22.10.2004 DROP THE BOMB II: The 2nd Coming (The Horrorist – live!)
DROP THE BOMB II: The 2nd Coming
Oldskool Rave – Hard Acid – Doomcore – Hardcore Techno – Gabber - Speedcore
Friday 22nd October
22:00 – 06:00
THE HORRORIST feat. Festes Weiss – live
(Oliver Chesler aka DJ Skinhead / Temper Tantrum / Disintegrator, Things To Come, NYC)
LENNY DEE
(Industrial Strength, Brooklyn)
THE DARK INVADERS feat. MC Shadow – live
(S-G-C, Frankfurt)
SIMON UNDERGROUND
(Underground Music)
CROSSBONES – live
(Phuture Rave)
THE LURKER
(Fifth Era)
ETHERIAN
(S-G-C, Frankfurt)
DARKSIDE
(Corrupt)
NEKRO
(Crossbones Sound System)
Other room hosted by Enigma with DJs:
Scott Brown
Mark EG b2b Chris Liberator
RV2
Mayhem b2b Skampy
Hektik b2b AB
Limitz
Gammer
MCs
Storm
Whizzkid
Rizla Dizla
£8 b4 23:00 / £10 after
2 rooms – 2 late bars – chill out area - Funktion One sound system
The Egg Club, 200 York Way, Kings Cross, London. N7 9AP. UK
www.egglondon.net
Nearest Underground station Caledonian Road or Kings Cross
For more info and advance tickets visit: www.drop-the-bomb.co.uk or e-mail: dropthebomb2004@hotmail.com
tekno party oct the 29 AREA 51 trance and tekno party friday the 29 oct 8 till 1
we are @ the braintree institute essex 6 pound door tax djs are
stinky and dj rotten acid tekno nice 1 edd teknical disturbance trance dj kane hardtrance level 1 dj tech and dj hix@regal new nrg any more info call paul on 07956 546 872
Ecstasy & Therapy It may be illegal but the popular “club drug” MDMA is coming back to its psychotherapeutic roots.
by David Adams & Ben Fulton
Sitting on a couch is Melissa, a woman in her mid-20s who has just taken 125 mg of methyllenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), or ecstasy, in a glass of juice. Sitting in a rocking chair to the left of Melissa is licensed psychotherapist Dr. Jane, who will work intensely with her patient over the next few hours, as Melissa’s brain bathes in the surplus neurochemicals brought on by the MDMA.
Melissa and her therapist aren’t part of any currently approved research. They consider themselves to be conscientious, law-abiding citizens, but have decided to augment traditional psychotherapy with what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency currently classifies as a Schedule I substance-—an illegal drug.
But, illegal or not, Dr. Jane (not her real name) has a rationale for using this drug with her patient: MDMA eases anxiety surrounding traumatic events, allowing them to be recalled with extensive clarity, then amplified by a desire to discuss them, perhaps for the first time in the patient’s life.
Dr. Jane is one of an informal network of a half dozen or so psychologists—licensed social workers and psychiatrists practicing from Logan to Provo—with the experience and willingness to work with patients who choose to use MDMA in conjunction with other drug-free therapy sessions.
She and her underground clinical colleagues aren’t doing anything new. Long before its popularity blossomed under the moniker of “ecstasy” in dance clubs and warehouses across Europe and North America, and long after its first patent by German pharmaceutical company Merck in 1914, MDMA was used by scores of psychotherapists during the 1970s and halfway through the 1980s. With its relatively minimal side effects, therapists classified the drug as an “empathogen” for its ability to open the heart, increase awareness and foster sensations of self-love and acceptance. In addition, the drug has the added benefit of keeping the patient firmly grounded and in control, rather than orbiting Pluto as occurs with stronger drugs. From the perspective of the analyst’s chair, these are all very desirable traits.
From its ingestion, MDMA takes about 45 minutes to take effect. During this time, Melissa nods her head in affirmation, as Dr. Jane reads aloud the goals for this session and the safety contract, both of which have been developed and agreed upon during six earlier preparation sessions.
It is now 60 minutes past the point when Melissa unwrapped a small triangle of tinfoil, emptied the white, powdered contents into a glass of juice and drank it down in one long gulp. Her earlier, tense posture has given way to a more relaxed position on the doctor’s leather couch. The pillow she had been clutching nervously in her lap is now resting under her right leg, and her head rests gently on the back of the sofa. Melissa is both alert, and noticeably relaxed, as she talks openly about abuse that occurred early in her childhood. Dr. Jane listens intently, only occasionally asking questions that probe lightly into progressively deeper layers of her memories.
