OK you’ve now probably finished your festive celebrations, and are now facing the dog-end of the winter season.
This is where it can get rough – parties and recreational substances are thin on the ground, people are facing up 2 comedowns, debts, boring jobs / unemployment (and at least in the UK) apalling weather (its pissing down nearly all the time at the moment and places are flooding!)
And the news is full of warnings of imminent war/terrorist attack 🙁
its easy with all this 4 people 2 start feeling despondent; indeed this is a very bad time 4 suicides/mental illness. Especially 4 those who may be homeless, or experiencing conflict within their familiy due to their participation in the alternative scenes
so at the risk of sounding like a soppy hippy (well perhaps I am half a hippy) – LOOK AFTER YOURSELVES, AND EACH OTHER.
Perhaps phone or visit the people you party with midweek 2 check they are all OK – 2 check that if they are squatters (or just skint through unemployment) that they have sufficient food, essentials etc.
If you have skills that can contribute towards a communal space (like being a builder or sparky) help out if you can; give people support if possible 2 keep them on the right direction (I know sometimes it is easy especially 4 younger ppl 2 get dragged in2 doing da wrong kind of stuff 2 make money).
OK maybe a lot of you do this already; but it sometimes seems people have 12 hours of fun at the party and then during the week forget (not deliber8ly, just due to other life pressures) the sense of community and people that caused that party 2 happen in the first place…
Whilst 2002 has been a variable year for the party scene and alternative culture (we have been constantly battling the darkside, be that negative vibes from authorities, ordinary ppl who get the wrong idea about or scene or even sum of da people @ events), the sheer amount of events have shown that this scene is destined 2 keep going for some time.
but that is just one part of our battle. Our next part is 2 get this scene 2 be more than just “a party where u cane loads of drugs” (after all u could do that at Gatecrasher 😉 – what we need is a sustainable scene with more people creating their own part of it in the form of music, art, events, technology transfer (such as this forum), planet-friendly lifestyles …. if u don’t know what I mean read Headfuk’s excellent Rupture magazine 4 some ideas…
perhaps we want a scene where the wider community feels included rather than left out (that way we should get less hassle from authorities – at the end of the day cops only represent the morals of Joe and Joanne Average)
the energy is there – in 2003 lets channel it in2 the right directions!
-GL-, Reading, UK 2003-01-01
How come i’ve missed this post for so long?
And how come there has been no replies in a 2 year period on what is an important post?
Nope. You sound like Jerry Springer.
Seriously though. This is a good post. I’m guilty myself of just doing the party thing at the weekend then forgetting about it all during the week. Maybe it’s because the general feeling from other people is to ignore the community spirit outside parties… but I know that’s no excuse.
Obviously I practice what you say with friends and relatives but it’s not extended to people that I may party with at the weekend and I don’t do anything for the free party population other than put on parties (with friends). Like you say. If there was a noticeable effort to make things/life better for people in and around the party ‘scene’ then maybe joe public would start to change their opinions?
Thanks for a thought provoking post.
to be fair I think most people do to an extent keep in touch with their raving friends midweek as well and help them out..
I will admit I am guilty as well of not keeping in touch as much during the week apart from telephone calls; OTOH having a full time job does take a lot of time away from you for socialising, whether you are a raver or not…
what does worry me slightly is how little progress has been made since I posted this.
In the wider world; things are worse-there is now full on war, countries getting bombed and communities divided.
This is mostly the politicians’ and bosses’ fault; however, does anyone else also consider that the fact we can all afford fuel to travel the length of the country to set up a rave and fill our gensets – or even hop on the next ‘plane to another nation for a small handful of euros – may be linked to the ongoing war for the oil resources?
in the UK clampdowns are starting to take an effect; particularly since the cops got better comms and computer database technology, action against parties is becoming heavier which appears to be a direct result of a backlash against excessive damage to buildings and disruption to local communities that myself and others have complained about since 2001.
One thing I have noticed is even younger people complaining about disruption caused by raves (sometimes even to the Police ) – why is this gap appearing amongst our own age groups?
