Party Vibe

i was a right chav/toerag in my teens to my early 20s and extremely angry/rebellious (to the point where I easily could have committed some quite serious crimes) then a lot of harsh things happened to people I know (in many cases because of their involvement with drugs culture and wider crime)

it made me think “hmm – I do want to carry on raving but I don’t want to fuck up my life and future too much”.

My immediate and extended family were and are always supportive even during bad times in my life which helped loads. I’m Asian but born in the UK so I’ve had the benefit of two cultures, a strong (but not overbearing) sense of family values, and can get the best out of both and learn to tolerate everyone if they tolerate me

I also know how locked down societies can become out of fear, intolerance or merely a desire for “economic growth and stability” and don’t want Britain to go the way of some Asian nations in order to compete in the global market (which seems to be happening)

Also the internet became a big thing in my life – I’ve been online since 1992 and there I learned about the wider alternative community stuff which also filtered in from the eco-protest movements of the mid 90s.

At the same time the skills I learned about helping people and machines communicate via the net have kept me in work over these years despite not having that many paper qualifications (I don’t have a degree or anything like that…)

I still look like a young Asian kid wearing sportswear most of the time though (people often can’t find me at raves as they are looking for an old bearded hippy – LOL )

which to be fair on the “cheesy clubbers” who go on sites like DSI and attend raves like Gatecrasher, Tidytrax etc, this is exactly what they are doing. They are perfectly happy to pay the substantial ticket prices and accept the nanny state of cops, bouncers, defined start/finish times – and to go back to work from Monday to Friday, contributing to the market economy – without whinging and moaning about “babylon etc”.

You don’t see a lot of incisive political comment on dontstayin.com..

we can’t claim “oppression” as much now late night licensed music events are permitted and happen in certain parts of the country.

I think this is fundamental to the continued survival of these sort of lower-
cost events, as well as (re?)integration with wider society.

There is a spiritual case for being allowed free expression and art for all (not just the rich) even in a capitalist society; but ravers need to state their case in a positive manner by working a bit “smarter” and creating less “problems” as well as using the TENS system (and if the cops cave in to nimbyism then publicising this problem)

As an example raves have happened even in zero tolerance areas – where the one local who stumbled across the event burst out laughing and said “its like Ibiza on my doorstep, I used to go to things like this when I was young, carry on until lunchtime if you want!” (needless to say not a single cop turned up)

I’ve seen a building’s janitor arrive and send cops away after a rave, and saying to the crew “hang on, you left this building cleaner then when I locked it up!”

so it can be done and should be done – unless ravers are prepared to be attending only events with £100 ticket prices and cop checkpoints on entry 5-10 years down the line..