer le MAB, car la masse critique n'est pas un organisme revendicateur, c'est un rassemblement festif pour les cyclistes, une fois par mois....

Ça dépend juste de ce qu'on va décider de projeter comme image......

mylene · Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:34 pm thème jovial

L'aspect festif de la vélorution me plait particulièrement. C'est pourquoi je tends plus vers un thème du genre ''trouvez-vous un déguisement original, pro-vélo, d'allure jovial'' pluôt que le thème de la mort, mais bon, c'est un senti. Voilà

Claudine · Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:42 pm Masse Critique

Effectivement, on serait peut-être mieux de laisser le thème: déguisement. Sans préciser le type de déguisement.
Melianeeee Wrote: Quote: se déguiser comme on veut, ça va donner un caractère plus festif
On aurait ainsi un événement spectaculairement-festif-ecclectique-joyeux-tap-à-l'oeil. Montrer qu'on a du fun. Donner le goût aux spectateurs de tous âges d'embarquer. Se concentrer sur la promo de l'événement et sur des flyers qu'on distribuerait aux passants pendant la MC pour expliquer le pourquoi de l'événement mensuel et les inviter pour la prochaine. Texte bien bref amenant les gens à visiter le site WWW du MC.

Pour les gens qui veulent faire avancer la cause, revendiquer, dénoncer, on se concentre sous peu sur le M.A.B. DAC?! Une réunion s'impose au plus vite!!!!

Ale · Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:31 pm

Yeah du dynamisme ce soir ici!! :p

Ouais l'idée du "déguisement", simplement, me plaît aussi! C'est simple, et plutot libre!

Pour ce qui est du Monde à Bicyclette (MAB), je vais ouvrir une nouvelle section dans la catégorie Écomobiliste.

Pour la MC, on jase promotion? Passons alors à la section Promotion! :p

héhé, tant de modération de ma part... ;)

Merlmabase · Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:27 pm

je suis d'accord, I think the theme should be left open, to dress up however you like.

je suis toujours prêt a faire de la promotion... les tracts que j'ai créé jusqu'ici sont encore catalogué sure mon site: www.masse-critique.org, mais je suis certain qu'ils pourraient etre améliorés.

est-ce que quelqu'un avait proposé un rencontre ce vendredi? je viens juste de rentrer d'un voyage, et j'ai envie d;avoir une bonne discussion en personne pour les évenements qui s'en viennent.

Laurent Levesque · Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:13 am

Oui!

Il y a une réunion vendredi à 20h à l'Utopik, pour tous les vélorutionnaires (MC/MAB)

Au plaisir de tous s'y voir!

(Pour le costume, OK pour les costumes bigarrés et originaux!)[/quote]

Merlmabase · Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:35 am

cool, je m'y rends... et je vais voir si je vais pouvoir l'ajouter au calendrier.

Mokita · Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:08 pm

Je vais être en Chine à la fin du mois d'octobre et je vais manquer la prochaine Masse Critique ... mais je vous promet d'être présent à celle de novembre, j'ai vraiment aimé ma première expérience.

En attendant, j'en parle à mon entourage et a des cyclistes que je croise ...
Tous sont curieux, je vous souhaite d'avoir beaucoup de monde !

charlieo · Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:46 am si il fait froid...

fait attention! avec un deguisement trop faible, j'ai eu trop froid pour le ride pour plus d'une heure l'halloween passer; ouais...c'est vrai...

charlieo · Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:15 pm friday 27 october - BEST Critical Mass Ride EVER!

If anyone has videos or photos from last weeks' ride, SHARE 'EM!
If you don't have anywhere to post them, send them to me or Riley:
stone.cold.summer AT gmail.com or masse.critique.mtl AT gmail.com,

Here's last weeks' ride, according to ME!

take it easy,

charlie

___________________________________________________________________
friday 27 october - BEST Critical Mass Ride EVER!

I rolled up to Phillips' Square around 5:30pm, with a
nappy-headed hippy beside me and Mos Def bangin' out of
the boom box on my bike trailer / 'There's one universal
law but two sides to every story / three strikes and you're
bidded for life / mandatory" / There were a bunch of people
there already, and many more were accumulating quickly.
There was a baby disguised as a rabbit, more than a couple
of pirates, and many a costume that had clearly been
thrown together in the few minutes before the Mass participants
left their homes.

