Critical Mass (action form)

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Critical Mass in San Francisco (2005)

Critical mass ( engl. "Critical mass") is a global movement, in which a plurality of non-motorized road users (mainly cyclists ) meet seemingly random and unorganized to common and un hierarchical driving through city centers, their sheer volume and the concentrated occurrence of bicycles todraw attention to cycling as a form of individual transport .

Origin and main features

Critical Mass in Prague (2007)
Critical Mass in Budapest (2007)

The first "Critical Mass" action took place in September 1992 in San Francisco . Since then, cyclists around the world have been meeting more or less regularly for trips through cities. From city to city there are different ways of dealing with traffic rules and cars as well as the police : A “critical mass” has no responsible person and no central organization (only one author): Critical mass actions arise when someone chooses a place and a time thoughtful and calls up for a trip together via the Internet, posters , word of mouth or a similar channel and thus announces the place and time. If there are enough people to drive together, the CM will take place.

The term "Critical Mass" comes from the documentary  Return of the Scorcher  (1992) by Ted White. This tells of the bike culture in China and the Netherlands compared to that in the USA. In the movie, George Bliss was watching the behavior of motorized two-wheel and cyclists in China, the intersections without  traffic light system  easily understood crossing (traffic lights). His observations show that the traffic jams at these intersections until it has reached a critical mass at which it pushes over the intersection and thus forces the crossing traffic to stop. The name of the movement is based on this concept of critical mass .

Closely related to the critical mass are moving bicycle yourself workshops, so-called, Bike Kitchens (engl., Dt. Mutatis mutandis bicycle kitchens ) in the respective cities. There, freak bikes (see Tallbikes ) are built, which attract special attention on the CM rides. The ADFC also supports the trips in many cities through advertising and participation.

Critical Mass Rides usually take place once a month (often on the last Friday of the month), but also on various occasions such as demonstrations , reclaim-the-streets parties or various days of action, as well as on various political and social issues.

Special critical mass events

Critical Mass in Tel Aviv (2008)

One of the largest critical mass journeys to date took place in New York at the end of August 2004 . Several thousand participants protested on their bike tour against the party conference of the Republicans and US President George W. Bush . In the course of this CM almost 400 people were arrested, hundreds of bicycles were confiscated and entire streets were closed to bicycles.

From 2004 to 2014 there was also a Critical Mass bicycle parade in Budapest twice a year. After only a few hundred cyclists had taken part at the beginning, around 50,000 people rode through the center of Budapest at the event on April 22, 2007, and on April 20, 2008 there were already 80,000. The last event in Budapest took place in 2013 with around 100,000 participants. This made the Hungarian event the largest of its kind in the world. A Critical Mass event is also held twice a year in the Hungarian city of Pécs . Over 1000 activists demonstrated here in the spring of 2008 to ensure that traffic management was appropriate for cyclists.

The since 2001 in June ( World Naked Bike Ride Month , sa Pride Month ) in many cities around the world (on the southern hemisphere organized due to the displaced seasons in February and March) often associated with Critical Mass tours World Naked Bike Rides are more or less ridden without clothing; the biggest "ride" in this context always takes place in London , the founding city is Saragossa in Spain .

At a kidical mass, primarily children and young people take part.

Critical Mass in the German-speaking area

Germany

According to § 27 StVO, more than 15 cyclists can form a " closed association " which, however, must be clearly recognizable as such to other road users. For this association, the traffic rules of an individual vehicle apply accordingly and he has z. B. - as if it were a semitrailer - to drive in a train across an intersection with traffic lights , even if it switches to red in the meantime. This was confirmed in 1989 by a ruling by the Verden Regional Court . For parts of a "closed association", there is also no exceptional obligation to use cycle lanes in accordance with Section 2 (4) of the Road Traffic Act. For example, two people can drive next to each other on the lane (however, driving in a closed formation is only permitted where other traffic is not obstructed. If necessary, the association must drive in a row, as Section 27 (1) sentence 1 of the StVO expressly drives association drives not exempt from the other traffic regulations, also § 2 Paragraph 4 Sentence 1 StVO in conjunction with § 1 Paragraph 1 and 2 StVO apply ). Since critical mass actions combine cycling with political concerns, sociologist Gregor Betz regards the actions as a “ hybrid event ”.

A current overview of critical masses in the German-speaking area (with times and number of participants, if reported) can be found on the Internet.

Berlin

The first German Critical Mass was launched in September 1997 in Berlin . Initially only ten to 20 drivers took part. After six months there were already around 400 to 500 people who regularly drove together. After a break, regular trips have been taking place in Berlin since December 2006. Since 2011, the last Friday of the month has been driven, with 550 (November 2017) to 3000 (July 2017) participants.

