The Iron Rail anarchist infoshop and the Plan B bicycle recyclery both occupy a portion of an old brick warehouse building on the corner of Marigny and Decatur fondly called the Ark. Although they are two separate organizations (which a volunteer at Plan B emphasized), they seem to benefit from sharing a space. In fact, their close proximity is similar to the layout of Santa Cruz’s Bike Church and Subrosa Infoshop. What do bicycles and anarchism have to do with each other anyways?
Well, for one, anarchists tend to concern themselves with a DIY mentality– making and fixing things yourself versus purchasing new items or paying someone else to provide a repair service. Indeed, this is one thing that attracts me so much to anarchist culture. Too often, people hear the word “anarchism” and they scoff. That’s what some dude from Dallas at the last farm I was at did. I immediately felt pissed off and defensive, even though I don’t even self identify as an anarchist.
Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater! Anarchism has lots of lovely little shiny babies– take ‘em out of the bathwater and dry ‘em off, will you?
Anywho, the Iron Rail’s doorway opens up to a foyer, with open space for meetings and film screenings, a bookshelf full of free books, and a big ol’ pile of free clothes— a “freecycle,” Zena said. Zena was at the front counter on the other side of the foyer, in the infoshop proper. She has been volunteering at the Iron Rail for three months– as long as she’s been in New Orleans. All those who work at the Iron Rail volunteer their time. Zena said she likes volunteering there because she just wants something to do, wants to help book stores in general survive, and likes supporting what the Iron Rail is all about– giving the community positive ideas about revolutionary anarchism, feminism, and DIY through literature.
The Iron Rail creates “a space for learning about radical ideas” through their free library and store where you can purchase music, ‘zines, and patches. Zena described it as very well-run, and indeed, it has been at the Ark for nine years, since 2001. Organizational meetings are held every Wednesday at 8pm.
Zena offered me some coffee, and I sat on the couch and read for awhile. Several people came in and out, some obviously travelers, some locals. One chick brought in a bunch of dumpstered cupcakes. They had been in her freezer previously. I’m always into dumpstered food, but it was kind of a yucky cupcake. I purposely dropped most of the frosting on a patch of dirt, and ate the cake.
Apparently, there is no Food Not Bombs active in New Orleans. That’s really too bad. I would expect it of a city with such size and fame and large contingent of radical-y people. Zena said there used to be an organization similar to FNB called Fuck No. They wold serve under the Claiborne Bridge. For some reason, the organization dissolved. She also mentioned a “bum feed” called The Wall, a punk house called Nowe Miasto (nowemiastonola.org), and noladiy.org (a good website for New Orleans music shows).
After hanging out in the Iron Rail for a bit, I walked into Plan B. It was probably the busiest bike recyclery I’ve seen. I spoke with both volunteers working that day, Jascha and Amy. Jascha had been volunteering there for five years, and Amy for two. Like the Iron Rail, Plan B has no paid employees, only volunteers, although they do have what Jascha described as a core group of volunteers.
They do not charge for the use of the bike stands or tools, but do sell new and used parts. For those who cannot afford to buy the parts, Plan B offers a work-trade option at the rate of $5/hour. Technically, work-trade can be used in exchange for an entire rebuilt bicycle or new parts, but Plan B tries to keep work-trade restricted to used parts alone.
All patrons of the shop on the day I was there were men, but like many bike recycleries, Plan B has a women/trans day, so that women or female gender-indentifying folks can have a safe, quieter space to work.
Amy said that although many of their patrons are men, the volunteer group is gender-balanced. When I asked her why she likes volunteering at Plan B, she said that she simply likes to work on bikes. She finds bike shops are typically financially inaccessible, and bike recycleries allow those who normally could not afford bike repair a place to care for their bike. Amy believes that bicycle accessibility is important because people use bikes to get to work, to go on adventures, and to travel. Additionally, Plan B provides a clearinghouse for used parts that would normally be thrown away. “It’s either here or the dump,” she explained.
Amy explained the problems with an all-volunteer organization such as Plan B. “There is a rotating group of committed people,” she said, “and people get burned-out easily, but then a new group of people emerge who are excited about it… It would be better if we could have paid employees– the shop would be cleaner, more organized, and we would have more parts.” Currently, though, Amy explained, Plan B is barely keeping its head above water. Every month the rent gets paid is an accomplishment.
Keeping non-profit community-centered organizations like Plan B open and thriving in a society that aids and favors money-driven enterprises certainly is an accomplishment each day running.
