A DANCE LESSON FOR MEL LASTMAN

Rave Fans To Lobby City Hall To Reinstate Safe Venue Protocol

Toronto ravers may not be the reincarnation of that Sixties counterculture
known as the Woodstock Nation. But, like the rock 'n' roll-influenced
activists of another generation, fans of rap, hip hop and other forms of
electronic music seem more than ready to flex some muscle in order to
change the world they live in.

"We want to show the powers that be that even though people involved in the
rave scene really don't want to get political, if our culture is being
threatened by a lot of misinformation, we can and we will be a strong
political force," Will Chang, an articulate spokesman for the Toronto Safe
Dance Committee, declared on Monday.

Just how much of a force youthful devotees of the huge dance party scene
hereabouts have the potential to be will likely be determined Tuesday
evening when they hold a rally outside City Hall to persuade the
politicians inside to lift their recent suspension of the safe rave
protocol they adopted last December.

Considering upwards of 50,000 young people head out every weekend looking
for places to dance the night away, it is conceivable that Nathan Phillips
Square will be packed with gyrating bodies intent on making a political
point while a stable of deejays provide musical inspiration.

"I don't think we have any choice but to reinstate the protocol," says
Frances Nunziata, a councillor who has steadfastly supported the city
policy. It was intended to provide ravers with safe city-owned facilities
for their events on condition promoters agreed to hire off-duty police
officers for security and had ambulances on hand in case of medical
emergencies.

It was Ms. Nunziata who took the lead in criticizing Mayor Mel Lastman back
in May for stampeding a slim majority of councillors into suspending the
protocol after Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino criticized it for, among
other things, supposedly turning a blind eye to the use of illegal drugs
such as Ecstasy.

The councillor for York-Humber and her Downtown colleague, Olivia Chow, had
urged council to postpone any decision on the initiative until after a
coroner's inquest into the drug-related death last October of a 21-year-old
Ryerson University student. Allen Ho collapsed during an unsupervised rave
in a subterranean parkade in the city's west end.

But the Mayor, who conceded that he didn't even know what a rave was when
he first supported the protocol, won the day. And council was left with
more than a little egg on its face when, days later, the inquest
recommended the continued use of city-owned venues such as Exhibition Place
for raves in order to provide a safer environment for young party-goers.

The coroner's report has provided much of the impetus for rave enthusiasts
to mobilize in support of the protocol. And just how organized they
actually are was evident when a group of them called a news conference at
City Hall Monday to promote next week's rally with the release of a CD that
lampoons the mayor for the "misinformed" stand he took against the popular
dances.

Whether Lastman will see the humour in the disc remains to be seen. But
already last week he appeared to be softening his position on the rave
protocol even though he seemed no better informed about a phenomenon that
attracted 17,000 people to one all-night dance at the Ex earlier this year.
"I never had a problem ... except I did not feel good about them the way
they were because there was no water, because they were bringing in
Ecstasy," the Mayor advised.

"Nobody knows what Ecstasy is," Lastman claimed. "Nobody knows what's in
it. Even the scientists don't know and they don't know why it kills people.
We don't know why and I don't want this to be a place of Ecstasy and raves
is Ecstasy. I don't think you have a rave without Ecstasy."

For future reference, the Mayor should know that Ecstasy is the street name
for methylenedioxymethamphetamine. Scientists do know what's in it. They
also know why it can kill people. And rave organizers insist they would be
more than happy if the police concentrated on arresting the characters who
push the drug so everybody else can just enjoy a dance. If Lastman bothers
to put in an appearance at the rally, which will take place a stone's throw
from his office window Tuesday night, he might just find this out for
himself.