I parked the 'sonic resistance' sound system, and
did a quick tour of the crowd, handing out copies of the
'offishall party permit'. The xerocracy was in full effect,
and I was quickly treated to various propagandas from other
eco-mobilists. A 'blader was racing around, handing out
copies of 'VeloCite', a new velorutionary journal. A
young woman asked, "Have I bugged you yet?" as she held
out a flyer for the october 28 Block The Empire march.
Another woman had made a detailed map outlining a
potential route through what she considered to be the
scariest places in Montreal. These included the American
Consulate, the Hydro-Quebec office, and Crescent St. (aah!)
It would have been a great ride, but I don't know if
Montreal Massers will ever go for the pre-determined routes
that are popular in other cities. Maybe one day. Another
woman was passing out bi-lingual flyers for a winter biking
workshop on november 9th; Just in time!

(It's worth noting that despite my bias towards english,
Critical Mass rides in Montreal have a very bi-lingual
nature. Vive la velorution!)

As the minutes ticked by, the growing crowd was visibly
anxious to ride. A bearded pirate stepped up with a
mega-phone: "Si vous voulez parler, si vous plait, viens
ici; If you would like to speak, please come up to the
mega-phone". Right after that, I was unexpectly called up
to speak. I pulled my bandana over my nose, and
hustled through the crowd. "I have a copy of the party
permit that I'd like to read / he hemmm... / By the
divine forces of Jesus and Steve Harper, the bike people
of Montreal... [pause for cheers] are hereby permitted to
partake in a rolling street party [more cheers]
Furthermore, these fun and exciting activities are
strongly encouraged: Dancing to funky beats; Talking to
friends, strangers, and automobilists; Corking, which
means preventing cars and trucks from hurting anyone
during the party. Anyone can do this by stopping in
front of a driver, and smiling and waving at them."
At this point, the pirate asked if he could translate
the how and why of the "bouchon". I finished with, "most
importantly, Have Fun, Be Nice, and Rock On! ...if anyone
wants to speak, come on up here...si vous voulez parle,
viens ici, merci!"

I passed out my few remaining copies of the permit on my
way back to my bike. I started walking it towards Ste.
Catherines; It was time to ride! I cranked up the volume
as James Brown blasted through the park, and like he did
so many years ago, I felt Good. I knew that I would. So
good. So good.

Many a corker kept the intersection safe as the large crowd
inched through the bottle-necked sidewalk and into the
street. In front of musique plus, squeegie punks treated
many of us to polished reflectors. As we continued straight
down Ste. Cats, it became clear that we wouldn't be
following any map. Left on St. Laurent, left again on to
Maisoneuve. Here, the Mass really started to pick up
momentum. I was near the back, and between St. Urbain and
Guy, I never had to put my feet on the ground. Every
intersection was expertly corked by different groups of
riders. I was free to pass some cheerful words with the
super-stylin', super-low choppers that were riding nearby.

There were some other unique bikes worth mentioning. A
'FOOD NOT BOMBS' sign was prominintly displayed on the
front of a large grocery tricycle, its bin heavily loaded
with FOOD, NOT BOMBS! Some other people had built a strange
bike trailer out of a wheel chair. It had long two by fours
attached to the arms, with three recycling bins suspended
between them. This was used to carry peoples' bags, and
to cork three lanes at once!

Marleys' "trenchtown rock" was bouncing lovely off the
buffed and polished windows of modern commerce. Onward,
past Concordia, and and into a loud and triumphant bike
stand in the middle of Guy and Maisoneuve. South, and
back east on Ste Catherines. Walkers, shopping and talking,
were clearly impressed by our giant bike posse, not to
mention the revolutionary hip hop that was mixed in with
the more feel good tunes, company flows' 'patriotism' for example...