Hamburg

Critical Mass Meeting in Hamburg at the Planetarium (June 2015)
Hamburg, Critical Mass Hamburg on June 28, 2019: Bicycles on Hamburger Strasse, further to Mundsburger Damm, towards the city

The Critical Mass (Hamburg) take place on the last Friday of the month. In July 2009 around 250 cyclists met there; In the summer of 2012 there were over 1500, on August 30, 2013, 3252 were counted, on May 30, 2014 there were 5155 and on May 26, 2015 around 4000 bicycles.

Nuremberg

In Nuremberg , the Critical Mass always takes place on the last Friday of the month from 6 p.m. In 2018, an average of around 1,500 people took part. In April 2014 around 450 cyclists took part; in April 2018 and April 2019 there were around 2,600 participants each. With reference to the dangers of Corona, the city of Nuremberg announced that it would prevent the Critical Mass in the future if this event / demo was not properly registered. On July 31, 2020, the Critical Mass was prevented by the police, cyclists were let out of the tires by the police, probably to prevent them from participating.

Austria

In Austria there has been a CM in Vienna after a long break (as CM for the first time from April 30, 1999) since March 2006 every third Friday of the month, which between 2007 and 2010 often reached around 400 participants. In 2009, the largest Critical Mass to date took place on June 19th with over 600 participants. In the course of 2011, the “critical mass” grew on several occasions to 600 (May), 800 (June) and finally 950 (September) participants. At the start of spring 2012 in March, between 800 and 1,200 people were already cycling. The police usually tolerate the unannounced events and accompany them with several motorized and sometimes bicycle lanes. On smaller occasions (e.g. in winter, e.g. December 2011), it sometimes withdrew early. At particularly massive gatherings that calmed down several main motor vehicle arteries on spontaneous routes, the police sometimes also used a helicopter from the Ministry of the Interior, for example in September 2011 or March 2012. Bicycles have also been decorated and decorated for CM trips in Vienna's Bikekitchen different groups of cyclists uniformly masked (CM Vienna on September 21, 2012). On the occasion of the “car-free day”, this trip also took us over a stretch of the motorway.

Monthly critical mass trips have been taking place in Graz and Linz since 2007 , and Innsbruck , Salzburg , Feldkirch and Wiener Neustadt joined them in autumn 2008 . In Linz, the Critical Mass always takes place on the last Friday of the month, starting at the main square in Linz. Salzburg starts on the same day at 5 p.m. in the Kurpark in front of the Kongresshaus, Graz also leaves on the last Friday, with the meeting point at Südtiroler Platz next to the Kunsthaus at 4.30 p.m.

In Graz, too, the CM ride in June has been taking place as a naked bike ride for a number of years, most recently on June 24, 2016. The protest is seriously directed against air pollution from motorized traffic and demonstrates the vulnerability of the human body, especially of cyclists in road traffic.

The Graz Ghost Bikes (GB) have so far (May 2015) been made by activists in the bicycle kitchen, brought to the scene of the accident using a self-made bicycle trailer or coupling the fork to a bicycle as part of a CM and set up nearby. The GB at Ferdinand Porscheplatz was allowed to be set up in December 2015 on the private property of the Murpark shopping center on the greenery surrounding the parking lot, but had to be dismantled after a few weeks (as agreed). The removal was carried out by an inline skater using a low-loading shopping cart from a hardware store.

Journeys in Graz are usually accompanied by music. Often there is a blue, about 50 liter music keg, self-made by the bicycle kitchen, from a polyethylene container with a loudspeaker about 25 cm in diameter built into the lid. The pieces of music are preprogrammed, digitally stored, amplifier and battery are in the box. The barrel is advantageously lashed lying on the luggage rack of a bike with a small rear wheel or a cargo bike with a loading area. This soundmobile also accompanied a city ​​skating ride once . Since around 2015, live music has repeatedly accompanied the Graz CM. On the one hand, a group of 3, based on a cargo tricycle plus a child trailer chassis, which also occurs at street festivals such as the lumbar vertebra and whose cargo cyclists themselves play a didgeridoo mounted over the handlebars and front box. On the other hand, musicians loaded onto several cargo bikes, such as those from Masala Brass Band on May 27, 2016. Rainer Maichin made sound recordings of this trip with a total of 254 participants with interviews for the sustainability program “Morgen” on Radio Helsinki.

The Critical Mass has also been taking place regularly in Klagenfurt since summer 2018 . Every first Thursday of the month, the cyclists meet at 6 p.m. at the Lindwurmbrunnen on Klagenfurter Neuer Platz.

