best thing i’ve read all year. if you can find someone who has the skill,s the patience, the time and the inclination to run such a thing id give you a medal.

i don’t really see the point. free parties have been tolerated for years but too many people going to them couldn’t keep themselves in check

i don’t want raves legalised, i want to see them underground

most of the local news outlets do take at least one story from the ravers, but the big counter argument for this region is they shouldn’t be in others’ private property in the first place – and that when they have had legal events the drug culture has caused problems.

IMO its not just “raves” but the drugs laws and wider societies attitudes to drugs that needs to change before any progress can be made – as well as those who take drugs regulating themselves a bit better.

Another reason why so many illegal parties happen in East Anglia is that after the death of Leah Betts in Essex loads of legal events got shut down in a moral panic against drugs and to this day its near impossible to put on a “rave-type event” in some counties without hassle and conditions – the cops think of everything possible to stop even legal events.

OTOH If normal people and cops weren’t so scared of “druggies” there wouldn’t be half the paranoia on both sides over ravers and raves – they would be seen as no more threatening than tea dances or pet shows.

he was minted tho, and could afford to take time out and fund the campaign, not to mention the media platform he had.

i know what globalloon is saying, but keeping freeparties underground is a lost battle at the mo. we are being branded as yobs worldwide by reuters at the moment, so we cant just try and be sly any more, the shit is coming down, we better be ready with a coherant counter-arguement, and teh infrastructure to back that up.

in devon you guys have the luxury of being off teh national radar, people in the south east arent so lucky.

is it really another “political movement” people need? or just better organised party crews?

There was the Freedom To Party movement in 1989 (the Young Tories!!!) with yuppies fighting for legal events on a commercial free enterprise basis (it was the 80s still)

Then Altern 8 (the old skool lot who wore dust masks) set up a political party in 1992 (which was seen as amusing but achieved little else),

Spiral tribe tried the political stuff and as an offshoot from them in 1994 there was the Advance Party movement which protested against the CJA but fractured due to internal politics (although it did contribute to the London free party scene for a bit)

plus its difficult to argue the case for conventional underground parties when they already have been proven by bitter experience to get out of hand..

Maybe all thats needed is a few more events like what Planet Yes did – well organised, held using the TENS system, only cost a fiver to get in (and me and my mates got in there for free, even if one of them did fall in a river on the way) – OK it means effort, discipline and organisation compared to a current free party but is it really that much of a climbdown?

thats what I was pointing out – at present, the more people stick their neck out without addressing the wider issues (drug addiction, noise, trouble etc) they will just provoke a backlash. When Advance party (IMO the last effective campaign) was around they overlooked the problems with the smashy smashy crew which were already happening back then, plus all the squatters getting on to K or heroin.

This why I suggested the only thing worth doing on the party scene is well run parties – they are actually possible even today for those who aren’t dumbed down and disorganised. These days I don’t believe in the K “conspiracy” theory (that it was sent by “babylon”) as too many people won’t exercise self control and its what fucks them over in the end.

IMO the only political movements worth supporting are those campaigns which lobby for more sensible licensing and drug laws – a combination of proper education as well as controls/enforcement so people learn their limits themselves instead of having to have them enforced all the time by the cops…

I don’t think full “legalisation” would work until the whole UN agreed on some plan but I think sensible legislation would be that something like you could do a certain amount without penalty provided you did not commit any crime or anti-social behaviour or make yourself unable to contribute to society..

the sort of laws I would like to see would be that if someone does 5 pills on a weekend and goes to work or college on monday that would be OK – but if they drove like an idiot under the influence or got in a fight on the comedown they would get nicked for drugs like the old penalties…

dealers would be subject to quality control and taxation to fund the health service, and if they were involved in violence over turf it should be double the old penalty both for drug dealing and violent crime…