Corking as community policing

Over the past couple of decades there has emerged a new generation of movements for social justice that in particular embrace ?direct action? and ?do?it?yourself? activism ? that is, the replacing of traditional forms of social movement ?protest? or political agitation with the direct, immediate, and autonomous enactment of the movement's alternative models for living. Among the more successful of these is Critical Mass, a global movement that ?dis?organizes? collective bicycle rides as inclusive and environmentally appropriate alternatives to automotive transit. Within Critical Mass, the dismissal of institutionalized policing power and the embracing of do?it?yourself activism have spawned the practice of ?corking,? whereby a Critical Mass bicyclist breaks away from the collective ride and stops to block a crossing street as the mass of riders rolls through a traffic intersection. The distinctly ?dis?organized? and culturally engaged dynamics of corking have in turn served to construct corking as an informal version of community policing ? of policing both the transitory community of Critical Mass riders and the neighborhood communities through which the ride passes.