No Work. No School. No Oil.
That’s the rallying cry for Seattle Bike Swarm’s May Day actions Tuesday. Bike action kicks off with a ride in support of Seattle Central Community College’s walk-out at 11:15 a.m. Students will will march to Westlake Park to meet up for a day of hip-hop, political action and marches.
This is the first organized Seattle Bike Swarm action since December’s Port Shutdown.
But wait, what is a “bike swarm?” Basically, it’s a term coined in Portland (of course) that basically refers to the use of bicycles en masse during protests. Bikes can quickly scout ahead of the march and have the unique advantage during non-permitted marches of being legal road users (unlike people walking in the street, which is technically illegal).
The role bikes can play in political actions is, like all action techniques, constantly evolving. Police monitoring marches often use bicycle both as a way to keeping ahead of marches and as crowd control barricades by holding their bikes in front of them.
As bicycling grows, both by police and civilians, it makes sense that bikes would play a growing role in street protests.
Cyclists of Seattle Rise Up!
This May Day join the global general strike on wheels. Help shut the down the city to fight for a life worth living.
If you want to ride this May Day, here’s a proposed schedule:
All Day | Swarm – grab some friends and take to the streets.
11:15am | Bike Bloc convergence at Seattle Central Community College to support the student walk out. We’ll then ride down to Westlake Park.
12:00pm | All cyclists meet up for the bike bloc and take the streets in mass. We can ride at the front of the several marches, scout ahead and more.
Help us flood the streets with people, life, and freedom. Dress in your most flashy clothes and get ready to get sweaty.
Comments
2 responses to “Seattle Bike Swarm plans May Day actions”
Let’s hope everything is kept civil. I’m not walking out. I need my job and walking out would cause me to lose that job. I don’t want to come home from my job to some people being disrespectful to property and to the neighborhood.
Civil civil civil! Civil protests work in the United States. Go with it.
PS, does anyone know about Oakland Bike Party? It’s similar to other bicycle awareness rides, but it’s more of just a giant group of people getting together and having fun. People ride within the rules of the road, but it’s still a good mass. It’s great.
We should all be so proud that some of these asses rode bikes.