CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND RAVE CULTURE
or, How To Fight For Your Right To Party

by NULL, of the Malatesta League (malatestaleague@usa.net)


Over the last couple years, "civilized" society has found a whole new enemy for the war on drugs. Raves were originally underground parties that were cheaply available, centered around dancing, technically illegal (no permit was attained), and existed for one night only. People would come together, dance the night through, release their bottled-up energy, and then go home and await the next workday. For a while, everything was good. And then came the police state response to the peaceful gathering of young people.

The truth is that busting raves is not about saving people from themselves, or noise complaints, or "disorderly conduct" or any of that. It's about making sure that our right to assemble doesn't exist. The status quo was threatened by these upstarts who dared consider the idea that people should be free to gather for a night of cheap, easily accessible fun.

The police came in, they arrested who they could, they intimidated by passing bogus "anti-rave" laws or ordinances, they created a culture of fear that intended to make sure people stayed lawful and abiding in the privacy of their homes. Who needs social interaction, dancing, and music when you've got MTV, NBC, and CNN?

And for the most part, ravers listened. Raves became corporate and "legal", and now cost anywhere from $30 - $50 each. Gone is the multicultural attitude based on Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. It's been replaced with a homogenized environment based on Money, Money, Money, and Money. The whole basis of a rave has been lost.

What if people fought to bring it back? What if people stood up for their right to assemble? What if people resisted and fought back?

There's ways to do this, methods that after a half a century of trying to subvert, the governments and police departments of the world still have no real way to combat. It all goes back to civil disobedience and how to non-violently protest.

Imagine, if you will, a rave out in the middle of a small mid-western town. The town itself has a total of about 8 cops on duty at any one time. They show up to bust a rave, expecting to arrest about 10 or so unlucky ravers who weren't able to run away. But yet, when they get there, posturing with their lights and their badges and fancy automobiles and machinery, people don't run. People sit down.

And they refuse to move. They lock arms and non-violently resist arrest. If the cops manage to pull them out of the crowd, people go limp, so that it takes two or three cops to drag them to be arrested. With a large crowd, it could take hours before everybody has been moved. As this is happening, the press and the media show up, and take pictures and give interviews with non-violent ravers who are simply struggling for basic rights. Lawyers are contacted to come and observe police behaviour. As soon as the first few people are arrested, some people may decide to get up and sit around the police car or bus to make sure that they can't leave. All the while, mainstream society says to themselves, "I thought that ravers were supposed to be apathetic kids who only cared about drugs. What the hell is going on?"

The police may leave and give up. At this point, these ravers will cheer louder than they ever have when they see the power that people hold when they stay together. But, the police may come back with re-enforcements. It has happened before, but all is not lost. In the end, someone has to foot the bill.

When and if everybody ends up in jail (where will they even hold all these people?), the police find out that every single one of them has no ID on them, and they are all refusing to give their names, instead choosing to excersize their right to remain silent. Further, everybody insists on seeing a lawyer, and waving their right to a speedy trial. This is a small town, who is going to foot the incredible bill of arresting, jailing, housing, feeding, processing, and bringing to trial a huge amount of peaceful ravers? How many times will this have to happen before the system takes the path of least resistance, as most systems inevitably will do, and decides to let people party in peace?

This is an option. Some people might be reading this, saying to themselves, "They're just raves. They're not worth all this trouble," and I say that they are. Because raves represent the very basic right of people to assemble, have fun, socialize, and do all of this without paying large amounts of money to corporate, "legal" interests.

Groups exist that can give guidance about peaceful protest, non-violence, civil disobedience, legal support, jail solidarity, etc. If raving as a political statement appeals to you, get in contact with groups like the Direct Action Network, Earth First!, or other radical organizations in your area.

And remember: when we lose our right to have fun, society will crumble. And it won't be pretty.

NULL, Malatesta League
malatestaleague@usa.net