Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › Was There Anything To Worry About?
All week on net forums there’s been this ‘we’re doomed’ attitude after the Norfolk incident. Yet there’s evidence on here that 4 smallish parties happened and were all relative successes.
I think what its down to is the way parties are run and who attends them weather they get busted. The way we do it is keep it small, don’t take the piss and if the old bill do turn up be friendly and do what they say. If they turn up and don’t see a problem 99% of the time they will ask you to turn it down and be gone by lunch time next day.
If they turn up and see aggressive balloons and uncooperative organisers they will bust you…
it does depend a lot on how clued up the organisers are and how people react but some areas of England are definitely locked down. Even house parties and small private gatherings have been closed down in Eastern England and plenty of events have been shut down or prevented in SE England this year, including some London parties.
In these regions it started off small and friendly just as you rightly suggest is the best way – but people took the piss and abused what freedom they were given…
People picked fucking stupid venues such as expensive between lets buildings or overdid the power of sound systems (it all became a willy-waving contest for some people) so there was noise nuisance to the locals. The same venues got used week in week out so of course the locals get pissed off with traffic. When cops said “finish by lunchtime” people disagreed and carried on until 6pm (by which time dogwalkers etc where whinging) and it ends up with riot squad being sent in. On other occasions a “small gathering” turns into 10 rigs and 3 day events, and then 20% of the rubbish is left behind).
Cops and the locals don’t forgive and forget, so even more responsible crews are subjected to heavier enforcement. One of the lads from here from Oxford said locals were still angry over an acid house party that happened in his village in the late 1980s, in one of my local papers an old guy complained that cops should have dealt more harshly with ravers in the early 90s rather than letting things go on as they have done..
Its a postcode lottery because of this. At present events in some areas being endured by the locals and authorities, but even within a region enforcement levels vary.
For instance even legal events in Essex are discouraged, Suffolk will bust any “illegal” rave but permits 3 late night dance music venues to open (of which only one can open till 04:00!), but in Norfolk the cops occasionally tolerate small scale events where the crews keep to the finish times
Thames Valley are variable, its riot cops one week and two bobbies the next.
The reality is areas where these successful parties still happen, the scene and followers are smaller in number – perhaps people there are a bit more mature and don’t take the parties for granted, but even then they have to be careful as a “good” venue is easily abused by other less responsible crews who will just come and set up anyway.
Even so, its debatable though how long any tolerance will last given the backlash of the recent incidents.Also, the govt/public sector works slow – it takes about 1-2 years from the start of a public outcry/backlash for things to be done in terms of laws and enforcement
As you were about in the old days, think how Castlemorton happened in 1992 but the CJA only followed in 1994 and only started being enforced a year or two later…
Castle Morton & the CJB/A was something different it was almost political and a a fight for a way of life.
The 3 ‘minds’ behind our wee thing are all vetrans of the travling scene & Castle Morton but the scene has realy changed since the 90s. For the better or worse I dont know yet weve only been back on the scene 8 months.
We took a new spot saturday as our party line was shut down and we had amp problems so we only had half the system and half the people so we got very little atention till the next morning.
We had asked another rig to come down but they went up to Solfest if they had come we might of overdone it.
We offered cups of tea to all the local dog walkers, police ect as a pr stunt:weee:
this is true as it involved laws against other protestors as well as just ravers but I was thinking more about illustrating the Parliamentary process whereby which the laws are shaped by MPs, particularly when responding to any form of dissent or crime.
More recently the CJA got beefed up in 2004 as a response to an increase in large illegal raves from 2002 onwards.
Also, drugs legislation was very quickly amended to make mushrooms, ketamine and 2-C* type substances illegal or more strictly classified, again within a couple of years from when the authorities became aware of these drugs’ increased usage – in fact I think it may only have been 1 year for Ketamine (a single consultation and then the law was changed)
What has happened recently in East Anglia (before the Yarmouth Riots) was that MPs were getting bombarded with letters from constituents complaining about the effect of large(ish) raves in their area.
A small party round here or in SE England can easily attract 400-500 people and sometimes 1000-1500 people. The problem though – how would you stop another crew coming in, setting up and swelling the size of a party, or when loads of people swarm on one because another has been busted?
The debate has gone as far as Parliament. This is bound to have some sort of repercussions for parties.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-07-19a.536.0&s=raves
did any accept?
A small party round here or in SE England can easily attract 400-500 people and sometimes 1000-1500 people. The problem though – how would you stop another crew coming in, setting up and swelling the size of a party, or when loads of people swarm on one because another has been busted?
The debate has gone as far as Parliament. This is bound to have some sort of repercussions for parties.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2007-07-19a.536.0&s=raves
did any accept?
When I left the free festival/party scene in 2000 we was getting 2000+ at events even a small 1k site party could get 500 people attending. Now I see even big rigs like Stumblefunk getting 250 at most.
I think this is a north/south thing though as more peole seem to attend events down south (not that I’ve been to a event down south since I’ve been back on the scene)
We did a multi rigger with a band stage in the Forrest of Bowland earlyer this year and at the most only 500 people attended! I wouldnt advise any organisers to put a band stage on at a party. Bands are uncooprative and difficult. Doing a stage caused us lots of problems and arguments that will probbly never go away. That would of never happend in the old days.
Ps no one acceped a cup of tea but I think a rambler bought his kids some hariobo sweets lol
0
Voices
3
Replies
Tags
This topic has no tags
Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › Was There Anything To Worry About?
