When someone says Reclaim the Streets to me (and it's not often) I think of Naomi Klein. And I think of her chapter on RTS in No Logo. It describes the way this movement grew in the mid-90s; initially a coming-together of British ravers when the cops cracked down on their all-night parties, but gradually finding kindred spirit with other “political subcultures” - squatters facing eviction, New Age travellers whose nomadic lifestyles were being threatened, eco-warriors fighting the paving over of woodland areas and so on. The common thread in these seemingly disparate movements was the fight for the right to uncolonised space: for trees, for homes, for dancing. Basically reclaiming the commons – for the people.
Here are bits from her chapter:
Since '95, RTS has been hijacking busy streets, major intersections and even stretches of highways for spontaneous gatherings. In an instant, a crowd of seemingly impromptu partyers transforms a traffic artery into a surrealist playpen. Here's how it works. Like the location of the original raves, the RTS party's venue is kept secret until the day. Thousands gather at the designated meeting place, from which they depart en masse to a destination known only to a handful of organisers. Before the crowds arrive a van rigged up with a powerful sound system is surreptitiously parked on the soon-to-be-reclaimed street. Next, some theatrical means of blocking traffic is devised – for example two old cars deliberately crash into each other and a mock fight is staged between the drivers.....
With traffic safely blocked... signs now go up to say “Breathe”, “Car Free” and “Reclaim Space”. The RTS flag – a bolt of lightning on different coloured backdrops -goes up and the sound system begins to blast everything from the latest electronic offerings to Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World.
Then seemingly out of nowhere comes the travelling carnival of RTSers: bikers, stilt walkers, ravers, drummers. Hundreds of Frisbees sail through the air, free food is circulated and the dancing begins – on cars, at bus stops, on roofs and near sign posts. Organisers describe their road-napings as anything from the realisation of “a collective daydream” to “a large-scale coincidence”.
The largest drawing 20,000 people was at Trafalgar Square in '97.
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Tomorrow there's a 'Reclaim the Streets' in Bangalore. Except from what I gather it's not reclaiming the streets from cars or police or billboards or buildings; it's reclaiming the streets for women. Part of Jasmeen Patheja's Sarai project working on building public testimonies of street harrassment: the Blank Noise project. Meeting at 6 p.m. at Coffee Day on Brigade Road... reflectors will be handed out to be worn, and women wearing them will weave through traffic asking, "why are you looking at me": each woman wearing one alphabet that will together form the whole question. More after; but if you're a woman in Bangalore, do come.
