WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON

 Stunning documentary on the 1984 UK Miners Strike where international capital used Margaret Thatcher's Tory government to mount a vicious campaign of violence and hatred on the British working class. The film features the miners and their families experiences told through songs, poems and other art.

RAVE PARTY IN IRAN

This was uploaded on YouTube today.. I had to share!
Kudos to whoever threw this rave party.

Keep it underground and rave on people of Iran!

NEW LAW COMING TO BAN SQUATTING IN JAMAICA

Jerome Reynolds, Gleaner Writer (original source) 

The government has signalled that it will be moving to ban squatting.
Minister without Portfolio in the Housing Ministry, Dr. Morais Guy, in his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in Parliament yesterday said the ministry is looking at implementing a modern Trespass Act which will address the issue of squatting. 

Minister without Portfolio in the Housing Ministry, Dr. Morais Guy.

The current Act was drafted in 1851. 

Dr. Guy added that the administration is also seeking to correct one of the country’s biggest social challenges. 

He said he will be seeking the support of the different ministries under which various pieces of legislation exist that can be applied to addressing issues related to squatting. 

Dr Guy highlighted that 15 to 35 percent of Jamaicans are estimated to be living in squatter settlements or abandoned buildings. 

According to him, an assessment in 2008 by the Squatter Management 
Unit of the Housing Ministry, identified that there were over 700 squatter settlements across the country.

He said it revealed three types of squatting in Jamaica: agricultural, residential and commercial with the most dominant type being residential.

A MESSAGE FROM YOUR GOVERNMENT

VOODOO'Z CYRKLE TRIBE

An article concerning the Voodoo'z Cyrkle tribe and their struggle with the French authorities. This article was printed in Coda Magazine issue 04/1999. The Voodoo'z were formed by a group of friends when the free party lifestyle and music coming from the UK invaded France. It didn't take long for the French authorities to hit hard and make a statement. Despite being targeted by the pigs they continued their project and realized several free parties and traveled trough Europe.

oh yeah, there old page is still up!!

Voodoo'z Cyrkle

DANCE BEFORE THE POLICE COME

Article from Datacide #11 by Neil Transpontine (April 5, 2011)

SUPPORT DATACIDE! (please :D)

Shut Up and Dance’s 1991 hardcore LP ‘Dance Before the Police Come’ was released at a time when the UK authorities were struggling to contain the massive explosion of raves. Thousands of people each weekend were playing a cat and mouse game with the police to party in fields and warehouses, and if the state was often outwitted by meeting points in motorway service stations and convoys of cars, it tried to keep the lid on the phenomenon by staging high profile raids. In 1990, for instance, an incredible 836 people were arrested at a Love Decade party in Gildersome near Leeds in the north of England.

Since then the global spread of Electronic Dance Music has generally been accompanied by the flashing blue light, the siren, and that moment when the music is abruptly turned off and the order given to clear the building. Indeed, let’s face it, the frisson of illegality has sometimes added a pleasurable edge to partying – the thrill of overcoming official obstacles just to get there, of getting one over on the authorities. And even the most mainstream of commercial club promoters like to pose as underground outlaws because they once got told to turn the music down by a man in uniform.

But police raids are serious business – often involving arrests which can lead to imprisonment, people losing their livelihoods and, in some parts of the world, social ostracism. People get injured, beaten and sometimes even killed. This article looks at a sample of police raids in recent times to get a sense of the current state of play between cops and dancers in different parts of the world.

Moral disapproval

For those at the receiving end of a raid it has often felt like a simple case of the police wanting to stop people enjoying themselves, or more simply of ‘the grown ups’ being down on ‘the kids’ like something out of the 1984 film Footloose – set in a small American town where dancing is banned and people get ‘busted for boppin’’.

It is certainly the case that there continues to be some straightforward moral disapproval of what people get up to in clubs and parties. For instance, in Redlands, California the Chief of Police denounced parties being held – and raided – at Pharaoh’s Lost Kingdom, a defunct amusement park, stating: “I do not believe a rave is consistent with the values of our community. I do not believe that raves are good for young people’.

Such positions usually have a religious basis. Generally in the US and Europe today, the impact of Christian fundamentalists on nightlife is relatively marginal outside of small communities and institutions in which they are dominant. Nevertheless absurdities still arise – such as the case of a 17 year old suspended from a Baptist school in Ohio for breaking its ‘no dancing’ rules by attending his girlfriend’s prom. Or the Mississippi High School that cancelled its prom rather than let an 18 year old lesbian student attend with her girlfriend.