Now two hours into her session, tears fall from Melissa’s face and into a white Kleenex she holds in her hand as she recounts one particularly strong memory. Using a succession of questions, Dr. Jane assists Melissa in understanding how her earlier trauma caused her to project certain beliefs into her present relationships—beliefs that are creating some problems.
Towards the end of her session Melissa says: “Reliving this incident helped me free up my emotions in a number of ways. … I know that I have a lot more to do, but I know now that I molded my views about the world—that I now know are not true—because that one incident caused me to distrust my parents.”
Melissa, who works as a computer programmer, seems visibly relieved, and hopeful. Weeks after the sessions, she sent a promised e-mail describing the sum of her three MDMA-assisted therapy sessions: “I was able to dump my file … the medicine cleared my channels … insights and memories poured through me … fragments and pieces of the puzzle all came together. I had a cloud of trauma that had seemed in front of me … that for almost my whole life had been distorting my beliefs about myself … it seems behind me now, and I’ve gotten a new sense of who I am.”
Don’t rush out to your local psychotherapist for sessions on the couch with this “love drug” just yet, though.
First of all, these renegade therapists will allow only certain patients to use the drug, and only after a careful screening and analysis process of several therapy sessions in advance of taking the drug. The drug’s therapeutic effects have been found especially beneficial to those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Second, don’t go thinking that your time on the couch will amount to some sort of drug-crazed party of one. Most patients take MDMA during therapy twice at least, maybe three times at most. Perhaps most discouraging of all is the fact that you will have to score the drug yourself. Patients who desire this type of therapy assume all the responsibility in obtaining, possessing and ingesting the drug. Finding authentic MDMA, free of adulterants and of known strength, takes some work, but is not difficult. Dr. Jane cautions any prospective MDMA patient against running down to the local warehouse or club to buy a hit from a raver sporting an X on his shirt. You’re more likely to end up with a fake drug or sometimes-harmful counterfeit. Some have had luck procuring legitimate samples from undergraduate chemistry students who’ve figured out that MDMA is not all that difficult to synthesize.
Once the patient procures the drug, Dr. Jane provides guidance on determining potency of the MDMA, and assists with dosing. Preparation sessions are crucial. Not only are patients given information on the risks and benefits of therapy using the drug, they also establish goals for the session, discuss expectations, and how information yielded during the MDMA session will be integrated in the patient’s life. Dr. Jane follows a safety protocol that involves having a trusted friend or relative assume charge for the patient after the session, among other things.
In short, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is serious business, not a dance party for which it’s commonly used. Those who take the drug recreationally to enhance the repetitive beat of dance music and feel closer to other people at a party will gain a few pleasant hours with little or no insight into themselves. An MDMA session in the confines of an office and under the guidance of an experienced professional is something else entirely.
Before the drug was criminalized in 1985, Rick Doblin, an expert on the therapeutic and medical uses of marijuana and psychedelics who earned his doctorate from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, was witness to MDMA’s effects on patients during psychotherapy. “I saw first hand just how helpful it was for certain patients,” he said during a telephone interview from his Boston home.
But as the drug gained more and more publicity for its pleasurable qualities at dance and club parties, as opposed to its less sensational benefits during psychotherapy, the DEA moved to ban the drug under Schedule I classification. Therapists protested, suing the government in court. An administrative law judge agreed that the drug shouldn’t be classified as such but could only make a recommendation to the DEA. The agency said, in effect, “Thanks, but no thanks.” As if to buttress the DEA’s position, the scientific community released study after study questioning the drug’s safety and long-term effects. The most damning studies by Johns Hopkins University researcher Dr. George A. Ricaurte concluded that MDMA use lead to permanent brain damage in primates and damaged the brain’s dopamine neurons. Upping the fear factor, the doctor also concluded that use of the drug could lead to Parkinson’s disease in humans. But in a stunning reversal, Ricaurte himself put those findings to rest September 2003 when he admitted in Science magazine that his researchers had not given primates used in his studies MDMA, but another drug entirely. However, even some of Ricaurte’s detractors say his earlier studies demonstrating the drug’s neurotoxic qualities may have merit. Debate about the drug’s long-term effects continues, but many hope that with Ricaurte’s primate study now invalidated, a new era of study surrounding the drug’s benefits will soon dawn. About time, too, they say.
