Saw my first Critical Mass bike ride the other weekend as I was heading to the pub to meet Mik, Nick and Iain. It was very exciting – for a few minutes I felt that I was thrust into the middle of a premium blogging opportunity, armed with my trusty W800i camera and thoughts of what I would post, but it didn’t quite work out like that. It was fun for a few minutes – there were literally hundreds of bike riders and the car drivers were going nuts because they weren’t able to move – but unfortunately my photos and video didn’t come out that well.
I think the idea behind the Critical Mass rides is a good one – reclaiming public places in a peaceful way by using the sheer number of people involved. It sounded great to me since I read about the movement in the book No Logo by Naiomi Klien. It made me think of the photography exhibition on El Salvador I saw at the International Center of Photography in New York – people from El Salvador had no concept of land ownership until the Spanish invaded, which I find totally fascinating. It’s an important statement and one which I hope continues.
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