A more subtle kind of activism…
Starting at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia a few months ago, I didn’t really know what kind of activism went into ‘bicycle advocacy’ (nor what ‘bike advocacy’ even meant, for that matter). I’ve had experience with more direct political activism, I’ve always been excited by non-violent social change like the Civil Rights movement, and most recently I focused on empowerment through displaying social and political issues in the form of public art…but none of this seemed to be what the Bicycle Coalition was about.
When I interviewed at the Bike Coalition, the executive director told me: ‘the thing about bicycles is that they’re fun, and you can win,” comparing the Coalition to his former work as an anti-war activist. “What we’re trying to do is create a cultural shift towards more bike use”. The Coalition focuses on advocacy and education, working to make bicycling both safer and more accessible. The idea is that by doing these things, more people will be willing to try biking, and will be able to enjoy it and recognize its importance on their own- that is, they will be able make biking part of their culture, because they are being invited rather than yelled at or looked down on.
To use one of my favorite new metaphors, the Bike Coalition is not trying to hit people over the head with their agenda, but rather respectfully reaching out to people wherever they currently stand, and asking them to move only a little bit towards making Philly safer and better for bicycling. And exactly because they are engaging in this more subtle, cultural shift kind of activism, people seem to be willing to stop and listen and be engaged, and maybe even shift their behavior.
So would this strategy work for the anti-war movement, I wonder? While it might not solve every problem, it seems to me that the idea of ‘creating cultural shift through building education and accessibility’ might be helpful for many causes.
*p.s.- Speaking of education, check out the bicycle education blog I’ve been writing a lot for! http://bikePHL.bicyclecoalition.org
