[Cars] APACHE Autumn 95 c/o Padi, BP 232 75624 Paris, Cedex 13 Cars, cars everywhere. For everyone. Several per family, per person and for all occasiosns. It's the uninterupted rat- race. They are everywhere. They invade the towns, you see them on the tele, postered up on walls, in magazines and in the papers. Everyone talks about them, some fanatically. Such people would kill if you took away their toys. It's an irrefutable symbol of power, independance, social well- being. The car is relevatory of the feebleness of a society that puts consumption and appearance on a pedestal. A car can have a working life of some 20 years, of course. However, you 'have to' get a new one every five years, the offers of state aid rain down. Why? In order to keep consumption riding high. They could be solar powered to cut down pollution and usage of primary resources. But, there you go, the whole idea undermines the very basis of society. Today, not only do you have to have a car in order to affirm some social value but you also have to change it regularly in order to affirm your economic status. Most criticisms are levelled at an ecological level, or relate to accidents: all the same it would appear that there are many more reasons to question the car in society. Today, since ecology is so fashionable great efforts are being made to varnish over the polluting image of these expensive lumps of metal. It seems that there are lead pollutants... quick... get in there with lead free petrol and catalyctic converters which will prove the final solution (I didn't say anything) to the pollution problem.. If only when we discovered solar energy we had put some effort into attaching it to 'the four wheels' the lead problem - not to mention carbon monoxide (poisonous) and dioxide (bad for the ozone layer) other gases (acid rain), the depletion of certain non-renewable primary resources (oil)- we'd have solved a simple problem. It's quite unbelievable to see however, that in the middle of the summer, pollution is at a critical level (people are dying, children and elderly folk are having respiratory problems) nobody will give up their car, and, equally revealing, won't cut down on usage (don't expect anything from the powers that be). So all the cities are locked in a cloud of pollution - which has made it a miserable summer and it's unlikely that lead free petrol will save the situation. If there was anything we should try to do it would be to try to use non-poluting renewable energy sources. But, well, it's harder to buy and sell sunlight than oil. You only have to look at the oil trade (it's pretty oil slicks, burning oil wells, its great and heroic Gulf War), the taxes on petrol (quite exhorbitant in France) to understand the choice that has been made and the one that has been abandoned. The economic considerations don't end there because to manufacture and run cars you needs loads of stuff (various metals, rubber, oil, highly polluting batteries) which after usage are dumped on nature or put in boxes (very pretty from an aesthetic point of view). Nothing, or nearly nothing, is recycled. The second problem normally refered to is that of accidents and the ensuing slaughter. Once again, the destructive power of the car (or at least the person behind the steering wheel) that is to say the death of humans and non-humans (ah! a specist infiltrator!) is not the issue. What they are all worried about is that we are talking about some pretty impressive figures such as more than 3000 corpses a year (France) and the years are compared to see which one was the best killer. They are pleased to announce that this year on the weekend 15th August there were 1.2% less deaths than the previous year, only 500 deaths (an example, the figures are of course false but the principle is the same). Hey! we should be shocked at _one_ death. All the measures taken are trivial and simply serve to bring the statistics down. Well there's unlikely to be a crisis of conscience or indeed any solution based on the system. Indeed for as long as peeople don't realise the danger of simply driving - without drink and at normal speed - the only consolation is a fall of 1.2%. A third aspect I find of interest is the social role of the car. In fact this object is one of a group that lend themselves to social valorisation. You are not looked upon in the same light if you have a car that is either old or new, cheap or expensive. And if you haven't got one it's not even worth talking about. At no time is it looked upon as a useful object with longevity or as a means to cover great distances without taking two weeks over it. No what matters are the aesthetics, the price (my bank acount is bigger than my neighbours) comfort and competition. Some young people push this to the extreme because it gives them self-esteem, provides the link between child/adolescent and a free and respectable adult. FREE. As if a ton of metal could liberate us in some way. We are free to give more money to the state via petrol, road tax, driver's permit, fines (optional), insurance (private). Free to pollute more, kill more or more commit suicide (not incompatible). All is but appearance and consumption. The car can make our daily lives easier but for sure it won't liberate us as long as it is a vehicle (no pun intended) for a rotten value system. Another aspect of this whole question it seems to me is individualism. In effect everyone must have a car. Every morning and evening there are miles of traffic jams each car driven and occupied by one person. A desire to collectivise is non existant (you only have to do a bit of hitching to realise). However, it's less of a pain in the neck to be five to a vehicle in a jam than alone (but if there were 5 there would be no more jams!!??). After that everyone is surprised that everyone is so stressed, tired and apathetic. However, independance and individual freedom are the key words in this farce. Only a few of the terrible aspects of the car have been touched on in this article, it is obvious that there are many more (above all for motorways and the national network, the organisation of towns around the car) my choice is subjective. What's important is starting to think about the real significance of the car in our society. I think it important to fight the values it represents. You can at very different levels. Fight for free public transport, against pollutants and for alternative energy, to exclude cars from towns and encourage bicycle, rollers, skates or foot usage, boycott motorways. And even if you have a car ( it's not a flaw) it should be considered for it's use value whilst remembering that it is dangerous and harmful Jose'paldir