Reclaiming Society a Piece of Stuff by dandy (Alex Markham) A look at the significance of young people acting for social change. the city is choking! (submitted by dandy.) So what's all this reclaiming business about? Young people often have a limited ability to voice our opinions on society. We are excluded from a vast proportion of decision making bodies and have very little influence on the mainstream media. Direct action, in the form of peacful demonstration is one of the main ways to make our voices heard. By demonstrating we can bring attention to issues such as pollution, violence, sexism, or the state of our education system. Direct action is an accessible means of dissent in which anybody can participate. On the last weekend in October this year thousands of people, from all age groups, took to the streets, sending a powerful message to the government, multinational corporations and the rest of the community that there are viable alternatives... Reclaim the Night is a march for women and children, held across Australia on the last Friday of October each year. Not only does Reclaim the Night happen in all capital cities but in many smaller towns also. This year thousands of people gathered in the streets to oppose violence in our community and to question the still prevalent male-centric views of women1s role(s) in society. The unfortunate reality is that a huge proportion of violence is perpetrated by men against women. This violence often occurs in the home, out of the public sphere but not, as many pro censorship politicians and religious reactionaries would like to have us think, all in those 'evil' movies the youth of today are watching. Reclaim the Street is another demonstration which this year occurred the day after Reclaim the Night. Held in conjunction with Reclaim the Street actions in Europe, it signifies a growing opposition to the increasingly unsustainable car culture of the late 20th century. Around 2000 people on foot, bikes, skateboards etc occupied Enmore Road in Newtown, stopping all traffic for most of the afternoon and into the evening. A wicked sound system was speedily assembled and the new occupants of Enmore Road happily danced the afternoon away. To take part in this phenomenon was a complete and utter buzz. The collective feeling of the day was one of non violence. This coupled with an undeniable sense of urgency to create viable transport alternatives made Reclaim the Street an unprecedented success. But how do I get involved??? Check out the following websites... Critical Mass: http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~amorton/cmass.html Reclaim the Street UK: http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk/campaigns/rts.html Reclaim the Night: http://www.vicnet.net.au/vicnet/reclaim/rtnight.htm Created on Fri, 7 Nov 1997 and last modified on Fri, 27 Feb 1998.

LOUDonline - http://www.loud.net.au - Wed, 8 Jul 1998