Doblin founded the Multi-Disciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) in 1986 with just that goal in mind. Based in Sarasota, Fla., his organization works to advance the study of MDMA’s therapeutic value through legitimate scientific studies. The United States isn’t the only nation with resistance to studying the drug’s therapeutic uses. Spain hosted the first scientific study of MDMA in the world, testing its therapeutic value on women survivors of sexual assault. The study seemed to be advancing quite well according to media reports. Then the International Narcotic Control Board shut it down.
Although there is considerable anecdotal evidence about the benefits of MDMA-assisted therapy, scientific confirmation of its effectiveness is admittedly minimal. The most notable of the few studies originate from a group of Swiss psychiatrists who used MDMA in conjunction with psychotherapy from 1988 to 1993. During this six-year period, 121 patients underwent a total of 818 sessions. More than 90 percent of the patients described themselves as “significantly improved.” During the course of the study, there were no adverse incidents, no suicides, no psychiatric hospitalizations and no negative reactions.
Doblin’s MAPS is working hard to change the drug’s research landscape. It launched a “$5 million, five-year Clinical Plan” to one day see MDMA made into a prescription drug for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. The organization is also trying to secure funding for research at Harvard University, where the drug might be tested on advanced cancer patients to help mitigate their fear of death and other anxieties, Doblin said. But the truly big news among MDMA’s proponents was the FDA’s November 2001 green light for a study of the drug’s effects on people with PTSD. Early this year, in February, the proposed study also earned necessary regulatory approval from the DEA. Together, both approvals mark the first time since the drug was criminalized that it will officially be studied for therapeutic value.
For Doblin, this kind of approval for scientific study of MDMA makes the perfect bookmark to 1963, when Timothy Leary got the boot from Harvard University for his studies regarding LSD.
“The Israelites, so to speak, have been wandering in the desert for 40 years. Researchers have been locked out of the lab, wandering the wilderness for that long. It’s really the first time in decades that we’ve had any research on these substances at all,” he said. “The quest for verification and scientific research is totally appropriate. What’s fundamentally problematic is that it’s taken us so long to even get to that point. It’s especially difficult to gain traditional funding sources for this kind of research, too. The drug is just too controversial for them to even touch it.”
All this is extremely important news for therapists like Dr. Jane, too. A practicing psychotherapist in Salt Lake City for years, one of the degrees on her wall boasts the blue and white accents of a relatively conservative Utah school. Displayed on the wall just below that degree is a license issued by the Utah Department of Occupational Licensing to practice as a clinical psychologist. She’s gravely aware that her license and livelihood could be in jeopardy each time a patient of hers takes MDMA under her supervision. One patient with one bad reaction is about all that separates her from a bee’s nest of legal problems, investigators, and a trip (no pun intended) in front of the licensing board.
Nevertheless, she is resolute. “I would rather tender my license and make widgets than turn a blind, fearful eye away from an avenue of treatment that may help someone,” she said. “MDMA has a fantastic ability to scan through the unconscious, lock onto areas of emotional tension, and then allow the patient to talk about themselves in spite of any defensive walls they’ve created.”
Like her patient Melissa, the Utah doctor has her own description of MDMA-assisted therapy: “Feelings of self-love and self-acceptance suffuse the session and, frequently, they can endure long after the drug has left the body,” she said.
And any good psychotherapist knows that any long-lasting behavioral change has its roots in feelings of genuine self-love.
People ask me all the time if I can refer them to therapists [using MDMA], and I cannot. I know it’s going on, but I don’t know exactly who’s doing it. I know they’re out there.”
Those are the words of Julie Holland, M.D. A New York University psychiatry professor and psychiatrist in practice at Greenwich Village, she’s widely considered the most celebrated authority regarding MDMA’s therapeutic value. And with Ricaurte’s studies discredited, her comments are no longer seen as those of the naïve proponent. Just ask Newsweek, and other publications in which her words have gotten a forum. Taking a break from vacation in Massachusetts to speak by phone, her voice is measured and assured, even if occasionally surprised.
“You found some underground therapists? That’s great, and it’s not easy to do,” she said.
Anyone who’s ever heard of Prozac or lithium knows that the marriage of drugs and therapy is nothing new. That’s one of the reasons Holland has no qualms about entertaining the use of MDMA with patients on the couch. She seems shocked that anyone would consider its use such a radical departure. In addition to authoring an exhaustive research paper on the drug, she edited articles by 21 of the world’s most noted MDMA experts, compiled in 2001 under the title Ecstasy: The Complete Guide.
