The Vigil for Dr. Friedes

How Do We Prevent Violence?

The cinder blocks are talking. Listen to them.

"I think this is going to be a turning point," said Philadelphia City Council member Jamie Gauthier. I hope she's right. 

In Philadelphia, when it comes to reimagining our streets, my experience is that progress only comes after death. It doesn't have to be that way. It shouldn't be that way. But it is that way.

In a better world, our leaders might have what President George Bush the First used to call "the vision thing."

But in Philadelphia, we don't have vision. We have body bags.

I've spent quite a few years now studying how to improve our streets, and good solutions are available for many of our problems. During this process, I have watched our municipal government at work, and I have come to a conclusion: If you want to fix the streets, you need to fix City Hall.

About the Pictures

The vigil for Dr. Barbara Friedes was held on Sunday, July 21, 2024. She had been killed in front of the Beth Zion Beth Israel synagogue, known to locals as BZBI, on Spruce just west of 18th, and that was where the vigil was held.

On Saturday, the day before the vigil, I walked through this intersection several times. It's near my house, and the shortest way to many of my local destinations. As I was taking the picture below, I had a thought: I would actually prefer it if history did not happen on my doorstep.

In the photo you can see the memorial site that has been erected on the sidewalk. A little further on you can see a package delivery truck blocking the bike lane where Dr. Friedes was killed.

I'm tempted to say that the death of Dr. Friedes hasn't changed anything yet, but let's go back to the first photo, at the top of the story. Bicycling advocates have been putting out awareness cones to mark bike lanes for quite a few years, but I had never seen cinder blocks before. 

In case you're interested, this is dangerous. Don't do it. But it's also a message. I myself have been committed to non-violence for many years, and I have long believed that non-violence also lies at the heart of the bicycling movement. Now I'm not so sure. I don't think that anyone wants to find out what an actual War on Cars would look like, but if City Hall doesn't change its approach to bicycling, I now fear that we may find out.

The vigil on Sunday was very well attended by bicyclists and ordinary citizens who don't like the idea of people being killed in our streets. There was a media presence, and Council member Gauthier gave a nice speech. The site is not in her district. It is in the district of Kenyatta Johnson, who is also president of City Council. When Emily Fredricks was killed at 11th and Spruce in 2017, the local council member attended the vigil. His name is Mark Squilla.

Andrew Stober has an excellent opinion piece in the Inquirer. To see it, click here. For the Bicycle Coalition's call to action, click here.

See also Those Pesky Bike Lanes; Parking Minimums in Philly; On a Slow Boat to China; It's the Road Design, Stupid; Outflanking City Council; What Are We Doing to Our Truck Drivers?

Mayhem on my Corner

Just Another Evening in Paradise

Shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday night I heard a loud thunk, and I said to myself, That was a car crash down at the corner. It's a pretty distinctive sound.

I'd been awake since 1:30, worrying about the state of the country and the state of my city, so I decided to go have a look, and I wound up taking a few pictures.

 

Two people were transported to the hospital.

See also Do We Secretly Want Ugly Cities and Dangerous Streets?

Shut Down Trump Megaphone

Keep Eye on Ball

In case you hadn't noticed, we are in the middle of a cold civil war. In a war, it's very important not to be distracted by the fog of war, which people like Steve "Flood the Zone with Shit" Bannon are adept at manufacturing. 

At this point we have one mission: Stop Trump. To achieve that mission, we need to achieve certain objectives. I think one of the most important objectives is to deny Trump his megaphone.

This is the reason why I think the CNN debate was such a disaster. He had an audience of millions, and he got to perform his schtick virtually unhindered. Do not do this again. Cancel the second debate.

Today was supposed to be sentencing day for Trump. It's not. I think he should go to jail, with as long a sentence as the guidelines permit. You do not want a successful appeal of the sentence.

You can't have a presidential candidate in jail, you say? Tell that to Eugene Debs. If it's good enough for a socialist, it's good enough for a fascist.

There are certainly other ways to undercut the Former Guy's ability to reach a large audience, all without breaking the law or committing any acts of violence. Find them. And then make them happen.

