Hello Think Tankers--
I'm passing on a message on behalf of the Santa Cruz Bike Church. We are testing the waters to see if any other organizations would be interested in helping us fund the BikeBike travel expenses for a fellow mechanic from a Oaxacan bike project. Read on!
Dear Bike Collectives,
I just spent a month in Oaxaca at CACITA, a center for "appropriate
technologies" that focuses mostly these days on bike-powered machines
(e.g. water pumps, corn grinders, washing machines, etc), but also has
worked building composting toilets, solar ovens, biodiesel conversions,
and low-tech grey water filters. They are an anarchist collective, whose
members participated in the uprising in Oaxaca in 2006, and whose machines
and workshops often go to benefit the indigenous communities in the area.
I am hoping to help their lead mechanic Eric (yes, he is Mexican despite
the Viking name) go to BikeBike! There is simply no chance of CACITA
paying for that voyage, but the Bike Church has already committed to
paying up to $200 towards helping buy him a plane ticket. If we can patch
together some more donations for a total of around $600, that should be
sufficient. If your project can make a donation please reply ASAP to Steve
at sschnaar@riseup.net. You can send checks to "the Bike Church" at 703
Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (but please also email to advise you are
sending it).
Also FYI I had gone down to Mexico originally in response to an email from
El Machete, a project in Chiapas, in the city of San Cristobal. Perhaps
you all got the same email in your collectives? Upon arrival I was
disappointed to find the shop run by foreigners mostly from France, with
lots of traveling punks from the US and Canada crashing there as well. I
will not speak to any specific criticisms I have as I am trying to have a
constructive dialogue with them about why I left, and in their defense
they say they are a multinational collective including some Mexicans. But
as I was not the only one there who had come in response to their email
some months ago, and who was surprised to find a situation far different
than I had expected, I thought it might be useful information for others.
Best wishes,
Steve Schnaar
Collective Member
The Bike Church
703 Pacific Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
831/425-BIKE
bikechurch@santacruzhub.org