Elsewhere religious intolerance is a bigger deal. Islamists have banned musical ringtones in Somalia, murdered singers and forbidden mujra dancing (a traditional women’s dance deemed as sexually explicit) in Pakistan, and banned Bollywood films in Nigeria because they feature singing and dancing on the screen. In Iran, 80 young men and women were arrested at an illegal gig for “lustful pleasure-seeking” in May 2010.

In Iraq, the rise of the religious right has led to a clampdown on nightclubs – at the start of Eid in November 2009 ‘hundreds of Iraqi police and soldiers stormed each of Baghdad’s 300 or so nightclubs. Officers from the most elite units stood outside as soldiers slapped owners’ faces, scattered their patrons and dancing girls, ripped down posters advertising upcoming acts, and ordered alcohol removed from the shelves. They left many of the clubs with a warning – any owner who tried to reopen would be thrown into prison, along with his staff’ (Observer, 5.12.09).

Unofficial dancing

Still it is hardly the case that the police authorities of the world are engaged in a systematic attempt to stop people dancing. After all, commercial nightclubs are an important part of many city economies and watching TV adverts quickly demonstrates that dance music is used as a means to sell a vast range of commodities.

Social dancing as such is not viewed as a threat to order, but it is seen as something that needs to be regulated. The combination of crowds, noise, chemicals and sex is too unstable a cocktail to be just left alone. Regulation can take many forms – from elaborate licensing regulations to informal corruption, whereby nightlife is only permitted if bribes are paid to police or officials.

When parties take place in defiance of these regulations they can face the full force of the state. On Christmas Day 2008, police in Uganda raided a dance at the Alikua trading centre in Nyadri district to enforce a ban on night discos that had been imposed by the local authorities. They opened fire and a secondary school student, Stephen Enzabugo, was killed.

The use of live ammunition is rare during police raids on parties, but around the world people out dancing can face various degrees of force. In Sydney (Australia) riot police with dogs closed down an illegal warehouse party in September 2008, turning over 1000 people on to the streets. According to one witness: ‘’I was at the party on Saturday night, standing directly behind decks on the drum n bass stage when the riot police invaded…and smashed both turntables and attempted to smash the mixer (about $5,000 worth of damage) and then they pushed and shoved and bashed everyone they could get their batons on’.

In Britain, police have closed down free parties in many places, but the front line has been in the East of England, where police in the counties of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk have been waging a ‘zero tolerance’ campaign against ‘raves’ for the past few years.

In December 2008, ten people were jailed for ‘violent disorder’ during clashes with police raiding a party at Great Chesterford, Essex two years previously. They were captured after being featured on Crimewatch, a national television programme which encourages people to identify suspects and inform the police. No police officers were charged, despite eye witness accounts of a wall of riot police setting upon a party in the middle of nowhere and inflicting ‘savage beatings’.

In summer 2007, a raid sparked a riot outside Great Yarmouth police station in Suffolk. It all started when police seized a van carrying sound equipment to a party on a local industrial estate. People who had gathered at the site for the party formed a convoy with their vehicles and tried to stop the police car leaving with the sound equipment. They then demonstrated outside the police station, throwing bottles and cans. Meanwhile the party went ahead in a factory yard, and people barricaded themselves inside when police turned up. Cops used CS gas to force people out.

Since these events the local police forces have mobilized every effort to stop parties taking place. Norfolk police have stated that ‘we will use all necessary resources to prevent, disrupt and close down illegal raves in this county…We will continue to take a hard line against them and seek to prosecute and seize and destroy the equipment of anyone found to be involved in their organisation’. As well as the usual raid tactics they have started stopping and searching vehicles of party goers – after a party near Feltwell in Norfolk in October 2009, 150 vehicles were stopped and people were arrested for vehicle and drinking offences. There were further clashes between police and party people at Haverhill in Suffolk the following month, when police trying to break up a warehouse party were pelted with missiles.

The courts have also used their powers to back up the police. After police raided a party at Gayton Thorpe (Norfolk) in August 2008, one of the DJs was given a two year curfew by the court, requiring him to stay at home from 8pm to 6am seven days a week for six months. The court ruled that he had broken an earlier community order that required him ‘not to attend a rave or other unlicensed musical event’.

In an act of ritual sacrifice pour l’encourager les autres, police in Norwich issued a March 2010 press release publicising that a ‘seized sound system will be placed into an industrial shredder at Delmonte Garage on Concorde Road in Norwich tomorrow at 3pm. Inspector Mike Brown said; “This is a clear message to rave organisers. The date is significant as it would be foolish for anyone to hold an illegal event over the Easter period’.

