like i just saw it in one of those godforsaken i-94 metlife stadium fifa discourse threads. the post was saying americans are not defending the situation, we’re just warning people. then various europeans in the comments were like “so why don’t you do anything about it” which like obviously is dumb bc it’s not that simple. change takes years and people are working on it.
but with that being said there were probably dozens of replies being like “we can’t, our government doesn’t care what we think” “what do you want us to do? we already voted” “we can’t go on general strike, we’ll be fired” “if we try to resist we’ll be labeled domestic terrorists”
and guys i get it. i am not trying to deny the very real fact of activists, mostly Black activists, being shot or assassinated while trying to make change. i’m not trying to downplay that we are in a serious time right now and that the US government has and will cracked down severely on protestors.
but we’re talking about different things. and there are a lot of different levers i think people are not aware of. and there actually is activism being done for walkable cities and doesn’t generally involve the tactics these folks are talking about. and im realizing that a lot of people don’t realize there are forms of activism other than protests, civil disobedience, and general strikes.
firstly, creating walkable cities mostly does not happen on the federal or state level. it’s local. in my city, it looks like this:
- there is an advocacy group that focuses on walkability and bike infrastructure. they meet once a month, and their board meets every couple of weeks. they discuss the projects they want to focus on and what their strategy will be.
- we have a city council that, among other things, votes to plan and approve new infrastructure in the city.
- some of the projects the advocacy group has focused on are ones where a street will be restriped to remove a travel lane and/or parked car lanes, and replace them with bike lanes. the other goal of removing lanes is to reduce car speed so that it’s safer for pedestrians to walk and bicyclists to cycle, bc the faster a car is going, the harder it is to stop for a pedestrian or cyclist and the more severely they pedestrian or cyclist will be injured if there is a crash
- it is slow and unglamorous work, but there are victories. most of the work involves speaking at city council meetings and meeting with city councillors to discuss issues. there are opponents in the city who believe in car-centric low-density lifestyles and also oppose measures to make housing more affordable because they believe it’s their right to pretend they live in a suburb, to hell with everyone else’s needs. so the fight is basically a battle with these folks — attempting to win over the council.
- once sympathetic city councillors and council candidates are identified, part of the fight is endorsing or campaigning for those candidates. these elections are often decided by a margin of a couple hundred votes, so it’s absolutely possible for a few people to make a difference in this. and this also means that even if you don’t have the time or energy to get involved in this kind of activism, your vote really matters.
- the city councillors are not far away out of touch figures who don’t are about us. they’re part of the community; they and the mayor show up at community events. i’ve seen them at the farmer’s market. they are not even full-time city employees; they all have other day jobs. they absolutely do care about what people think, and that’s why people have the opportunity to speak at their meetings and be listened to.
this is the kind of walkability activism i’m familiar with. none of these actions are illegal, none are civil disobedience, and none will endanger your job or your life. i understand that this may not be something you have the time or mental capacity for (i don’t), but i think it is well worth knowing about, in case you do find yourself with the capacity, and also just so you can have a better idea of where these levers are. and because i don’t think it’s particularly helpful or healthy to throw up our hands and say “there’s nothing we can do, we’re powerless.”