One of Holland’s favorite quotes from an article included in her book comes from George Greer, a therapist who prescribed the drug for patients while it was legal, only to find himself forced to stop using it. “I felt like an artist who’d just discovered oil paints, but had to put them away and start using charcoal again because people were sniffing the oil paint,” Greer wrote.
Holland sympathizes with any physician forced to put effective medicine aside. And she believes MDMA can be especially beneficial, not just for people with PTSD, but also with adults who were physically or sexually abused as children. “Psychiatry doesn’t really have many good tools in its armament when you get right down to it. This is a really good tool,” she said. “And it’s very possible that if the government said this was a good drug for therapy, fewer people would be enticed by its illegal status.”
The irony of recent FDA and DEA decisions to approve preliminary studies of the drug, however, is that now government seems to have taken the lead where universities and private companies haven’t taken the trouble. Universities, of course, are cautious to do anything that smacks of illegality. But the reason why corporations never took MDMA’s case before the FDA or DEA is clear, Holland believes.
“No pharmaceutical company has gotten behind this because [MDMA’s] patent is expired, and it’s a drug that the average patient will take once or twice during therapy, and that’s it. There’s no profit margin in it,” she said.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no connection between current favorites such as Prozac and MDMA. Both drugs work to release serotonin, which brings on a general sense of openness, energy and well being. But where Prozac merely stops the recycling of serotonin, so that it backs up in the brain to make more available for the synapses, MDMA, on the other hand, floods the brain with serotonin. In addition, like Prozac, it also stops the recycling, or uptake, of serotonin as well.
Once again, this isn’t the party drug you may have heard of. You’re certainly not dancing to loud music in psychotherapy. No, you’re talking about potentially painful events in your life.
“It’s a very subtle experience. For most people it’s about as subtle as having one or two glasses of wine,” Holland said. “It’s not as big of a break from normal consciousness as people might think it is. But give it a name like Ecstasy and people have a lot of assumptions about it.
“It’s similar to anesthesia during surgery. It’s not that you’re pain-free, but you are very much more relaxed. You have to really peel through layers of defenses to get to core therapy. People are pretty much laid out, and you’re much more likely to get to the malignant core of what’s going on. It allows you to more readily examine it, and potentially excise it or remove it. It makes therapy much more efficient and effective. You don’t have to spend three years building an alliance with your therapist. It really strengthens that alliance, which is really important for future sessions.”
And unlike alcohol or other sedatives that would result in blurry disinhibition, MDMA has the added benefit of letting a patient recall the experience of what was discussed. That’s due to the drug’s amphetamine base, which gives patients greater ability to remember what’s happened. And when an issue is recalled and remembered, there’s no need to talk about it over and over. Taken once or twice during therapy, Holland said, MDMA can reap multiple benefits in future sessions.
Doblin concurs. “In a way, MDMA is the anti-drug, because Prozac and Zoloft are drugs people have to take every day, and when people stop taking them their problems come back,” he points out. “MDMA in therapy is taken only a few times. In the PTSD study, people take it only twice. It was never intended to be a regular daily drug in a therapeutic setting, and was never intended to be a take-home drug.”
Concern over the drug’s current status as an illegal substance is that it may sit forever in the recreational realm, where it’s most often used incorrectly. Used in the context of a dance party, users frequently experience dehydration, overheating or elevated blood pressure. Used in psychotherapy and under professional supervision, those conditions are much less likely to occur.
“Millions of people around the world are using it recreationally; it gets more popular every year,” Holland said. “But people who could really benefit from it, can’t. It’s a real tragedy and a real shame.”
Even though “Mike” (not his real name) has been apprised in advance of steps that will be taken to protect his anonymity, he’s understandably guarded in talking about MDMA and his psychotherapy practice. A clinical social worker practicing in the Cache County area, he brings hand to chin when asked about his initial reasons for using MDMA with select patients.
“There was no big ‘eureka’ moment or anything,” he said. “To me, the decision to add it to my psychotherapy practice was just common sense … consider a therapist with a strong Jungian orientation. Well, using Jungian therapeutic techniques doesn’t work with every client and so, unless you’re neurotically rigid, you use some cognitive behavioral therapy or some other modality that is going to make a difference. It was kind of like that. I never struggled with it as an ethical question. The greater moral wrong seemed to be in denying relief to a human being seeking it.”