The Criminal Justice Act in Britain

In Britain, the main police powers used to shut down unofficial parties derive from section 63 of the Criminal justice and Public Order Act 1994. This notorious legislation, passed by the Conservative government in the face of mass protests, put the word ‘rave’ into law – defining it as ‘a gathering on land in the open air of 100 or more persons’ and with music ‘predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats’. When Labour come to power they passed the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 which amended the definition so that now only 20 people have to be present for a party to be defined as an illegal rave. Police have powers under the Act to remove people and to seize vehicles and equipment.

An absurd example of the use of the Act occurred in Sowton, Devon in July 2009 when four police cars, a riot van and a helicopter were mobilised to stop a birthday party barbecue. The host commented: ‘We were nowhere near anyone, we weren’t even playing any music… What effectively the police did was come in and stop 15 people eating burgers.”

Section 63 notices were issued by police to disperse the May 2010 UK Teknival at Dale Aerodrome in Wales. The massive police operation included automatic number plate recognition, police photographers, helicopters and even a surveillance plane. Hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of equipment and vehicles were seized, and ten people were later found guilty under the Licensing Act 2003 for holding an event without a license.

Despite this pressure, free parties have continued. In the north west of England, sound systems like GASH Collective and Daylite Robbery have successfully outwitted the authorities. The latter’s party at Rivington Castle (Sept 09) went on all night, with the searchlight from the police helicopter paradoxically helping people locate it: ‘we got there before the coppers had blocked the road off, if it weren’t for that helicopter we? wouldn’t have found it’.

Most parties have been on a limited scale – hundreds rather than thousands of people – but occasionally bigger events have taken place, particularly on bank holiday weekends: around 4000 people attended a party near Warminster, Wiltshire in August 2009. Despite the powers available to the police, parties are often left to continue, sometimes because the combination of crowds, terrain and limited police resouces make it impossible to close down every technically illegal gathering.

In London, the highest profile squat party was Scumtek’s Scumoween, held in October 2010 in a multi-storey building in Holborn, central London with thousands of people and up to 30 sound systems taking part. The police originally tried to seal off the building and used tasers and batons against revellers trying to get there. But they were eventually overwhelmed by the crowd and the party went ahead until the next day without further incident.

The police seem set on revenge for this high profile humiliation, and before the next planned Scumtek party (Strictly Scum Dancing party in December 2010), people involved had their houses raided and the event was closed down before it started when police entered the warehouse in Enfield, north London, and seized the sound system. There were clashes between police and frustrated party-goers in the surrounding streets

In Italy meanwhile, more than 100 people were still appearing in court last year, 4 years after a party in a disused furnace at Caldè near the shores of Lake Maggiore in June 2006. They had been arrested at police roadblocks as they were leaving the party and charged with complicity in aggravated invasion (trespass) of the land.

In the USA, a politician in the California State Assembly is currently proposing an ‘Anti-Raves Act 2011’ along the lines of the British legislation. If passed it would prohibit raves on public property and prevent raves on private property unless a business owner has a license to host such an event. The type of gathering covered is defined very broadly as ‘a public event at night that includes prerecorded music and lasts more than three and one-half hours’. That would surely cover a huge range of parties.

Festivals

Large festivals are subject to even more regulation than clubs and parties. In England, the Licensing Act 2005 gives the police extended powers to dictate how festivals are run. If they do not comply, they simply do not get permission to go ahead. In July 2009, the Big Green Gathering, expected to attract up to 20,000 people, was cancelled at the last minute following an injunction by Mendip District Council, supported by Avon & Somerset Police. Police demands included a steel fence, watchtowers and perimeter patrols, and wristbands for twelve undercover police. Very similar police manoeuvres led to the cancellation of the Grassroots Festival in Cambridge, planned for September 2010

A new development has been the use of the Misuse of Drugs Act against people organising festivals. This Act was amended by the UK Government in 2001 to make it a criminal offence for people to allow other people to take drugs on their premises. After the 2009 Thimbleberry Music Festival in County Durham the organiser was charged in court for permitting ‘the use of cannabis on his premises’. Although the charges were later dropped, the Council withdrew the festival’s licence so it could not go ahead in 2010.

