News

Police State in Action

August 22nd, 2005 by cream

We wish to deplore and condemn the violent, abusive and uncalled for actions by a militarized task force of Utah police raiding an electronic dance music event o­n August 20th, 2005 ("Versus II").

The use of armed force to subdue so-called undesirable elements of society has a long history: the Civil Rights movement, anti-war demonstrations, and Women's Equality have all witnessed the blunt end of a system of law that has been later, and justly, found in the wrong. For the past twenty years, this systematic use of militarized force has been directed against electronic dance music cultures, not o­nly in the United States but throughout the world, and often under the supposed reasoning of the War o­n Drugs, as well as due to mostly inaccurate perceptions of electronic dance music culture as violent, drug-ridden, and sexually irresponsible.

As educators, academics, artists and researchers of electronic dance music culture, we wish to dispel these all-too prevalent myths that raves--a primary form of experience and expression of this multifaceted, global and diverse culture--are the dens of illegality they are made out to be. Raves and other electronic dance culture events are, o­n the whole, a far safer and more affirmative experience than most bars, hockey rinks and football games; certainly they warrant no special attention among the fundamental rights of humans to appreciate, gather and express their freedoms. At their best, raves exhibit the positive characteristics that electronic dance music culture cherishes and cultivates: a sense of peace and respect shared through the common love of dance, art and music. They are today's carnivals and fairs, the folk gatherings that humanity has enjoyed for millenia.

We feel that electronic dance music culture has been unduly marked by a far more dangerous and violent sector, in short, a State bent o­n the militarization of society. We ask of the public to celebrate and protect their rights and freedoms in the face of ever-increasing limitations and pressures. Without the ability to express the freedoms every human cherishes, the ubiquitous rhetoric that necessitates their defense with force rings all the more hollow.

via http://www.breaksblog.biz