Anyone who has ever seen, or taken part in, Critical Mass will know that bikes and cyclists can easily be mobilised for political purposes. In 2000 however, the bike as a method of protest was taken a few steps further.

With the IMF meeting in Prague, one group of protesters decided to form a caravan of bikes to ride 500 miles to the Czech capital to join the protests. Filmmaker Zack Winestine decided to hitch a ride with the caravan, recording along the way. In the course of the journey he saw fraught border crossings; alleged police brutality; and late night rural brothels.

We caught up with Zack after watching the results of his involvement, 'Caravan/Prague', a feature-length documentary now available on DVD, to find out all about how he got involved, the story of the journey and the bike as a means of protest.

- - -

.how did you first hear about the caravan?

The annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Prague took place at the height of the anti-corporate globalization movement in 2000, following on the heels of the massive protests in Seattle and Washington DC. Organizing for the Prague protests took place world-wide, and plans for the bicycle caravan from Hanover to Prague were announced over various email lists. I'd been planning to go to Prague and I loved bicycling, so joining the caravan seemed like the obvious thing to do.

.was there any symbolism in using bikes for the journey?

There sure was. The point of the caravan was to create a mobile community that would be a living counter-example to the values of the IMF and World Bank. That meant a community that was autonomous, sustainable, non-hierchical, open to everyone. Bicycles are a wonderful representation of this -- a perfect small-scale technology that enhances local community and practically defines sustainability.