This is a war. It's not a tea party.

See also How the Ship Sinks, What a Cold Civil War Feels Like, Hope Hicks Is Sick, Little Karl, What Happened in Ferrara?

Deja Vu All Over Again

If the Playbook Looks Familiar, That's Because It Is.

Karl Radek in 1919. 

It's not hard to see with considerable specificity what the Trumpies and the troglodytic swine behind Project 2025 have in mind for us. First of all, they are telling us, in great detail. And, second, we've seen it all before. Multiple times.

Timothy Snyder has just provided a brief but comprehensive summary of the most important ways to fight back against these despicable fascists. To see the story on Substack, click here.

Recently I stumbled across yet another example of the past providing clarity for the present. It's a 1923 article by Karl Radek that analyzes the underlying causes of fascism in central and southern Europe after World War I. Here is a brief extract from the article: 

"What is the ultimate cause of the Fascist movement? The ultimate cause of the Fascist movement is the reduction of great numbers of the middle classes to the condition of the proletariat as an outcome of the war. Disordered public finance, demoralized currency, rising prices, and enormous taxes have pauperized our educated classes, civil servants, army officers, and an important faction of our independent artisans and tradesmen. These people are seeking to save themselves. They are trying to find a new formula for life.

"Immediately after the war the Social Democrats and other representatives of the petty bourgeoisie gained control of the government in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Italy. The distressed classes we have just mentioned hoped thus to bring about a change in their favor. But such a reform could be won only by a determined struggle with the great capitalists, and the adoption of Socialist measures. The Social Democrats failed, because they feared Big Capital and distrusted the ability of the proletariat. They not only compromised with their opponents but capitulated to them. This destroyed the faith of both the working people and the middle classes in Socialism itself.

"Since the condition of the middle classes grew steadily worse, they were forced to try other methods, and resorted to Fascism, whose motto is: ‘Destroy this lying democracy that merely stands for corruption and profiteering and ruins the industrious commons. Let us set up a strong government of bold, vigorous men, competent to run things, who will start our factories going, make our railways pay, give remunerative employment to our starving bourgeoisie, and rescue from ruin the educated classes.’

"Capitalists use this Fascist ideology to destroy our impotent democracy. This democracy does not, to be sure, prevent their controlling our economic life, but it is proving a less serviceable tool than they would like."

To see the whole article, click here.

Radek was what we used to call a Commie. He was also very smart, he was there, and we should listen to him. Born in what is now Lviv, Ukraine, he got his start as a revolutionary in 1905, when there were, shall we say, disturbances in the land of the Czars. He later became close to Lenin and participated in the 1917 revolution in Russia and the German revolution of 1918-1919, and he became a leader of the Comintern, the organization that sought to spread communism throughout the world. With the rise of Stalin, things went less well for him. Sources conflict about the end of his life, but he may well have died in a labor camp in 1939. 

My first reaction to this article is that it reinforces my thought that the underlying problem in America is the hollowing out of the middle classes that has taken place over the last several decades, starting with the inauguration of Ronald Reagan as president in January 1981. My second reaction has to do with the role of the rich in our society - the bankers, the industrialists, those with inherited fortunes. And I think that Radek is right: I think many of these people value their money more than the democracy they live in. Peter Thiel may not be alone when he says, "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible." (For Thiel, freedom is the ability of rich people to do whatever they want.)

For a good roundup on efforts to inform Americans about Project 2025 and what it means for them, see this recent Substack post by Joyce Vance.

By the way, if you're waiting for a Walter Cronkite moment, forget it. The major media are not going to do their job here.

The photo of Karl Radek is from Wikimedia Commons.

See also Campaign Poster Number Two.

Campaign Poster Number Four

This photograph is from a demonstration on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, during the Republican National Convention in 2000.

Looking back, we've known for a long time that they were bad. We just didn't know how bad.

See also Campaign Poster Number Two, What a Cold War Feels Like, How the Ship Sinks, What Happened in Ferrara?