The London squat party scene is today in a critical condition. It is on a
life support machine, the few party people keeping it alive are the odd
blips amongst an otherwise stagnant lifeline on the heart monitor, a
lifeline that has been attacked and assaulted, beaten and broken, in the
end destroyed and defeated by the very people it was there to protect and
fight for.
For a time yes, there really was “no law here, only the law of
the drug and of the music” and the reaction, chemical and physical of so
many different ingredients coming together every Saturday night was
something that if packaged would have on its label “the way forward”.
However this package would not have been the property of a monopolising
multinational pharmaceutical bastard.
It would have been for the people. So many people, so many different
cultures, attitudes, beliefs all coming together to search for a new,
different and exciting and for some, life changing experience. None of
“you can’t come in with those trainers on”. None of “you have to pay this
extortionate amount so I can then afford to run my ozone destroying, asthma
causing car”. No blatant lying like in the late 80’s about “we are all as
one, I may be a promoter of this event but I am just like you” as they
count the thousands made from taking a bit of space and saying it is theirs.
No rules necessary, instead of telling us what to think, feel, say,
oppressing – it was instead encouraging the basic human instincts of love,
happiness and respect.
What of this temporary utopia now? It lies amidst a sea of foil heroin
wrappers, tin cans used for crack which are enough for an aluminium can
Blue Peter recycling appeal, the only chemicals combining now are the blood
from acts of violence and the shit and puke unwittingly discharged from
lifeless ketamine bodies who lurch around, seeing nothing, hearing nothing
– enlightened minds? Minds not seeing anything, minds concerned with making
more money than the next “competitor” who can’t scream “k, rock, brown” as
loudly in that black K hole of a stairwell. Minds that are about as
enlightened as that City executive closing his latest money making deal.
Minds that are about as enlightened as the one who sees something different
and wants to destroy it. The party scene is no more. The definition of
party does not include violence, aggression and hate. Unplug the machine
nurse, this one has breathed its last. RIP London squat parties.
Mr S – ripsquatparties@hotmail.com
Hi people
Bedlam sound system along with Negusa Negast and Dekked soundz are doing a benifit party in feb. This party is a benifit for a group called BibiBulak (crazy goat) this group is situated in DILI east timor (the island that was raped and tortured for 27 yrs by the indonisians).
These people ended up their as a result of our recent tour of australia as part of the earthdream2000 free party/protest our that went for 6 months in the desarts of oz.this tour was all about bringing musik to the aboriginal people of oz also about protesting the uranium mines in the desart which are destroying the desart and its people.
The tour reached new hights when we all got to darwin and decided that this tour and its people need to go to timor and give suport.so we did and we took a small sound and 35 people,and the fisrt show we did (which was the first of its kind in timor)had 10,000 people and went down a ball,after most of the crew had left (a month later)some of our crew dicided there work wasn’t over there so they stayed and started a N.G.O (non government organization).they are not sponsered by any government org the only help they get is from party crews doing these benifits.this organization is grass roots.so if you feel you can help either with the benifit party or if you know of anything to donate as this party is gonna fund a container of community center goods to go to timor in march or may…
I’m sending this kinda as a result of the letter obout the sad party scene in london, i do kinda agree that it has lost some of the vibe that kept it alive. but at the end of the day things change,WE all gotta make sure it changes for the better.. So if your interested in helping one way or another please get in touch on this account.. I will include a letter from BibiBulak.
Thanx, Steve
—-
A BIG hello to all of our friends and supporters,
Happy solstice greetings from East Timor and a big, deep, resonating bass-tone thanks goes out to all those who have been working to help our project by gathering materials, donating money, and organizing benefits – you know who you are. Sorry for the long delay since our last report. We have been beset with harddrive crashes and viruses, but we’re back on track now and are excited to announce the official establishment of our brand-new Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) — BIBIBULAK!
Bibi Bulak means ‘crazy goat’ in Tetum, the lingua franca of East Timor. It’s a name that conveys our emphasis on humour, joined with the tenacity and wisdom of the ubiquitous and well-respected goat (meeyyeaa!) We have gone through the convoluted registration process as mandated by the UN’s transitional administration in East Timor (UNTAET) in order to be able to continue our educational and artistic projects in a more serious way.
We’ve been here since the beginning of August, getting familiar with the language, culture, and everyday issues of Timor. The first five weeks here were mainly occupied with a performance tour that featured shows in cities and villages across the island, including some very remote places that are only accessible by foot. During this period we worked with an international crew of fifteen who came over together from Australia for this very purpose, with soundsystem of course. The shows were a mixture of comedic skits, fire twirling, stilt walking, shadow dancing, acrobatics and clowning, and live music.
Locals were surprised and delighted to see us make fools of ourselves in their language. Right from the start we performed the skits in Tetum, even if it meant using cheat sheets. We were overwhelmed by the positive response we always received, and the public’s interest in coming together, in public, for a bit of fun. Our bigger shows drew a few thousand. Remember the history of this place. Free outdoor concerts haven’t been happening for a long, long time. We’ve had the thrill of creating a situation for laughter catharsis to occur. They say laughter is the best medicine; in a severely traumatized place like East Timor, we have ample work to do.
