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August 30, 2004
Josh survives the Tombs, blogs his experience, works on legal defense.
Quick update of Josh's bikesagainstbush situation: He's out of jail and after a quick shower, called his family (fully supportive, by the way), and did the Hardball interview. He blogged about his jail experience on the msnbc site (make sure to check out his description of "Lil' Gitmo" the oil-slicked razor-wired holding pen the critical mass cyclists were forced to sleep in Friday night. Must find a first person account of this somewhere.) After that he dropped by the screensaversgroup RNCredux event we did at SHARE last night. He looked a little harried but alert (I guess a night in jail will do that to ya.)
The short of it is that the bike is out of commission until the hearing Friday. Although Yury has started gathering the parts needed to build a second bike, the code is still in police custody and Josh didn't have an adequate backup. (I know, i know. I'm buying him a copy of Retrospect for his birthday.)
He's definitely going to continue the project. As he reminded me last night, the goal was never about the RNC -- it's about getting Bush out of office. There are 60 more days before the election and miles of sidewalk left in New York City. :)
Problem is he has to get this declared legal first. There's still a strong possibility that he'll be facing jail time. While his lawyer originally thought that this was an open and shut case, similar casesare starting to make her think otherwise.
So going forward, here's what's going on: Josh is concentrating on putting together his legal defense. (You can make a donation to help him out at bikesagainstbush. Because some folks have been picky about this, make sure to specify whether you want your resources to go towards his legal defense or the construction of a new bike.) Someone passed along contact info for James De La Vega's lawyer that I've passed on to Josh. He appreciates that. If anyone knows of anything or anyone that could help Josh in his case, let him know. (Anyone know who defended Steve Kurtz in his case?)
What we civilians can do in the meantime is spread the word on Josh's case which will hopefully put pressure on the city to resolve this case in a swift and just manner. If you can blog about his case, thank you. If you can get coverage in traditional ink-and-electrons media, that'd help, too. Anything to help the community understand that this is the work of someone exercising his first amendment rights in a legal and respectful manner (and not the work of "a man with a convoluted spray-paint mechanism")
As far as the project is concerned, plans are being made for a second bike. I'm going to move all of the updates on Josh's situation to the bikesagainstbush blog but first I have to get some work done. I mean, it is Monday and all. :)
Posted by yatta at August 30, 2004 1:32 PM
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