Gentrification

One factor in the increasing regulation of nightlife is the gentrification of cities – the kind of run down inner city areas where clubs and bars have flourished are now increasingly being remodelled to meet the housing and leisure preferences of the wealthy. In Paris, a group of music promoters submitted a petition in January 2010 complaining that ‘The generalized law of silence that is battering down upon our events and our living spaces is soon to relegate the City of Lights to the rank of European capital of sleep’. In the city, for instance, the police have begun enforcing a long-overlooked law requiring establishments to hold a ‘night authorization’ permit in order to stay open past 2 a.m.

In Rome, the (ex?) fascist mayor Gianni Alemanno has also tightened up on nightlife – in November 2009 33 clubs were closed for violation of alcohol regulations. In New York, clubs have not recovered from the assault launched on them in the later 1990s by then mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The current mayor has somewhat eased up on this campaign, but the arcane 1926 cabaret laws restricting dancing remain in place despite promises to scrap them.

Drugs

In the never-ending ‘war against drugs’, the dancing body is a key battleground. As well as seeking to control what substances individuals put inside their bodies, laws about drink and drugs have always been a way of controlling the places where people do these things, giving the state a reason to enter clubs, pubs, and parties and regulate the ways in which people come together.

In many countries, police drug raids are accompanied by mass arrests and compulsory on the spot drugs testing. In Mumbai, India police raided a ‘rave party’ at a Juhu pub – all 240 people present were held overnight and made to undergo blood and urine tests (Oct. 2008). The Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai police have set up a telephone line for people to inform them of raves, which have become increasingly popular with IT and call centre workers in the city: ‘The next time you get a whiff of a rave party in your neighbourhood or see a hippie-looking character trying to pass on drugs to youngsters, just dial a number and help the police’.

In Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, police raided the Laiketong karaoke cum mini discotheque in September 2009, where 118 revellers were screened for drugs, of whom 37 tested positive. A local paper complained that it ‘was shocking was that more than half of the revellers inside the mini disco were Muslims who were either drunk or under the influence of drugs and showed no respect for the Holy month of Ramadan’. In the same country a few months earlier, police raided the Raptor discotheque in Jinjang. The 300 revellers were each given a small plastic container and ordered to submit a urine sample for drug testing. As a result 70 people were arrested, ironically including five off duty cops including an inspector who tested positive for ketamine and amphetamine.

Meanwhile in Vietnam, the state announced it was considering banning dancing in karaoke bars with a government official stating that ‘Ecstasy always goes with wine and music… karaoke is a cultural activity which is always latent with social evils’ (May 2009).

Sometimes these raids are justified by rhetoric about protecting the health of clubbers, but it is obvious that they actually put people’s health at risk. For instance in the panic of a police raid, people may increase the risk of overdosing by swallowing in one go any drugs in their possession. And causing panic in a confined space has its own risks, as was demonstrated in June 2008 when police in Mexico City raided News Divine nightclub in a crackdown on underage drinking – with the police blocking the exit there was a surge and crush in which 12 people died.

Raiding Gay Clubs

June 28th 2009 marked the 40th anniversary of the police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York, which famously prompted a gay riot and heralded a new phase in the gay liberation movement. On this very day in the US, police and agents from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission raided the Rainbow Lounge, a gay dance club in Fort Worth. One man suffered a fractured skull after officers slammed his head into a wall and people were made to lie face down outside in the parking lot. Their alleged crime – being drunk in violation of public intoxication rules.

There were similar scenes in Atlanta, Georgia, when police raided a gay bar called The Eagle a few months later. A cop shouted “Shut the fuck up!” when bar patrons asked why they were being forced to lay face down on the grubby floors. Police were also heard to say “I hate queers,” and “This is a lot more fun than raiding niggers with crack!”, as well as demanding to know who was in the military and threatening to report them. Eight staff members were detained for the crime of ‘Dancing in their underwear without a permit’.

If events like this are possible in a country with a well-established and open gay clubbing scene, things are worse in parts of the world where violent homophobia is still an organised political presence. In Serbia, plans for an LGBT Pride parade in September 2009 had to be abandoned when police said that they would be unable to protect it from attacks by homophobes, fascists and rabid nationalists. In the Ukraine, police raided a gay club called Androgin in April 2009, detaining more than 80 people at a police station, where they were photographed and fingerprinted. In Saharanpur (India), 13 gay men were charged with ‘obscenity in a public place’ after police entered a party in December 2010.

