STARK-RAVING FREEDOM: BROADLY WORDED RAVE ACT CRIMINALIZES YOUTH CULTURE

The beats of hard-driving house music pounded on my skull. The air was
filled with the booming bass and accelerated rhythms of techno music. The
typical 4/4 beat blasted through Westlake Center from a huge PA system set
up for the recent event.

The "ravers" gathered to protest new legislation that was adversely
affecting their scene. The "Rave Act" specifically targets people who
promote raves and electronic music events -- not just any music event.

The media often show rave parties as dangerous drug-fests frequented by
strange-looking kids, all pierced in different places with fluorescent hair
and wild eyes. The people who attend them are stereotyped as being
criminals who use these concerts to sell or do drugs.

But raves are an important outlet for youth culture today.

Hundreds of teenagers and 20-somethings danced in the bright sunshine that
day. Those twirling large batons with streamers gave a festive air, as did
the acrobatics of the break-dancers.

The event, however, was a serious protest of the continued breakdown of
free speech and freedom of expression, seemingly because many of those
involved are not politically or economically powerful, and have been
stereotyped as "druggies" who stay up late on ecstasy.

I watched and waded through a crowd of hundreds of young people. I smiled
with nostalgia as I watched them. I used to listen to this music a lot. I
loved to dance with my friends and to be whoever I wanted to be, able to
express my individuality freely.

My friends are in this scene, too, as DJs mixing the music, as
break-dancers defying gravity with flips, as young people who had found
something to claim as their own, a new identity apart from the
commercialized mainstream of American culture.

But that was almost a decade ago for me. Times have changed. Freedom is a
precious commodity these days.

Government efforts at achieving domestic security are targeting this youth
culture, electronic dance music or rave culture, and the businessmen and
women associated with these late night parties.

The Rave Act was added to the National AMBER Alert Network Act of 2003
(S151), which is an entirely unrelated law, by a handful of senators. It
was never formally discussed or voted on in the Senate or the House. It was
signed into law on April 30, 2003.

The Rave Act has another form: The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of
2003. The text in the bill is so broad that it offers no legal protection
for law-abiding citizens who are involved in the electronic music scene. It
assumes that everyone who participates in rave parties must be involved in
selling or using drugs. It expands the federal "crack house statute" and
makes it easier for the federal government to fine or imprison businessmen
and women if they fail to prevent their customers or tenants from selling
or using drugs on their premises or at events.

The business owners may take steps to stop drug use on their property, such
as posting signs to inform their customers of the consequences of the new
law. The law is too broad.

A criminalization of popular youth culture is occurring right now as
electronic music events are unfairly curtailed by this law. Youth culture
clashes, once again, with the mostly conservative agendas of the current
policy makers.

Raves are mostly for young people who love to dance, and aren't trying to
be part of the status quo.

In New York City, the "Cabaret License" stopped many parties. It prohibits
dancing in unlicensed bars, and has been continuously protested for half a
decade now. The answer in NYC is that the raves and other musical events
just get driven further underground and away from public health and safety
regulations. It also discourages business owners from investing in and
enacting important measure to protect their customers.

Times are hard. The economy is depressed. The politicians and corporations
are not accountable. Everyone is insecure -- and we can't even dance to the
music we want to.

Rosa Tyabji co-owns a record label and production company in Seattle that
promotes African composers.