Also, our scene isn’t exactly sustainable; people rinse a building for a weekend and leave it trashed and contaminated; whilst even the friendships and relationships formed on the party scene are themselves fleeting (and sometimes end up equally trashed and contaminated! The problems with crime and violence, and the increasing incidence of domestic violence amongst young party people (this includes between “friends” and housemates as well as partners) are things that often do not get addressed or resolved properly..
you could make an entire series of Trisha on stuff said about peoples personal lives on some message boards..)
OK this stuff is heavy and “boring” but I feel it needs to be debated; otherwise our scene will slowly be “downsized”. Already I know a lot of younger friends who are giving up partying or not even starting
Our scene is not being killed quickly; but perhaps suffering from a chronic illness. This is though an illness we can treat and maybe cure – but its up to us.
Originally posted by General Lighting
In the wider world; things are worse-there is now full on war, countries getting bombed and communities divided.
Our scene is not being killed quickly; but perhaps suffering from a chronic illness. This is though an illness we can treat and maybe cure – but its up to us. [/B]
I would lay a lot of this at the feet of a neo-liberal world in which market forces control everything that is. Not forgetting that this really is a neo-liberal world as the market subsidies maintained by EU and US mean that the market is unevenly balanced to begin with (the true meaning of liberal economics would give us all an even footing)…
From the ‘war on terror’ nee. ‘oil wars’, to neighbours on estates feuding over too high hedges to wankers at parties fighting over ‘turf’ these are symptoms of the ‘free’ market… dog eat dog, it’s the way of the world, that’s life, it’s all part of growing up…bullshit
dogs live in packs, the world and life are what you make them, and just because you are over 25 it doesn’t mean you need to forget your dreams of a better world to ‘grow up’
in the early days of the rave scene there was a feeling of revolution, of rebellion and of belonging. Perhaps this was, in part, due to the fact that only ‘x’ 1000 people were ‘in the know’,that it really was underground, it was a ‘new’ idea (or at least a new way of carying out age old practices such as getting high and dancing to lift the heart)…
I think in some ways there was a sense of spiritualism about it all, although it might not have seemed like it to someone listening to Genaside II not on 200 mikes of LSD 🙂
the very early days… “battle of beanfield” and so on… was before my time (although I was taken around the glastonbury, green festival etc circuit in the 70’s and early 80’s) but I get the impression that there was unity for a common ’cause’, although the direction and aims of that cause were as yet undecided, it seemed that there was a common goal toward a simpler, yet more rewarding, life.
Today, for some at least, boshing some acid seems less of a rite of passage or a key to unlocking previously undiscovered parts of your mind and more like something to do instead of watching telly. Av it, you fucking lightweight:(
As to how to start to ‘rescue’ the situation from a point where parties will garantee damage and conflict, or worse, just won’t be allowed to happen… that’s a tough one. It seems that we can’t turn the clock back…
I did have a little chat with Chris from appy daze a while ago. He was talking about his spiritual ideas and how he believes that we have a right to use plants and fungus in anyway we see fit, as long as we aren’t harming others and that dancing in a beautiful place is a valid method of worship. I’m inclined to agree.
Perhaps a genuine concensus from ravers that what we are doing isn’t about getting fucked up to escape from our 9-5’s or lack thereof, but is actually part of our beliefs about who we are, what we are, where we came from and how we connect with our personal gods.
A few chavvy types might think it’s funny to take the piss, but they don’t last long where I come from 😉
Now then… the question of how????
:confused:
*refuses to apolgise for length
*I say that to all the ladies 😉
Brilliant stuff.
I’ll leave that up to you clever types. My mind isn’t up to it and i’d probably just suggest something stoopid.
*I say that to all the ladies
I try to avoid saying LOL…. but LOL!!!
Originally posted by BioTech
My mind isn’t up to it and i’d probably just suggest something stoopid.
don’t give me that… stoopid makes a child smile! 🙂 it’s a gift
the land could do with a good ol stomping on half the time n we can all do wiv a stomp n good vibes n excersise n stuff.its all good n natural.:bigsmile: dancing is a part of us,tribal dancing is where the good stuffs at.spreads love into everywhere releases burdens..opens eyes to living.we mustn’t forget who we are.FREE.
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