by Guy Hawkins

I recently got back from my ride on Friday September 28 with Betty Krawczyk who was released from prison just days before - having served more than six months for civil disobedience. WOW I had an incredible experience of personal soverneity riding in the Critical Mass bike ride. Imagine 1500 cyclists - some in costume - some riding ridiculus ‘two story’ bikes, all participating in an act of civil disobedience with Betty Krawczyk . We were all charged by Betty’s presence - a 79 year old grandmother had taken back her personalsovernty by no longer recognizing the authority of a court of law. It was all hooting and hollering for the entire two hour ride through the streets and over the bridges of Vancouver. We stopped all traffic at will by simply getting off our bikes in front of stopped vehicles so they could not move. We blocked intesections of all the main streets as well as ‘closing’ the bridges to vehicle traffic in one direction untill all riders had passed. Five or six uniformed police officers cycled behind us as ‘sweepers’ to reopen the intersections as we vacated them. One of the funist parts were the reactions of people who were being inconvienced by our civil disobedience. We forced vehicles to stop for up to five minutes as 1500 cyclists rode by. Many drivers were honking and giving the high five as well as the pedestrians who had to wait the five minutes also.
People were really happy to share in our display of personal sovernity. Many called out and waved from the sidewalks and came out from shops as we passed. We thanked the drivers and pedestrians for their good humour and we thanked the ‘knockers’ for stopping the traffic so we could ride through. It was the coolist thing ever!