Rich men do not have solidarity with you. Don’t confuse funding with shared interests.
In the US, when the wealthy want something they can’t easily win democratically, they find a passionate constituency whose goals partially overlap with their own. It offers resources, but with conditions: adopt this messaging & prioritize this metric
You think you’re using their money to build your dream. They know they’re using your dream to build theirs.
And somehow, after all that compromise, there’s one bike lane with an Uber Eats AV Waymo in it.
In this episode, we take Toronto’s fight over bike infrastructure as a window into a much bigger problem that North American cycling is having. What happens when neoliberalism and elite power shape transportation politics? We celebrate the determination to keep a Toronto bike lane alive despite opposition from Doug Ford, while we don’t know how it works in Canada; in the US, elite interests have shaped much of cycling policy. And we’re asking whether advocacy loses something when it becomes dependent on wealthy interests and market-friendly arguments. Nonpartisan shouldn’t mean powerless or obedient. The working class should have solidarity with each other, NOT FUNDERS.
I bet some of you in cycling think this post is about you—-well it is.