He estimates that in the years he’s maintained a practice in Utah, he has treated about 30 people using different psychedelics. He prefers MDMA for much the same reasons as other therapists do, but has used psilocybin, ayahuasca, and the research chemicals 2ct2 and 2ct7—all with good results.
Mike believes that MDMA’s area of greatest promise is in couples or marital counseling. “MDMA, with or without couples-counseling, has salvaged a handful of marital relationships I had considered doomed,” he said.
As evidence, he furnished a written account by one of his MDMA patients, who initially presented relationship problems: “During my session I could see clearly for the first time in my life … many of the patterns or cycles of conflict I had been having with [my wife] I realized were responsible for our separation, and that my continued happiness in my relationship with her depended on me stopping those behaviors completely. I saw that she was a caring and loving person, and let old anger and grudges fall away. I made a commitment to myself to give up those behavioral patterns … I would never again focus on our differences or pretend to ignore them. I learned that they are necessary, and that I would celebrate them … at that moment, and now, even five months later I found it was no longer necessary for her to change in order for me to be happy in the relationship.”
Mike, for one, is hopeful that the attitudes of the authorities will change regarding his type of work as a psychotherapist. He’s well aware of MAPS’ work in this regard.
Concern by Mike and Dr. Jane for their anonymity is not difficult to understand. Being present, much less having a participatory role in the use of MDMA, clearly violates a handful of laws and licensing rules. The Utah State Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) has not been ambiguous about therapists practicing in this manner. Providing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is one of only a handful of major infractions that would result in the revocation of a license, as opposed to other lesser sanctions.
However, it’s fair to say that MDMA, like every other medication, is not completely safe, as well as not completely understood in its mechanism of action. Chalk that up, again, to its status as an illegal, Schedule I drug. As a result, there is not an abundance of research directed at answering questions about the drug’s mechanism of action and, unfortunately, most of the few studies completed to date have focused only on its tendency to release the brain chemical serotonin. It’s hoped that MDMA’s unhindered study will be a significant turning point in assembling a comprehensive picture of its very unique pharmacological functions. Experts know that questions about MDMA having a neurotoxic effect, or a depleting effect on the brain’s supply of serotonin, need further study.
But in consideration of the universal side effects described by the millions of people who’ve used the drug, MDMA’s major risks to any individual appear to be the very real possibility of being arrested and jailed.
Still, even proponents such as Doblin know the importance of research, whether that be to prove the drug’s effectiveness, or demonstrate its risks. “That’s one of the lessons we learned from the ’60s,” Doblin said. “You can’t downplay the risks or emphasize the benefits.”
Mike and Dr. Jane in no way perceive themselves as divergent warriors on the frontlines in the effort to legitimize MDMA. However, as the resurgence of therapeutic research on MDMA begins, it’s therapists such as they who may one day be in a position to teach other mental health professionals the techniques of harnessing the potential of this new but, really, somewhat old, treatment tool. If, and when, MAPS provides the FDA with sufficient evidence of MDMA’s usefulness and it’s approved as a prescription medication, adults suffering from emotional problems will have the option to walk into a local clinic and receive the drug in a setting conducive to healing.
For his part, Doblin roots for any Wasatch Front psychotherapist brave enough to blaze such a trail while the drug remains illegal. “I feel a lot of sympathy and pride that there are two people in Utah who care enough about their patients that they’re willing to risk their freedom and licenses,” he said. “That creates a lot of inspiration and responsibility in me to work even harder to see this through.”
Drugs Magazine to Mark Milestone Tue 12 Oct 2004
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3615656
2:12pm (UK)
By Ben Pindar, Community Newswire
The charity behind one of the world’s longest running drugs magazine is today preparing to celebrate 30 years of frontline drugs reporting.
This November Druglink, the magazine produced by national charity DrugScope, will mark reaching the 30-year milestone with a retrospective issue that will look at the changes in UK drug culture over the last three decades.
When the magazine launched in 1974 there were just under 2,000 drug addicts in the UK, 30 years later official estimates put the figure at 250,000.
The then emergent drug treatment sector has now become a multi-million pound business and Ecstasy was unheard of in 1974 – today it is the third most-used drug in the UK.
In the 1970s opium production in Afghanistan was negligible – it is now the world’s biggest producer.
The commemorative edition of Druglink magazine studies each of these terrifying changes and also includes guest articles from leading journalists, an insider’s view of the politics of drugs from ex-deputy drug czar Mike Trace, a retrospective look at how the world of drugs has changed from policing and education through to production and drugs culture and finally a look at the future of drug use.
