- This topic has 8 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated February 13, 2005 at 2:54 pm by elretardo87.
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February 11, 2005 at 10:53 am #1036163
its brilliant to see oztvc re-posting the advance party articles, (I remember putting together that leaflet when it first came out) – 90% of the stuff in there is good solid advice which still stands today; but laws and other stuff have changed slightly in the last 11 years – perhaps we could update it for the modern party scene?
February 11, 2005 at 4:23 pm #1064025Anonymouswell gen, if you’re up frit, get the text sorted out, and i’ll sort the graphics…
recon its well worthwhile…sorting out a freeparty “how to” leaflet, with advice and contacts etc would be great…
although i do get the feeling that the people who know that stuff already do, and the crews that dont, dont give a shit. on the other hand, there are always prerifery crew members and “freinds of..” that might get hold of it and persuade their mates…
also, if randoms see it, it may reassure or convince them that what we are about is a good thing…sort of a reverse anarchists cookbook…
should we just start a thread that is dedicated to collecting this info…it seems the oztvc have made a good head start…fancy lending us a hand?
February 11, 2005 at 5:57 pm #1064029aye…im up 4 helpin in anyway i can….only things i can think of tho is hosting if ur wantin a site dedicated to it…free obviously
February 13, 2005 at 12:22 pm #1064026AnonymousBUMP-A-RIFIC-ISATION-ALOPOLIS!
February 13, 2005 at 1:26 pm #1064022it was interesting to see how USE posted the message to SJ and no one (even the old skool lot) realised it was the 11 year old advance party leaflet (its been on there some times before).
I’ll make a start on newer text, but be warned it is not going to be as idealistic as the words thrashed out 11 years ago by a collective of free party crews from across the UK (some of them are still on this board now and then!)
When we wrote that we wrote it from a moral high ground. I won’t say “the good old days were better”, but parties were far less disruptive and dysfunctional than they are nowadays, and there wasn’t as much of a culture of violence on the streets (it was just starting to get bad in 1994)
Violence and vandalism is now a common problem in London unless security (in other words “friendly bouncers”) are deployed, in provincial areas there is less fighting but more wrecking crews and wider society is picking up the pieces.
After each party, buildings are left trashed and contaminated, and a fair number of people present to hospital emergency departments each weekend with a variety of mental and physical injuries – often not their own fault but an extra burden to the NHS nevertheless. And unlike the licensed club/festival scene, there is no extra contribution whatsoever to the public purse from the free party scene – whilst there is individuals personal taxation and most people are taxpayers, there will always be the argument that the clubs and bars “put some extra money back in” to the economy through council licensing fees and other drinks taxes.
The cost of vandalism is usually picked up by the private sector – but it does have a knock-on effect. Some buildings are blatantly between lets; I’ve actually felt quite sorry for the plumbers, electricians who have started a job and must have to work extra to fix what has been trashed or even may have a break in their work (and pay) whlst the cleanup operation is done. It doesn’t create more jobs, it just means that Joe the plumber has to miss out on his weekend because his employers are now behind schedule and if the job isn’t finished a penalty clause kicks in on the contract.
Joe isn’t always working for a big babylon company either, his firm could be a workers co-op who would have spent the free time working with local youths using leftover materials of offcuts to make a solar heater for a community centre rather than fixing perfectly good work some thoughtless chavs just trashed 🙁 And what if a trashed building is the final straw which makes a company decide to outsource their datacentre to another area or country – removing jobs which one of us could have taken? The local kids don’t smash up buildings in India….
All these hidden costs and annoyances have been logged and noted by those who oppose us or who are just worried, letters sent to MPs, mayors and chief constables, and reflected in the ever-increasing clampdowns on our party scene over these 11 years – yet I have a nasty feeling not enough party people actually even think about them..