Our understanding of this place has grown immensely in the last two months. We’ve been living with a first-generation Falintil fighter and his huge, extended family. Our language skills have really improved. We are now quite conversant in Tetum; there’s been a gratifying increase in the sophistication of our more recent performances. And we have refined our approach. Now we weave a public education component into the skits. For example, we were invited to attend a recent two-week course put on by the Permaculture Development Institute, performing shows in lieu of paying tuition. We created humorous pieces to address pressing environmental issues such as deforestation and landslides. The Timorese audience was very receptive, and implored us to bring our show to their hometowns all over Timor.
Our modus operandi now is to visit a community for a week, if possible, and invite the children and youth to participate in theatre, art, and music workshops. They are then encouraged to take part in the public atraxi, or show, where we will present a locally relevant series of skits and musical numbers. This has proven to be a very successful formula, put to the test in our second and third visits to the island district of Atauro, where we worked with the local NGO called Roman Luan- ‘broad light’.
We have developed an extensive network of contacts throughout the country. Word of our activities and the name of BibiBulak have spread. This is not surprising; we’re the only group of ‘malaes’ (foreigners) here doing anything quite like this.
We’re the FUN NGO!
We are now getting more requests for our time and energy than we can accommodate. Local and high profile international NGOs want our help with various public education campaigns. Many people have realized the special power of theatre, especially in a place where perhaps only 30% of the population is literate.
The BibiBulak project currently includes:
– Volunteering as teachers of English and computer skills at the University Students’ Solidarity Council (they really need help)
– Team building and skills practice with our new Timorese recruits for forthcoming tours and shows in Dili.
– Opening a community accessible BibiBulak headquarters in our neighbourhood in Dili, to serve as workshop, classroom, recording studio, rehearsal, and performance space.
– Seeking donations of all imaginable materials useful for our projects, especially musical instruments like guitars, basses, and drums and musical production equipment. Paints and pens and paper for art classes and prop/costume making. Also of great need are computer printers (it looks like we’ll be getting 5 donated 586 computers).
These donations will supply our centre in Dili and any excess will be distributed to similar centres as we travel. Remember that the militias burned or stole nearly everything of value in September ’99’s reign of terror. We have friends in top bands without gear of their own to practice with. Of course all of their furniture and clothes were also stolen, and their houses burned. The Arts may seem irrelevant. Many relief organizations have been hard at work for more than a year to restore basic needs through the emergency period, but so far only BibiBulak has stepped up to promote the healing and community rebuilding that music and the arts can provide.
Please consider helping us to realize our visions in East Timor. If you can locate materials, organize a benefit, or simply transfer funds, we will be most grateful. Many people have already asked for a list of things we need. It is difficult to ship supplies, but not impossible. We may or may not be able to get free shipping. But if someone garners musical instruments or expensive gear, we’ll find a way to get it here, even it means going personally to Darwin. At the moment the easiest way to support BibiBulak is with a cash donation. We have opened two bank accounts here for this purpose. Be sure to email us with the exact details of any transfers, so we can confirm them. Our financial records will be available
to donors.
Electronic transfers can be directed to:
US funds: 432718-10-001
Australian funds: 432718-10-002
Our snail mail address is:
BibiBulak,
Post Restante
Correios Dili
Timor Lorosa’e
(Send us some music; we might be able to get it on local radio).
I can’t help agreeing w/ the opinion that there are some extremely fucked up individuals able to find out where parties are. I was at an open-air event in E. Anglia last halloween, it was a truly excellent party (even worth £5!) with the huge exception of van full of racist wankers who had come to the party w/ the specific intention to pick on “pakies + kaffers”!
Luckily I have friends who, not only notice these things, but have the balls to act. [And] I am elated to report that these racicts were ejected from the party by about 25 party ppl. PEACEFULLY!!!
I don’t pay to get into parties coz usually i’m w/ a sound system, so I guess I see the side of parties that plenty of other people do but the majority of you don’t, my point is that I’m prepared to clean somewhere up and make it safe for people to fall about in. I/We’ve even been known to clean up AFTER a party just so the local babylonians think better of us. I’m not pandering or brown-nosing anyone, the reason to party for me is show the babylonians that concious artists, musos, DJS, vjs and ppl ON DRUGS can be together w/out killing each other.
I also believe slightly that if you’re buying chemicals, spliffs-worths, beers, whatever then there’s a likelyhood that a bit of the money from every transaction goes, at some point, to the sound system. And indeed if that is the case then surely these people need support in what they do by attendace of stricktly coool people that know the score, of course my own memory of events tells me that once the twats are there they’re there, what’s to be done is not up to [the individual], the responsability MUST lie w/ everyone (fuck I sound boring don’t I! But hell I’m fucked if one of the people close 2 me is gonna be fuct up by some sexually frustrated, nil anger-managment gary-boy-neandertal!!!).
So I’m not a leading light in how to stop twats arriving and I also feel resentment towards sound systems who seem to exist primarily to find out how much cocaine they can fit up their collective nostrils.
YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE (and guess what?). WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND WE’RE GONNA HOUND YOU UNTIL MINISTRY OF MACDONALDS R THE ONLY MUTHAS WHO’LL TAKE YOUR DIRTY STINKING DOLLARS!!!!
LIGHTENING CLAP ANNA DEH WEAK HEART DROP!!!!!!!!
I just cought this old post of Steve’s and although I don’t know him personally I wish I’d spotted it when it was first made. Shame. However these folks are still active, so here’s some URLs on what they’ve been up to…
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