Harry Shapiro, editor of Druglink, said: “This is a fantastic achievement. The world of drugs has gone through some tremendous changes over the past thirty years, and Druglink has been there every step of the way documenting and commentating on the changes as they happen with unbiased, cutting edge reporting.
“We look forward to building on this success in the years to come.”
The commemorative issue is also being produced in conjunction with the Thin Lines, White Lies event, a retrospective exhibition of drug images from the past thirty years.
The DrugScope charity is the UK’s leading centre of expertise on drugs. It aims to inform policy and reduce drug-related risk, provide quality information, promote effective responses to drug taking, undertake research at local, national and international level and speak for its member bodies working on the ground.
Event : FREE HOUSE PARTY IN ERIE PA Event : FREE HOUSE PARTY
Location : OUT SIDE OF ERIE
City, State : ERIE, Pennsylvania
Country : USA
Event Type : House Party
Event Start Date : Friday, October 08, 2004
Event End Date : Friday, October 08, 2004
Submitted By : ErieParties
Crowd : 18 and over
Drink Specials : 21+ TO DRINK
[IMG]http://www.hhforum.com/upload/e/12691[/IMG]
10 PM TO ?????
LIVE DJS ALL NIGHT
THIS IS THE 2ST ANY TYP OF PARTY LIKE THIS HAS HAPPEND HERE
SO PLEASE PLUR: P(eace), L(ove), U(nity), R(espect)
5 big rooms a little out of erie
AND DON'T FOR GET TO THANK THE OWNER OF THE HOUSE AND DARGHTER BE ON THIS DATE IT IS THE OWNER DARTERS 21ST -DAY
please call 814 490 8495
after 9pm
If you are cought giveing out any typ of 21 and over drink to some one who is underage you will be kicked out of my parties for good
VIP ONLY IF YOU KNOW ME YOU MUST BE A VIP
IF YOU HAVE A GOOD VIBE TO SEND ADD TO THE PARTY CALL 814 490 8495
PLEASE PLUR ONLY PARTY PEOPLE
if there are any djs out there who would like to donate there time to crate a scene
and to get there name out there by mixing a set at one of my parties[IMG]http://www.hhforum.com/upload/n/1149[/IMG]
More mixed messages from the Grauniad The following headlines were next to each other todays on-line news... OK the lad did do the crime (and deserves a fairly long stretch for ripping off individuals) but you would have thought they would have separated the two headlines before publishing the site :)
Quote:
Media casts youth in a constant bad light
Campaign seeks to adjust emphasis on crime.
MediaGuardian.co.uk
Boy, 16, in £46,000 eBay con
Victims taunted as youngster's lifestyle grew ever more opulent.
More from the Online team
Indymedia press release
* News from Indymedia *
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 11, 2004
Indymedia to U.S., U.K., Swiss and Italian Authorities: "Hands Off Our
Websites"
Evidence is beginning to mount that the authorities of at least four
countries (Switzerland, Italy, U.K. and U.S.A.) are involved in last
week's seizure of two of Indymedia's servers that brought down more than
20 of the Indymedia network's web sites and several internet radio
streams. Indymedia has yet to receive any official statement or
information about what the order entailed or why it was issued.
An FBI spokesperson, Joe Parris, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that
the FBI issued a subpoena to the provider who hosted the Indymedia
servers in the U.K., but that it was "on behalf of a third country." (1)
Daniel Zapelli, senior federal prosecutor for Geneva (Switzerland),
confirmed that he has opened a criminal investigation into Indymedia
coverage of the 2003 G8 Summit in Evian. (2) Zapelli will provide
details of that investigation at a press conference on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutor of Bologna (Italy) Marina Plazzi has also stated that
she is investigating Italy Indymedia because it may "support terrorism."
(3) Plazzi says she will provide more information on Thursday, October
14th.
Meanwhile, international journalist associations have come forward in
support of Indymedia. "We have witnessed an intolerable and intrusive
international police operation against a network specialising in
independent journalism," said Aidan White, General Secretary for the
International Federation of Journalists. (4)
Indymedia is consulting with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on
how to retrieve its servers and prevent further government attacks on
free speech. "EFF is deeply concerned about the grave implications of
this seizure for free speech and privacy, and we are exploring all
avenues to hold the government accountable for this improper and
unconstitutional silencing of independent media.," said EFF Staff
Attorney Kurt Opsahl. (5)
As of Monday, October 11, five of the downed websites have been
restored, including Brasil, Euskal Herria, Poland, UK and Nice.
