On October 22, The Bike Kitchen hosted their “Cycling as Resistance” fundraising event for Palestinian aid at the Red Gate Arts Society. The event was composed of a panel and an art sale featuring prints, pins and jewelry featuring symbols of Palestinian support, all available by donation.
The event raised funds for the Gaza Sunbirds, a para-cycling group committed to providing community-led mutual aid for Palestinians in Gaza. So far, the team has distributed $280,000 USD worth of aid, according to their website.
“100% of our team have lost their homes,” the website reads. “We struggle to find food and water to sustain our families. There is no gas or electricity. Still, we are performing against all odds.”
The panel discussed topics surrounding transportation and its importance to activism within different contexts. Byron Cruz, a panelist and member of the LatinXVancouver4Palestine collective, spoke about living in Guatemala during the Civil War and inheriting a bike from his father and grandfather.
“I was always on my little bike, going and checking if everything was okay in the town, bringing the news to the Red Cross or telling them, ‘Hey, there is something you should go and check,’” he said.
He mentioned once being visited by a UBC human geography student interested in creating a project to support migrant workers, which led to the creation of the Bici Libre initiative and Cruz’s involvement delivering bikes and providing a point of contact between the service and the people it serves.
The Bici Libre initiative recycles and repairs bikes for migrant farm workers across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, who often live on the farms they work at, far from town centres. Cruz said the initiative has distributed hundreds of bikes so far.
“A month ago, when I was in Grand Forks [for an event] and we were giving one of the bikes as a prize for one of the workers who came to the event … he said, ‘It’s the first time that someone gives me something for free after 14 years of coming to Canada, working every day in the farm,’ and he cried [and] cried,” Cruz said.
Jeanette Steinmann, a UBC PhD Candidate in sociocultural kinesiology, spoke about how oppressive systems in society affect access to public space for cyclists.
“I think that there are basically a lot of people who bike here [whose] needs aren't met and they're essentially overlooked, and that's part of the design,” they said.
Steinmann has been a part of research regarding bicycling and homelessness. From working with people who bike, she spoke about being able to see that their needs were “not part of cycling policy and advocacy.”
“Folks were riding in areas that didn't have bike lanes,” she said, noting that cyclists often “had lots of cans and bottles on their bikes that didn't really fit within skinny bike lanes and just weren't welcomed.”
Community bike shops, according to Steinmann, were the only welcoming place for cyclists due to lack of access elsewhere.
She also said that the bike is used as a mobility aid, which isn’t really acknowledged because of ableism ingrained into the system.
“It can be shocking that someone with a disability might be a cyclist, because … the idea of cycling and health … don't often go along with disability in the minds of those in power.”
The panel went on to discuss bike rallies, which involve demonstrating while biking, and the barriers activists face, both for their cause and for simply taking up space.
“I mentioned how how it is being part of a bike rally and using spaces that are dedicated for bikes, and feeling like ... we are the worst people on earth because we're biking in the bike lane," said Manav Sharma, a panelist and activist for social equity, transportation and accessibility. "And then we try to take up the road, and it's like, ‘Oh my god, now we're the worst people because we're efficiently using road space.'"
“You're not going to make everyone happy when you're resisting,” said Sharma. “Not everyone's gonna be on your side.”
He spoke about how it can feel discouraging to rally in public spaces, but that activists have to be assured in their knowledge and motivation.
“People can enjoy their Sunday, they can enjoy their beach time, but right now, people are being killed, and that is important to me. That is important to all of us,” he said.
The panel was made up of people who have been activists for varying lengths of time, from decades to only a year.
“I’ve only actually started biking regularly since I started being involved in vanBike4Palestine,” said Bevan Bartlett, a local musician and carpenter on the panel. He spoke about his journey as an activist for Palestine and member of vanBike4Palestine, a group that organizes bike rallies in support of Palestinians.
“Recognizing the power of taking up space and claiming access to things that are trying to be denied to us, I think is really important. And vanBike4Palestine is a manifestation of that, and [of] trying to swing the door open to activism as wide as it can possibly be,” said Bartlett.
“Join the fucking club. Let's all get political together.”
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