February 13, 2005 at 1:58 pm #1064027Anonymousi hear what you’re saying, and agree that the world in general (and definitely the rave scene) is a much darker and less inocent place. how ever i think that our governments and media are the main culprits for this decline, and raves are a syptom not a cause.
while i dont expect the leaflet or whatever to be all happy-clappy about it, one of the strengths of this site is that it is hopeful and progressive. while the new threats need to be addressed, they can be in a positive way, in terms of the benfits that less mugging and vandalism can bring. also i think it should be clear that there are huge differences between squat parties and outdoor ones…i’m not saying our outdoor events are perfect, but i can still comfortably take the moral high ground about our events…i know that this is clearly not the case with most squat parties..i cannot justify fucking up a building for a party. the ammount of damage (and all their knock-on effects ) are savage.
we do need to present our scene in the best light poss, tho. i really think that the press branding raves (esp. jungle) as dangerous has contributed massively to their lack of safety. they have basically advertised them as places to go and cause trouble, with likeminded people. bloody self fulfilling prophecy. so we need to prophesise that we are heading into a freeparty utopia, because the only thing i beleive in is the power of beleif.
maybe do either a double sided leaflet, or two seperate, dealing with the two different approaches.
i have now officially given up on sj chatroom, so if any one see’s me on there, pm me reminding me it’s awaste of time (soundsystem advice, and poetry n prose are allowed tho 😉 ). i seriously think that site’s given me brain damage.
February 13, 2005 at 2:21 pm #1064023USE wrote:we do need to present our scene in the best light poss, tho. i really think that the press branding raves (esp. jungle) as dangerous has contributed massively to their lack of safety. they have basically advertised them as places to go and cause trouble, with likeminded people. bloody self fulfilling prophecy. so we need to prophesise that we are heading into a freeparty utopia, because the only thing i beleive in is the power of beleif.maybe do either a double sided leaflet, or two seperate, dealing with the two different approaches.
I agree with you the media blatantly stir things up – jsut look at how UKG has been mutated into the even more dysfunctional grime scene, where although the music is good the lyrics are nothing but nihilistic crime, violence and misogyny. and how come this is getting all the publicity on the urban music tip whilst other styles are getting fuck all? (I think even fabio and ronnie size were mentioning this on the radio a few weeks ago).
the worst part of it is the journos doing this are usually our own age, but have sold out to get and keep their media jobs and some of them are dragging society down…OTOH I’ve not seen an article recently branding raves as dangerous; most of them just take the angle they are a nuisance and an extra cost to society.
But I don’t even think its two separate approaches – more a case of being aware of dangers to get towards that utopia, and countering the arguments that parties are dangerous, whilst addressing the issues that affect a minority of events. I think also there are a few “high spirited lads” who attend parties in my area and although they don’t rob or fight think that the odd busted window or tagged up wall is OK “because its a squat”.
4 years ago we used to do “dual use” buildings which were a party building and a residential squat; but the squatters stopped doing this as the places got so trashed they were ashamed to live in them! (its also an automatic ASBO eviction nowadays)
You also used to see a surprising amount of posts on DC (and later SJ) where peopel thought it was OK to trash a squat as “squatters were getting the building for free” :confused:
To put it in perspective all the rise in violence has actually done is closed the gap between being out on the streets in London or in a townie place and a free party – rather than making free parties more dangerous than the streets.
Outdoor parties don’t have many problems which cannot be dealt with by better choice of locations – and should hopefully present less as the patterns of land use in the UK change over the next 5 years (less active farmland!)
February 13, 2005 at 2:33 pm #1064028Anonymouswhat is DC?
and we need to find a farm to buy 😉
February 13, 2005 at 2:54 pm #1064024USE wrote:what is DC?and we need to find a farm to buy 😉
DC == dirtycircus, previous messageboard to SJ. Taken down in late 2002 due to a combination of flaky software (microsoft!) , attacks from extreme right wing, and the Police starting to investigate “who is behind this board?” as part of the zero tolerance policies.
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