Party Vibe

thats the same debate from last year.

A single MP can’t put this debate across so it has to be supported by others.

It was supported by MPs from across the UK, including Wales and the West – some of them were Welsh Labour MP’s too, who would normally be politically completely opposed to Christopher Fraser. Another was in Dorset (SE England).

All the MPs were in areas of England where free parties were common. The backlash is actually a lot wider than Norfolk and stretches across the entire Southern UK..

The Bill gets a second reading in June this year..

this is true (I know some really sound people from East Anglian party crews) but its no different from how Asians for instance are now viewed by some as potential terrorists despite the bulk of them being decent people. A small minority who do negative stuff can always end up speaking for the majority when they are in an already marginalised group.

It annoys me to see him emphasise his main points, mostly being things I haven’t really encountered, or heard much of. Such as people abusing Livestock, destroying farm machinery, and property in general to the extent of what they are mentioning at least.

This has definitely happened in SE England and East Anglia. When I lived in Reading and attended warehouse parties the vandalism was atrocious and thats what got Thames Valley locked down.

Sadly, the lack of security and the attitude of more recent ravers means that even when these things are challenged they still happen. There’s a lot of hidden anger, jealousy over girls, rig politics, all sorts of beef, even on the “fluffy” Norfolk scene, and the vandalism is one way of angry young men releasing their inner tensions..

Another thing, Is the strange perception these lot seem to have of how crews operate. Now Im still young, and Ive only read about the 90s, and Ive only lived some of the 2k, on the scene. But from what I see, they have based their views on only how some crews work, and some gangs that used to operate at parties in the 90s. I have no Idea how they think crews are making “huge profits” from parties. And I also am angry with the point they make of how they say crews organise parties, for one reason, and one reason only, with not thought for the ravers themselves. For profit.

most 40 something Tories will think of the rave scene as working in that way due to a bizzare thing that occured around 1989.

A rogue element of the Young Conservatives tried to form a pro-rave protest movement called “Freedom to Party” around, campaigning on a free market tip (i.e licensing rules were over-regulation and these events should be able to be held for private enterprise).

After causing a bit of a stir they got slapped down by Thatcho and their “working class friends” (i.e drug dealers) all got grassed up and banged up.

But even though people are no longer getting rich from raves there are drugs being sold, taxes/licensing costs being evaded.

A lot of the anger from farmers is because they are increasingly being held to the bureaucracy/licensing for their farming, so they abhor the idea of people being able to use their resources and get away with unlicensed events and crime and go unpunished.

its going to be much more problematic in England – in my other post I set out which MPs were supporting it and its clearly a backlash against areas which had a lot of raves happen in them. Some of these MPs are fucking angry that this scene still exists 20 years after they thought they had got rid of acid house (indeed some are supporting this ban despite already being in zero tolerance areas!)

That said, there are actually a considerable number of legitimate music venues in the East of England, especially in coastal areas.

Many of them deploy extra PA equipment for a variety of reasons – either to augment the house system or provide specialist equipment for performers.

This equipment is often also brought into the same areas where raves happen in unmarked vans often hired at short notice – how on earth would the local constabulary be able to distinguish between this legitimate music equipment, and such equipment destined for an illegal rave? would they be expected to escort these vans into the legal venues to ensure its all “above board?”

What about those who previously did unlicensed events and have “gone straight?” but may still remain on outdated police intelligence records?

the cops can (and often do) take the rig anyway, and can charge the people driving any rig vehicle for “being concerned in organising unlicensed entertainment”.

They don’t take much notice about the “community” blag, someone drove the van and someone owns the kit and they are given the choice of taking the rap and maybe getting some of it back (particularly vehicles) or losing all of it and perhaps their driving licenses

Under English law its now possible to revoke a driving license for a non-motoring offence, been used against the hare coursers and even those who don’t pay child support or who drive vehicles for pirate radio stations!

these laws aren’t particularly effective but the harsh truth is they are being mooted simply because people here are so fucking stubborn.

Some crews in both SE England and the East even appear to treat a a rig and van as disposable items – often deliberately using cheaper kit and hired vans and then seem to bounce back a few months later – which of course leads the cops to feel there is organised crime funding these things (whether it is true or not) as how else could they afford to take losses like that?