Indymedia volunteers are working around the clock to restore the
remaining sites, however at least four of them - Uruguay, Italy, Western
Massachusetts and Nantes - have suffered data loss as a result of the
governments' action.
"This FBI operation gives us even more reason to continue with what we
have been doing for several years," says an activist from Italy
Indymedia.
"Uruguay has a long history of media repression. We don't have the money
to pay for web hosting, and so we rely on the solidarity of other
countries. Actions like the seizure of the servers make the whole world
insecure for free media," says Libertinus, an Indymedia volunteer from
Uruguay, one of many Indymedia web sites that was caught in the FBI
actions as a bystander. "Uruguay's national elections will take place on
October 31st. It's a bad time for this to happen."
For more information, visit www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi, email
press@indymedia.org, or call:
Tomasso at +39 3383903806 (Italy)
Hep Sano at +1-415-867-9472 (San Francisco)
David Meieran at +1-412-996-4986 (Pittsburgh)
* Notes to the editor *
(1) On October 7, 2004, Rackspace, a web hosting provider based in San
Antonio (USA), turned over two servers at its London officer after it
was issued a court order under the Mutual Legal Assistence Treaty.
Rackspace officials claim that the order prevents them from divulging
the reasons for the seizure and to whom the servers were actually given.
They stated, "Rackspace is acting as a good corporate citizen and is
cooperating with international law enforcement authorities." See more
details on www.indymedia.org/fbi and on the press releases from 8 and 9
October: http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/111999.shtml and
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/112047.shtml
(2) For more examples see: http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/fbi.shtml
(3) AFP report:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1509&ncid=738&e=6&u=/
afp/20041008/tc_afp/us_internet_justice
(4) International Federation of Jounalists:
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=2734&Language=EN
(5) Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF): http://eff.org/
===
KSS – Friday 29/10/04 Not technically *free* but not a club event! - Come along and find out what we mean ;o)
Remember the 70s? We don't either.
But we'll be dishing out the future funk you know and love on Friday,
October 29 in the one place where disco never died. That's right... the
George Tavern on Commercial Road, E1. With its illuminated dancefloor and
Ancient Greek-themed decor, the George is a Mecca for Whitechapel's many
Bee Gees impersonators... But we thought it was high time they had a dose
of good, hard diSSKo.
Remember, if anyone does Le Freak better than Chic, it's KSS. There will be
prizes on offer for biggest medallion and the hairiest chest.
Get some dancing tips:
http://discoland.8m.com/dance.htm
Discoclaimer: KSS accepts no responsibility for rollerskate-related
accidents.
** FRIDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2004**
*Main room - Techno /Funky & Acid*
- Jeff Amadeus [Squat Records]
- Louise Plus One [Re-Rave all]
- Phiorio [Kss / Click]
- James Ratcliff [Kss]
- Kevsta [Kss / Malfateurs / Re-Rave All]
- Kaptain K [Kss]
- Marc [Kss]
*Backroom hosted by Click - Click House, minimal Techno*
- Phiorio Vs Raw special 6 hours deck efx & final scratch b2b
--->
@ The George Tavern, 373 Commercial Rd, E1
10 min walk from either Aldgate East or Whitechapel
--->
7pm - 4am, Last Entry @ Midnight. (Main room will not open till 9pm)
KSS sound, Lighting, Visuals and Decor.
Donation Entry (£3)
Info Line : 0207 644 5016
Internet : www.KSS-UK.co.uk
KSS – Friday 29/10/04 Remember the 70s? We don't either.
But we'll be dishing out the future funk you know and love on Friday,
October 29 in the one place where disco never died. That's right... the
George Tavern on Commercial Road, E1. With its illuminated dancefloor and
Ancient Greek-themed decor, the George is a Mecca for Whitechapel's many
Bee Gees impersonators... But we thought it was high time they had a dose
of good, hard diSSKo.
Remember, if anyone does Le Freak better than Chic, it's KSS. There will be
prizes on offer for biggest medallion and the hairiest chest.
Get some dancing tips:
http://discoland.8m.com/dance.htm
Discoclaimer: KSS accepts no responsibility for rollerskate-related
accidents.
** FRIDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2004**
*Main room - Techno /Funky & Acid*
- Jeff Amadeus [Squat Records]
- Louise Plus One [Re-Rave all]
- Phiorio [Kss / Click]
- James Ratcliff [Kss]
- Kevsta [Kss / Malfateurs / Re-Rave All]
- Kaptain K [Kss]
- Marc [Kss]
*Backroom hosted by Click - Click House, minimal Techno*
- Phiorio Vs Raw special 6 hours deck efx & final scratch b2b
--->
@ The George Tavern, 373 Commercial Rd, E1
10 min walk from either Aldgate East or Whitechapel
--->
7pm - 4am, Last Entry @ Midnight. (Main room will not open till 9pm)
KSS sound, Lighting, Visuals and Decor.
Donation Entry (£3)
Info Line : 0207 644 5016
Internet : www.KSS-UK.co.uk
KSS – Friday 29/10/04 Remember the 70s? We don't either.
But we'll be dishing out the future funk you know and love on Friday,
October 29 in the one place where disco never died. That's right... the
George Tavern on Commercial Road, E1. With its illuminated dancefloor and
Ancient Greek-themed decor, the George is a Mecca for Whitechapel's many
Bee Gees impersonators... But we thought it was high time they had a dose
of good, hard diSSKo.
Remember, if anyone does Le Freak better than Chic, it's KSS. There will be
prizes on offer for biggest medallion and the hairiest chest.
Get some dancing tips:
http://discoland.8m.com/dance.htm
Discoclaimer: KSS accepts no responsibility for rollerskate-related
accidents.
** FRIDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2004**
*Main room - Techno /Funky & Acid*
- Jeff Amadeus [Squat Records]
- Louise Plus One [Re-Rave all]
- Phiorio [Kss / Click]
- James Ratcliff [Kss]
- Kevsta [Kss / Malfateurs / Re-Rave All]
- Kaptain K [Kss]
- Marc [Kss]
*Backroom hosted by Click - Click House, minimal Techno*
- Phiorio Vs Raw special 6 hours deck efx & final scratch b2b
--->
@ The George Tavern, 373 Commercial Rd, E1
10 min walk from either Aldgate East or Whitechapel
--->
7pm - 4am, Last Entry @ Midnight. (Main room will not open till 9pm)
KSS sound, Lighting, Visuals and Decor.
Donation Entry (£3)
Info Line : 0207 644 5016
Internet : www.KSS-UK.co.uk
Preston Madhatters Pyrotechno T Party Preston Madhatters pyrotechno T party 16th october 2004 #two rooms of madness #V special live guest #THE PARTY IS BY INVITATION ONLY e-mail info@preston-madhatters.co.uk and check web site www.preston-madhatters.co.uk for details
http://www.preston-madhatters.co.uk/avatars/4xfireworks_e-flyer1.jpg
bare ruckus in thames valley init! This is from the old bills press website - just todays stuff
Quote:
Thursday, 16 September 2004
Newport Pagnell attack
City centre attack - Milton Keynes
Appeal after assault - Caversham
Reading town centre incident - update
Third man arrested in connection with Reading incident
the reading incident was a murder with a potential racial element; in c[h]aversham some harmless 14 year old girls got beaten up at the skate ramp by a mixed crowd of 10-15 - the other two were teenagers attacking each other randomly - not robberies, just random hate-motivated beatings.
last weekend some people from westside of the city went to East Reading and shot out a few windscreens with a .40 or .45 (very hard to get this sort of ammo in a country with a handgun ban!) I actually was in the area a few hours before at a friends house just before this all happened...
I've been surfing the cops pressrel site for 5 years now for a number of reasons - mostly to keep an eye on what they say about raves and keep away from road accident blackspots when I'm cycling - but I've never seen that many violent crimes in such a short space of time before..
WTF is happening to the youth in our area?12
Stumblefunk Wonky Weekender Special party for you, our last proper one of the year!! bIt different, this one!
StumbleFunk Soundsystem have an invite to throw a birthday party for our friend, over nr Hull, nxt weekend, 15-17th Oct. Dead easy to get to from Manc - all motorway (2 hrs)Amazing site, with space indoors and outdoors for partying, StumbleFunk and Monkeypuzzle proving all sorts of sounds, sights and stuff! Playing breaks, bass, techno, DnB, jungle, nu school, dub, soul, electronica and anything else we can think of, in sum crazy hooge shed!
This is not a free party - plse email us for an invite - all StumbleFunkers and friends are welcome!
There is limited space to camp and park - running water and toilets on site - space indoors to party and chill - bring food/bbq - plse minimise vehicles - email us for invite and details!
come and join us!!
NufffluffX
StumbleFunk Minimassive
stumblefunk@fastmail.fm
www.stumblefunk.org.uk
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