POWER TO THE PEDAL: ESSAYS AND SPEECHES
 BIKES NOT BOMBS If the United States was not so dependent on Middle Eastern oil, then we would not have a need to intervene politically or militarily in that volatile region. Check out www.peakoil.net and www.endofsuburbia.com
“Automobile-centric Hegemony” By
Chris Hagelin, Daily
Bicycle Commuter/USF Bike Club co-Faculty Advisor What is hegemony? Hegemony
is a concept developed by Antonio Gramsci that refers to an ideology of
domination that actively and passively suppresses alternative or competing
ideologies. According to Gramsci,
weak states rule by force, while strong states rule by hegemony.
This means that the citizens of
a strong state have bought into, or
accept, the ruling classes ideology and that its legitimacy remains
unquestioned. On the other hand,
weak states must force its citizens to accept its ideology.
Gramsci also stated that wherever hegemonic forces are at work,
resistance and alternative ideologies exist.
A revolution is complete when a new ideology becomes dominant and
legitimized, usually as political, economic and social power shifts, or
adaptive cultural responses are forced upon human beings.
This is not to say that hegemonic ideologies need be overturned, for
they are not necessarily good or bad and their impact is relative. In the United States, automobile-centric hegemony is a powerful
force that is held in place by the ruling economic and political class.
Need I explain the relationship between national policy and
energy-producing industries, or why the current Administration has never truly
supported conservation, reduction of foreign oil dependence, or more
fuel-efficient cars? So often it seems that many, but certainly not all,
transportation engineers and other professionals have bought into, or been
socialized into, the auto-centric ideology.
They do not question the idea that roads are for cars, and a better
road is one that moves more cars more quickly.
Alternatives, such as bicycling, carpooling, transit, walking, and
bikes-on-bus are left out. Furthermore,
the alternatives are probably not left out on purpose; they are left out
because they were never considered in the first place.
Hegemonic ideologies are often so ingrained that they are a tacit,
below the level of consciousness. It is not that it is impossible for them to
see another side, they are not even aware the other side exists.
“To Understand History and not to Relive it” --- a Talk first presented on November 18, 2001 by Jesse Binford, Faculty Advisor, USF Bike Club Being a college professor and having a tendency to talk in 50 minute blocks I have decided that this talk will stick closely to a few readings. My readings are historical in nature, and history, though it may not repeat itself, is a guide to the future. We can learn from history. “Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history.” (Abraham Lincoln, second message to Congress, December 1, 1862.) “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just – a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.” Peaceful? In the middle of a bloody war? What was he talking about? “Article ___ [of the Constitution]. Every State, wherein slavery now exists, which shall abolish the same therein, at any time, or times, before the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand and nine hundred, shall receive compensation from the United States, to wit:…” That’s what I admire about Lincoln – he always has a plan – and it’s always so simple, logical and humanitarian—he makes you want to do it his way. “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty and we must rise – with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” That word, disenthrall, had not been used by Lincoln in a speech before. It is dripping, as they say, with irony. “Enthrall: to hold spellbound: charm, captivate. (Webster’s Third International Dictionary) Disenthrall: to free from bondage.” To the citizens who were captive to the idea that slavery was inevitable Lincoln argued that freeing the slaves was inevitable if they would save the nation. Today we may be captive to another idea – that we must have oil from the Middle East. Some recent history is revealing. During the oil embargo in December 1973 James Reston wrote in the New York Times “The craziest notion that has hit this country in a long while – and we’ve had quite a few nutty notions lately – is that shortages of gas, beef and a lot of other things are bad for the American people. What America REALLY needs is more shortages. It is not our shortages but our surpluses that are hurting us. Too much gas, too much booze, too much money, talk, noise, and – fire me tomorrow! – too much newsprint are our problem…The chances are that everybody would be safer and healthier, that the old man would know more about other people’s problems by riding the bus, that Juniors’s problems would be limited without a car. None of these potential bounties to American life would have been possible if it had not been for the blackmail threats of the Arab oil states in the Middle East. By ourselves, we would probably never have had the common sense or discipline to return to basics. But now the threatened shortage of gas, oil, and heat has finally brought people to their senses, and the only trouble with Henry Kissinger’s successful compromise diplomacy in the Middle East, is that the Arabs may agree to sell their oil at higher prices, and encourage us to go on with our foolishness.” [And that of course is exactly what happened – oil prices were raised by a factor of 20.] The National Academy of Sciences reported [Science Magazine, February, 1975] that “oil production in the United States has been declining since late 1970 and gas production appears to have reached a peak in 1974”… and urged a conservation ethic “as a kind of national religion.” Google: “Jimmy Carter Museum. On
November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the United States Embassy in
Tehran and took approximately seventy Americans captive. This terrorist act
triggered the most profound crisis of the Carter presidency and began a
personal ordeal for Jimmy Carter and the American people that lasted 444
days.” Congressman Sam Gibbons [Washington Report, December, 1979] published this table: “Gasoline Consumption in Western Nations in 1977; UK and France, 6 billion gal., Canada and Germany, 8 billion gal.; United States 113 billion gal. Mr. Gibbons said “If you wonder why we’re having problems with fuel oil imports, perhaps this is part of the reason.” “Reagan Formally Abandons Energy Independence Goal” [Tampa Tribune, October 5, 1983]. “The Reagan administration formally abandoned on Tuesday the national goal of energy independence, saying the United States will rely ‘to some extent’ on Arab oil for at least the next 20 years.” Google: Baghdad bombing begins in January, 1991. Oil War I. “U.S. Reliance on Mideast Oil Unlikely to Abate in 1990’s” [Tampa Tribune, February 9, 1991]. “The Bush administration’s 18-month study for a new U.S. energy strategy concludes that ‘no feasible combination of domestic or foreign energy policy options can fully relieve us of the risks of oil dependency in the next two decades.” “The Next Oil Crisis Looms Large – and Perhaps Close” [Science Magazine, August 21, 1998]. “Nature took half a billion years to create the world’s oil, but observers agree that humankind will consume it all in a 2-century binge of profligate energy use…Even taking into account the best efforts of the explorationists and the discovery of new fields in frontier areas like the Caspian Sea, sometime between 2010 and 2020 the gush of oil from wells around the world will peak at 80 million barrels per day, then begin a steady, inevitable decline.” “Fears, Again, of Oil Supplies at Risk” [New York Times, Money & Business, October 14, 2001]. “Higher prices and lower supplies pushed the United States to trim its use of oil in the 1990’s, but the country now relies more than ever on imports… While the United States has been importing more of its petroleum from places like Canada, Mexico and Venezuela, a disruption in oil sales from the Middle East, which has more than the rest of the world combined, could not be replaced easily… ‘We can’t just blame Detroit for higher oil consumption’, said Jay Hakes, the former director of the Energy Information Administration of the Energy Department. ‘We’re all in this. We have met the enemy and he is us’ [with apologies to Walt Kelly and Pogo, who said it first many years ago].” Top
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