Still We Ride Screenings

Critical Mass in Melbourne Australia, November 2005

Still we ride is an excellent documentary about the recent attack on Critical Mass in NYC.

Still we ride
or see the trailer:
trailer

Here is an update on Future Screenings:

Hello Friends,

Still We Ride is headed out for another series of speaking and screening
gigs at the following locations. It would be greatly appreciated if you
helped to spread the word to people you might know in these areas. The
program consists of various short bike videos, a brief presentation, and
Still We Ride (plus Q & A). BIG thanks to Ryan at Evil Twin Booking for
setting up these dates and all the peops who have supported the project in
oh so many ways.

Dec 1, Lewiston,ME, The Ronj @ Bates College, 34 Frye Street, 7pm, Free
Dec 2, Brunswick, ME The Beam @ Bowdoin College, 7pm, Free
Dec 3, Portland, ME, The People’s Free Space, 144 Cumberland Ave, 7pm
Dec 4, Waterville,ME @ Colby College, 7pm, Free
Dec 5, Orono, ME @ University of Maine, 7pm, Free
Dec 7, Lucy Parson's Center, 549 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA, 7 PM
Dec 8, AS220, 115 Empire St., Providence, RI, 5:30 PM
Dec 9, Collective A Go Go - Worcester, MA

Thanks,
Andrew


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MORE INFORMATION
Anyone who rides a bike (or not) needs to see this movie. As this is not
an isolated issue for New York to deal with alone, it's a major testing
ground for suppression of free speech and suppression of free assembly.


"After an entire year of illegal and barbaric treatment by the NYPD,
cyclists in New York have persevered, as documented in the new
documentary "Still We Ride." Civil libertarians and anyone concerned
about basic rights to assemble, protest, celebrate, and speak have
flocked to defend the New York Critical Mass."

-Chris Carlsson "Critical Mass: Bicycling's Defiant Celebration"

DESCRIPTION
On Friday August 27th, a few days before the start of the Republican
National Convention, a massive police operation gets underway. That night
a record 5000-6000 bicycle riders hit the streets for the monthly Critical
Mass ride. Helicopters circle overhead and police entrap cyclist at
several points, often entrapping them by wrapping large orange netting
around riders. By the end of the night 264 people are arrested, marking
one of the largest mass arrests in New York City's history. The arrestees,
it turns out, had done nothing illegal.

The documentary Still We Ride captures the joyous atmosphere of this
August ride before the arrests begin and the chaos that followed. It
recounts how this ride first started in San Francisco over 10 years ago,
and chronicles the police crackdown in New york and resulting court
battles over the last twelve months. The movie takes on issues of civil
liberties, surveillance, the power of mainstream media, and the benefits
of alternative means of transportation.
============================
Here is a press release by Jim Elliott State Senator from Montana after seeing "still we ride."

Freedom To Be, Freedom To Ride
November 7, 2005
By Senator Jim Elliott
C.I.C.L.E. cicle.org from LA

As a rule, authority distrusts innovation and spontaneity, which to my mind pretty much embodies today’s cycling movement. I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago when I watched 'Still We Ride' - a documentary on the mass Critical Mass arrests in New York City during the 2004 Republican National Convention, and the subsequent harassment of cyclists and confiscation of unattended bikes.

It angered me to see a group of people targeted for legalized harassment for doing nothing more than enjoying their civil liberties.

Let me first make something clear; I am not a cyclist, nor do I intend to become one. In fact, in rural Montana, where I live, I tend to be more annoyed by cyclists who choose to tour our extremely scenic and narrow highways than sympathetic. That’s why I was prepared to cast a jaundiced eye on the plight of the people in 'Still We Ride'.

The reason I was moved to side with them was not because I felt that their particular activity was being singled out by the authorities for special and unwarranted treatment, but because I have seen this kind of overreaction on the part of the police and civil authorities for decades, and enjoyed some personal experiences of my own that have left an indelible mark.

Be it the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s, the anti Vietnam War protests of the 1960s and 1970s, or going even further back in American history to the labor movement in the 1880s, people have had the crap kicked out of them for standing up for their belief that their opinion is entitled to respect.

Just so, those people who participate in Critical Mass, whether or not I agree with them (or whether or not anybody agrees with them) are being singled out and punished by the authorities for having a different lifestyle, expressing their beliefs - hell - just exercising their freedom.

Those who are not directly on the receiving end of the butt kicking probably don’t pay much attention. Maybe, even though you are a cyclist, you don’t either. Too bad, because the likelihood is that, in one way or another, your turn will come. In fact, in light of the United States’ government’s drive to save our freedom by destroying it, it may already be your turn; you just haven’t felt it yet.

So I am writing this article to pass along some thoughts that are important to me. First, freedom is not free; it is never given, it is always won by struggle. Even the most seemingly absurd, everyday things were fought for. Thousands of laborers died to secure things that today we take for granted - the weekend and the eight hour day; many thousands of Blacks were killed for merely trying to have a say in their own destiny. It’s a long, long list, and there is little that we take for granted today that is not on it.

The second point is that all people are engaged in the same struggle to win or maintain some sort of individual freedom, but they manifest it in different ways. It is our obligation, as their neighbors in spirit, to respect their desires and to see that they are not persecuted because they use legal but, to the authorities, intimidating means to achieve them.

We don’t have to join them in their struggle - we may not even feel they are right - but we must be always vigilant in protecting their right to express themselves without being harassed or brutalized by governmental authorities. Because, my friends, we need them to be there for us too.

I don’t feel any different about cyclists that I did before I saw 'Still We Ride'. I’m not going to have warm fuzzies when after I round a curve I have to go into the ditch as an alternative to head ending a semi or killing a trio of cyclists riding abreast (yeah, it happened), but I am going to stand up for anyone who is given a hard time for what they do or what they stand for, and if those guys happen to be cyclists, I’ll be there for them both as a neighbor and as a Montana state senator.

Senator Jim Elliott (D) writes a biweekly column called Montana Viewpoint that is distributed to newspapers throughout the state. He sponsored SJ Resolution 19, the most strongly worded criticism of the Federal Patriot Act in the nation. It was supported by both Democrats and Republicans and passed both houses of the legislature by an overwhelmingly margin. Senator Elliott is also suing the Montana Department of Revenue for release of corporate income tax records to investigate the extent of corporate tax fraud in Montana. The case is now in front of the Montana Supreme Court.

Copyright 2005, C.I.C.L.E.