[Dancecult-l] violence

[tobias c. van Veen]

+ yes most of rave culture has had deep ties to the criminal underground:
all kinds of conflict over drug dealing territory, distribution and
production; raves used as money-laundering channels; raves used by
organisations such as the Hell's Angels to do all the above but also to make
a significant amount of petty cash (i.e., literally a cash bill resource).

+ that the PLUR'red out ravers often knew little about what went on to me is
in part because of the *ideology* of the PLUR -- that it puts blinders on
where critical perception is needed. hence the numerous and global attempts
to counter rave culture, to twist it from the inside to see its potential
and its weaknesses.

+ now I also agree that one of the attractions of rave culture was its
ability to create safe atmospheres regardless of this environment, but more
importantly, to produce autonomous or indie events that had little or
nothing to do with the (usually large-scale) criminal events. here,
alternative sexualities and nonviolent atmospheres flourised; but even then
let us look at Spiral Tribe whom openly embraced a much more punk and
anarchist ethos hinting at violence against the state through sound and
occupation and intervention; violence is by no means foreign to rave
culture.

+ i realise the thesis and at one time supported it, but i now think that to
equate alcohol with violence might be a sly reduction, for let us say that
the network that distributes meth and ecstasy and coke undoubtedly has just
as much violence linked with it, and the reaction to meth / coke can also
produce outbursts of violence.

+ in the UK acid house scene, as far as I understand it, it became necessary
to take in & incorporate criminal elements as well as security drawn from
football organisations -- as raves became involved in football territories
--; in Canada it became necessary for large events to employ White Knights
(off-duty police, a la corrupt police essentially) -- point being that
violence works at many levels even if unseen. the distribution of violence
evidently differs from locale to locale and it is possible to throw events
without these elements whatsoever whereas elsewhere it becomes unavoidable.
studying the contortions of the TAZ in various locales would be interesting,
for whenever one goes beneath the radar one finds all kinds of creatures,
some ugly, some beautiful.

+ then there's invasive violence: at many events i threw indoors, we had
security literally battling "undesirables" we didn't want in; when busted in
(illegal or otherwise) warehouses we witnessed extraordinary and extreme
police brutality; and when outdoors in the woods we often had to delicately
negotiate and seduce local hicks into not turning violent... underneath the
dj turntables at our outdoor events was bear spray and a case of beer,
several already, let us say, prepared. when the hicks would show up in their
4x4s shining the brights on us, gawking at the ladies, racing around in the
ATVs, whooping and hollering and frightening the sh*t out of the kids, we
would walk up, give them a beer, but always with one hand fingering the bear
spray (or, let us say, whatever else we had). and yes there were serious
incidents of ravers vs. hicks conflicts over backcountry territory with
people beaten or worse. this pushed some ravers to become more militant,
some in the Spiral Tribe manner, others in a path that linked meth with a
more urban, street mentality (the raver methhead was often packin' as much
as the gansta'). and not all such identity construction is reactionary; in
NYC, Philly or in the UK dnb scene the identity of the music, like hip hop,
is connected to conditions of poverty and street territorial violence from
its inception. not all of it went the Detroit techno route of Going Alien
rather than Being Real, or rather even in Detroit one had to have protection
and be on the awares.

+ and then there is protest violence, the violence of Reclaim The Streets or
wherever soundsystems are used for protest situations, occupations,
interventions, such as with eco-activists in BC, using the soundsystem to
block logging roads. ravers fighting truckers was yet another reality,
nasty, violent and bloody.

best,

    tobias




> There was certainly a good deal of violence, including shootings, at the
> Hacienda in Manchester in the late 80s. Most of this was, according to
> the film "24 hour party people" related to drug deals and was solved but
> taking the dealers on as security.
> 
> p g-b
> 
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tobias c. van Veen -----------++++
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org --
McGill Communication & Philosophy