Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › is PLUR being replaced by war?
I’ll be quite blunt about this – having been partying for a while now and listening to the banter amongst ravers and watching events at raves, it seems a significant minority of young men on the UK party scene want a different kind of alternative society to the “original vision” of the more idealistic early-mid 90s…
it has perhaps been heavily influenced by recent world events, where young men taking matters into their own hands have got a fair amount of control over their own local communities (particularly in some Eastern countries and inner city areas of Europe and the USA) – as well as British “lad culture” of the mid 90s (as championed in the ladmags)
what they seem to want is a “libertarian patriarchy” – where white men are on top and everyone else subservient to them. Through the party scene they have realised they have power through their numbers to take over others’ property by an amount of force (buildings and gates do not normally open themselves!).
For many this is the only time they have had power or “respect”, and they enjoy the fear and intimidation caused to farmers / landowners and if cops appear they enjoy the conflict as well.. – this is reflected in the increasingly acrimonious conflicts between cops and ravers – it always seems a minority of “hard nuts” (often without the approval of the crews who end up getting kit confiscated!) chuck stuff at cops….
I’ve heard people talk (even in “jest”) about “giving the next farmer a few slaps” – on his own land!
There is also a “fighting culture” at raves now where they are used to settle personal scores or bullies rise to the top by intimidation ; a culture of being controlling/harrasing towards women and racism as well – Males of other ethnic groups may be tolerated to an extent particularly if they can fight their corner / provide resources such as drugs or assist with missions – but its still a grudging tolerance.
And how long will it be before guns, real ones, start appearing on the UK free party scene?
of course raves were never accepted by society but there was at least once an ethos of minimising conflict – now everyone is fighting their corner at whatever cost. I’ve seen so many pointless fights at raves recently its unreal 🙁
Our bitter older men are thankfully not teaching the lads to make bombs; but they are getting them into smack, crack, dealing and passing on the previous generations’ hate and misogyny…
Replace fanatical religion with the desire for drugs, and is it really any different from what some young lads in other communities / parts of the world are doing? (which is hardly making the world a better place)
if this continues how can we expect the law enforcement authorities not to see this scene as a potential security threat and eventually eliminate it with the full support of wider society?
I think its the bitter old women you will need to worry about :surprised
When a community loses its ‘self policing’ skills and starts treating nasty characters as tolerable members of the community, you get vigilantes.
absolutely, some rig owners seem to think they have a right to party where they want, which isnt on, and makes it harder for the rest of us.
as ive said many times, i like to be able to justify any raves im involved in to myself and anyone else. i have stopped being involved in all london raves, except the odd hedfuck one, cos they are responsible, proffessional and safe. these qualities are needed in city environments way more than countryside i beleive, as the dangers of partying inside magnify the potential dangers.
we had an incident up i surrey a few years back, when some guy (dressed in a NYPD shirt!) came and threatened the rig. there were some hyped up chavs there, who i had to convince not to fight him when he was throwing his weight around. i also had to warn him calmly as possible that that was these chav’s intention, and that he would be doing no favours to anyone by starting any violence, cos he would have got broken. i made the mistake of photgraphing him as he left, he thought it was for the police due to his threats, and threatened me again with violence, and with the destruction of my camera. i had to climb into the back of the van to diffuse the situation, and i gave him my word that the phot would be destroyed. which it has been. i could totally understand his anger and frustration at being kept up all night, but i regard three people being kept up for the enjoyment of hundreds to be a fair deal. we only used that site once ever, and it was virgin, so it wasnt like it was a regular occurence. but if certain people present had had their way, there would have been some bad violence which would have made us all look like arseholes, and i would have been ashamed. judging by some attitudes that are prevalent, i would say a repeat of this incident with a much worse ending is nearly enevitable. at the end of a rave, people arent that capable of making the best judgements,ad if they are already angry then teh situation can escalate.
part of te reason i love this site so much, and BRighton Alliance of Sound Systems, is that they are here to help prevent conflicts like this escalating, but if people arent coming here tolearn, then the site becomes more useless in that respect.
part of the reason these situations occur is because of the misunderstandings between public and ravers (who are the same thing really, just it doesnt seem like that at the time). the public feel threatened by ravers cos of the bad press and oppressive laws that label us anti-social, and the temptation for ravers is to blame the public for their negative public image. but in reality te situation is much more complex than that. as we have seen in other conflicts, between the gypsy community and teh “public” (read: propertyowners) and in a more extreme example, england vs ireland, it isincredibly difficult once a conflict starts, and both sides have been rash, to heal the wounds that started the conflict as they get replaced by wounds that arise from that conflict. put simply, violence breeds violence. and breaking that cycle takes a lot of thought and self control. it eays to for either side to veiw the other as “the enemy” and focus on th edifferences rather than the similarities. especially when both sides feel threatened by the other.
the only way i can see forward is for the ravers to sow a united (as much as possible) front in the media toshow that we are just normal people doing a very normal activity. going outside, socialising and listening to music. both the “public” and the “ravers” have enhanced the differences between each other, and thsi isnt healthy for the scene to be able to progress.
i hate a lot of things about society, but you dont beat fire with fire. you get more fire, and everyone dies of third degree burns. not fun.
so positive action is needed, but in a increasingly alienated group, showing peace love, unity and respect to those who you perceive as being your oppressors is a difficult thing. but it is possible, as northern ireland has shown. so those of us who beleive in a better future for raves (unlicenced events, call em what you will) just need to be the change we want to see. and hope for the best.
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Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › is PLUR being replaced by war?