"I'm the ugliest version of passed down toxic capitalist
rapid emcee perversion / I'm America! / Your bleeding-heart
liberal drivel gets squashed / Wash em with sterilized rhyme
patriot-guided weaponry bombs from the makers of the devious
hearts / I'm America!"

Around this point I came up with my objective for the ride;
1 - work my way up to the front; 2 - cork and dance; 3 - repeat.
This gave me purpose, and a challenge. I'd recruit friends to
help me weave through the dense crowd, "beep beep, music comin'
through". We rolled by Phillips' Square, completing a giant
downtown donut. Left on St. Laurent and up the hill to
Sherbrooke. Here, there was a brave back line of 'cyclists
walking their bikes in solidarity with the riders who couldn't
make it all the way up the steep incline. Another ten or fifteen
people held the busy intersection until everyone could get back on
their bikes. Between the main mass a block ahead of me and twenty
or so slow pokes, I was free to weave back and forth, left to right
without a car in sight.

Up, up the hill, and many riders were talking about the time. We
had a rendez-vous that we were running late for, so we took a right on
Marie-Anne instead of the busier Mont-Royal. I was near the front when I
stopped to cork a mini-van coming out of the alley near St. Denis. Spread
out on the skinny side-street, the mass seemed to go on forever. I swear,
it felt like ten minutes passed before it was time to ride again, inching
my way back up to the front.

Rolling south on St. Denis, police lights and sirens put a slight damper
on the mass energy, but proved powerless to stop us. The intersection at
Cherrier was filled with a giant bike stand. I scooted around the side,
and took a minute to cue up some more lively dance music. As our light
turned green at Sherbrooke, I stopped in front of the two full lanes of
stink-mobiles. I could see the drivers' eyes fill with wonder as the mass
poured into the cross-streets, and spontaneously dropped to the ground. I
killed the music, and the pirate lit up the mega-phone with a few choice
statistics about the many casualties of car culture. Two minutes seemed
endless, and the silence was eery. A few heads popped up off the
pavement, a few cheers rang out loud, and instantly, there were countless
bikes lifted up into the air. As the beats started booming again, I could
see some smiles on the drivers' faces. They were probably as happy to see
us moving on as to see such a strange spectacle in the midst of a routine
commute.

We rolled down the hill, most of us knowing that we were nearing the
rendez-vous point, but unsure of what exactly was going to happen. Yet
another die-in at Maisoneuve provided an adequate distraction for Reclaim
The Streets volunteers to move into position with portable fences,
recently liberated from the national library. A second sound system
kicked in as the Food Not Bombs trike started distributing sandwiches in
the middle of St. Denis. The fences were set up on the south crosswalk of
the intersection, and were decorated with RTS banners. Ten or so
partiers' held the front line, while the mass was eating heartily and
bobbing their heads to beats.

I was watching all of this from the sidewalk in front of the metro
station, trying to gauge the risk, wanting to keep the 'sonic resistance'
system safe. I cued up some KRS-ONE, and made my way towards the fences.
"WHOOP / WHOOP / That's the sound of the POLICE! / WHOOP / WHOOP / That's
the sound of the BEAST! / WHOOP / WHOOP ..." I did my best to occupy the
empty street between the fences and the mass, but kind of chickened out
when when the cops started threatening to confiscate our vehicles if we
didn't clear the street immediately. I grabbed a sandwich, and then
pulled the trailer up onto the sidewalk. There was a loud cry for another
die-in, which proved to be an effective response to the police demands. I
guess they weren't ready to pick up one 'cyclist after another from the
pavement and pack them like animals into cages. Instead, everyone
eventually got back up, dancing and drumming enthusiastically. I was
having some fun talking with awe-struck passers-by; "imaginez un futur
sans voiture! On peut fetez dans la rue!". The Reclaim The Streets party
went on for half an hour before the dancers were ready to give the street
back to its more conventional uses. After safely dropping off the stereo
at a nearby friends' house, I was happy to find a small posse hanging out
at Berri Square, chatting excitedly about the nights' happenings.

Yup.

BEST Critical Mass Ride EVER!