Because of the exit restrictions and the distancing in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic , the CMs were canceled from mid-March and until mid-May.

Switzerland

In Switzerland , two people can ride side by side if there is heavy bicycle traffic or in a group of more than 10 people. Critical masses take place regularly in various Swiss cities, including Zurich , Geneva , Winterthur , Basel , Lucerne , Frauenfeld , Biel / Bienne , Freiburg , Lausanne and Schaffhausen .

Zurich

The first Critical Mass in Zurich took place in 1997 at the latest, according to a publication on the fifth anniversary of the Critical Mass in San Francisco. Since the end of 2018 at the latest, a Critical Mass has been taking place every last Friday of the month and in 2019 a strong increase in participants was recorded. In the summer of 2019, between 900 and 1000 participants were reached several times.

Vélorution in France

In France the movement is mainly known under the name Vélorution , the direct French translation mass critique is used less often. The name is an anagram from the word revolution , in which the letters R , V and L are rotated once to the left, so that the word begins with vélo (French for bicycle ). In many French cities there are clubs or loose groups under this name that mainly organize bicycle demonstrations. In addition, the term vélorution is used to describe a major advance in the use of bicycles as a means of transport, such as the expansion of free bicycle rentals or cooperative bicycle workshops. The origin of the term is controversial. It is often attributed to Aguigui Mouna , who, during the election campaign for the French presidential election in 1974 in Paris , competed in a mock election campaign on a bicycle with the slogan ( French ) “Je suis un cyclodidacte, la vélorution est en marche”.

Debate on the mobility transition

Critical Mass on the Weidenhäuser Bridge with a painted bicycle symbol on the lane

Participants in a Critical Mass are interested in taking a “bike tour through the city” or “experiencing a piece of capital city culture”. The mass gathering encourages participants to work outside of this form of action at various levels for a traffic turnaround and, according to the times, to use the global movement “to get more rights for cyclists and, above all, better infrastructure and more space with the pressure of the streets to demand ". A critical mass leads to the fundamental "question of whether public space should not be withdrawn from traffic and used in a completely different way."

On December 27, 2019, 17 participants were detained for an ID check as part of a Critical Mass bicycle network in Krefeld after being disbanded by the police. At the end of the group action, which had already been dissolved, the police opened the charge to all 17 participants that they had violated the assembly law and that criminal proceedings were being initiated against all participants by the public prosecutor's office.

See also

literature

  • Chris Carlsson (Ed.): Critical Mass, Bicycling's Defiant Celebration . Ak Press, Edinburgh / Oakland 2003, ISBN 1-902593-59-6 .
  • Bettina Leibetseder: Critical Mass. A new social movement. In: Institute for Social Policy of the Johannes Kepler University Linz , (Ed.): Contrasts. No. 2, March 2009, pp. 15-21. (PDF; 1.7 MB)

Web links

Commons : Critical Mass (cycling event)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

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  2. ^ Critical Mass Augsburg: Critical Mass meets ADFC Augsburg. In: Critical Mass Augsburg. September 18, 2013, accessed April 26, 2016 .
  3. ↑ List of rides. In: Critical Mass. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  4. ↑ (((i))): RNC / New York - Update # 4. In: de.indymedia.org. October 20, 2006, accessed April 26, 2016 .
  5. ^ Budapest's last critical mass ”sets new record (Hungary). In: eltis.org
  6. ^ Critical Mass in Austria. Accessed June 8, 2019 (German).
  7. ↑ worldnakedbikeride.org
  8. ↑ Kidical Mass - Home - Kidical Mass Children on the bike. Accessed on May 18, 2020 (German).
  9. ↑ Kidical Mass Cologne - Children on the bike. Accessed on May 18, 2020 (German).
  10. ↑ Kidical Mass Dortmund. Retrieved on May 18, 2020 (German).
  11. ^ LG Verden, judgment of February 2, 1989, Az. Ns Ds 2 Js 10396/88
  12. ↑ http://www.criticalmass.de/
  13. ^ De: Berlin. In: Critical Mass. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  14. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/CriticalMassBerlin/posts/10155826016844847
  15. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/CriticalMassBerlin/posts/10155510571859847:0
  16. ↑ Flash mob for cyclists in the city center , Hamburger Morgenpost from July 5, 2009.
  17. ^ Sarah Erichsen: Protest on the bike: Critical Mass Hamburg: "We are the traffic". In: shz. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  18. ↑ Record participation in the bicycle demo in Nuremberg on br.de, April 29, 2019, accessed on June 9, 2020
  19. ↑ Police reprimand bicycle event "Critical Mass" on nordbayern.de, April 29, 2014, accessed on June 9, 2020
  20. ↑ Bike demo in Nuremberg: 2600 participants at Critical Mass on nordbayern.de, from April 28, 2018, accessed on June 9, 2020
  21. ↑ Record participation in the bicycle demo in Nuremberg on br.de, April 29, 2019, accessed on June 9, 2020
  22. ^ "Critical Mass" cyclist demo stopped: Did the police let the air out of their tires? Retrieved August 2, 2020 .
  23. ↑ Critical mass. In: akin.mediaweb.at. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  24. ^ Critical Mass Vienna. In: cmvienna.at.tf. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  25. ↑ Vienna: June 19th: 600 cyclists at the naked bikeride in Vienna !! In: Critical Mass in Austria. June 17, 2009, accessed April 26, 2016 .
  26. ↑ May CM in Vienna with over 600 Radlas! In: Critical Mass in Austria. May 15, 2011, accessed April 26, 2016 .
  27. ↑ Naked Bike Ride in Vienna with almost 800 participants! In: Critical Mass in Austria. June 8, 2011, accessed April 26, 2016 .
  28. ↑ 16.9. - CM Vienna - we were 900! In: Critical Mass in Austria. September 30, 2011, accessed April 30, 2016 .
  29. ↑ 800? 1000! 1200 ?! Huge spring CM in Vienna on March 16! In: Critical Mass in Austria. March 12, 2012, accessed April 30, 2016 .
  30. ^ Critical Mass in Austria. In: Critical Mass in Austria. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  31. ↑ That's why cycling on June 27th naked people through Graz. In: futter.at , June 18, 2016. - Announced date incorrect June 27 , correct: June 24 .
  32. ↑ CM72: With Ghostbike III in the drizzle. In: graz.radln.net (ARGUS Steiermark). November 2014, accessed April 30, 2016 .
  33. ^ Rainer Maichin: May Critical Mass 2016 in Graz. Radio Helsinki , broadcast on June 3, 2016, published on CBA on June 4, 2016, accessed on March 8, 2017.
  34. ↑ criticalmass.in: Critical Mass Klagenfurt
  35. ↑ Federal Chancellery - P: SR 741.11 Traffic Regulations Ordinance of November 13, 1962 (VRV). In: admin.ch. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  36. ↑ Critical Mass Zurich on Facebook. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
  37. ↑ Critical Mass Genève on Facebook. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  38. ↑ Critical Mass Winterthur on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  39. ↑ Critical Mass Basel on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  40. ↑ Critical Mass Luzern on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  41. ↑ Critical Mass Frauenfeld on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  42. ↑ Critical Mass Biel Bienne on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  43. ^ Critical Mass Friborg / Freiburg on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  44. ↑ Critical Mass Lausanne on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  45. ↑ Critical Mass Schaffhausen on Facebook. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  46. ^ Five Years Old - Critical Mass. Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  47. ↑ https://criticalmass-zh.ch/august-2019.html Accessed November 30, 2019
  48. ↑ https://criticalmass-zh.ch/september-2019.html Accessed November 30, 2019
  49. ↑ https://criticalmass-zh.ch/oktober-2019.html Accessed November 30, 2019
  50. ↑ Vélorution <[email protected]>: Vélorution! - ★ Vélorution! ★. In: velorution.org. Retrieved April 26, 2016 (French).
  51. ^ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Cycling in Paris: The Vélorution continues. In: SPIEGEL ONLINE. Retrieved April 26, 2016 .
  52. ↑ ouest-france.fr
  53. ↑ Jacques Danois: Aguigui. Les Dossiers d'Aquitaine, 1991, ISBN 2-84622-146-4 , p. 69.
  54. ^ Critcal Mass Altona - P: Critcal Mass Altona. In: www.critical-mass-altona.de. Retrieved March 29, 2018 .
  55. ↑ criticalmass.berlin - P: Critcal Mass Berlin. In: criticalmass.berlin. Retrieved March 29, 2018 .
  56. ↑ http://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/200-jahre-fahrrad-erobert-das-rad-die-staedte-zurueck.976.de.html?dram:article_id=384464
  57. ↑ Critical Mass: The social revolution has long since arrived . In: The time . June 26, 2014, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed April 26, 2016]).
  58. ↑ Trouble with bicycle campaign on Theaterplatz, accessed on December 31, 2019
  59. ↑ https://twitter.com/euroweld/status/1210644562479374336?s=21
  60. ↑ What is Slow Roll? In: slowrolldetroit.starchapter.com. May 2016, accessed May 2016 on 17 .