More discrimination

As raids on gay clubs demonstrate, the police do not indiscriminately target all dancing spaces equally. When clubs and parties are frequented by people from collectivities and communities with a history of being singled out for police attention, they are much more likely to be subject to raids and eviction. The collective presence of (mainly) young people from some social groups is likely to be viewed as a problem by the police even if people are just going out enjoying themselves on a Saturday night.
Hence, social centres and squats associated with radical movements are much more likely to be raided than commercial nightclubs. In Greece for instance, police raided the Resalto social centre in December 2009 as part of an operation to pre-empt protests on the first anniversary of the police killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos. In London, the rampART Social Centre was evicted in October 2009, having earlier in the year been a base for the G20 anti-capitalist protests as well as for gigs and parties. In the same months, Triesterstrasse 114, an old school building in Vienna was violently evicted shortly after being squatted as ‘a space for self-organised, non-commercial projects and communal living’.

Spaces where migrant workers socialise are another focus for repression. In Spain, police raided a disco in El Ejido during a crack down on Moroccan migrants, as a result of which 70 people were deported from the country in May 2009.

In London, the Metropolitan police have even tried to dictate what kind of music is played in a clubs. ‘Form 696’ is a document which the police ask premises to complete for all music events, including names and addresses of all DJs, artists, promoters and sound systems. Most controversially the form asked for details of the expected crowd, including its ethnicity, and in requiring details of the music to be played singled out kinds of black music, asking: ‘Music style to be played/performed (e.g. Bashment, R’n’B, Garage)’. There is anecdotal evidence that the police have pressurised clubs not to put on grime nights in particular. The police have claimed that the intent is not racist, but is aimed at preventing gang-related violence. While it is true that there have been a number of shootings in and around clubs, the police already have powers to deal with murder and assault without treating all young black people and whole genres of music as quasi-criminal. After protests, the police have taken out references to ethnicity from the form, but it remains the case that the police can use their influence to prevent clubs and bars getting a license for music and dance because they don’t like the crowd they attract.

A police officer told Lambeth Council Licensing Committee in 2010 that Mass in Brixton (South London) was ‘a problematic club and the main reason is the type of music that is played… ‘bashment’. We know it attracts gang members.” The club responded that they had ‘already agreed with the police not to stage further bashment… or funky house nights.’

The spectacle of humiliation

It is clear that the apparently simple act of people moving together to a rhythm takes place in a complex field of social relations characterised by the bio-political regulation of dancing bodies. Struggles over sex, drugs, noise, subversion, racism and class are all played out at that moment when police come pouring on to the dancefloor.

Once the raid is over, people carry on as before. But the fact that raids can never prevent the things they ostensibly seek to combat is hardly the point. The raid is a kind of performance to demonstrate the exercise of power and to define its victims as illegal, immoral or both. Hence the high profile police raid is invariably accompanied by journalists tipped off advance, and immediately followed up by a press release. As queer theorist Kane Race has argued in the context of drugs raids: ‘this drama seems more like high-profile posturing on the part of the police, designed to reassure middle-class voters that the state is tough on law and order, and driven more by the state’s desire to be seen to be “doing something”….For the point is the public spectacle of detection and humiliation, the making-suspect of populations, and the desire to create a demand for authority in the sphere of consumption. The state confirms its image of itself and its moral constituency in these forcible attempts to expose its other’ (The Pleasure Principle, Sydney Alumni Magazine, Summer 2009).

Still, people will not only dance before the police come, they will continue to dance after they have gone. More than 20 years after the first explosion of raves in the UK, people are still partying every weekend in defiance of the laws passed to contain them, and around the world no amount of police attention seems to be able to stop people people gathering to dance on their own terms.

Further details on many of these events, including full references, can be found at: http://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com

URL to article: http://datacide.c8.com/dance-before-the-police-come/

TOP 10 REVOLUTIONARY VIDEOS OF 2011

The Top Ten Revolutionary
Videos of 2011
by Michael Truscello
@ Dissident Voice

PIGS

PIGS

The ones that don't roll around in the mud..
As seen on LiveLeak and YouTube.. every single day.

http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=police+brutality
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=police+brutality

ಠ_ಠ

JUST DO IT: A TALE OF MODERN-DAY OUTLAWS

STORYLINE (source IMDB)
The world of environmental direct action has remained a secretive one, until now. Emily James spent over a year embedded in activist groups such as Climate Camp and Plane Stupid to document their clandestine activities. With unprecedented access, Just do It takes you on an astonishing journey behind the scenes of a community of people who refuse to sit back and allow the destruction of their world. Torpedoing the tired clichés of the environmental movement, Just Do It introduces you to a powerful cast of mischievous and inspiring characters who put their bodies in the way; they super-glue themselves to bank trading floors, blockade factories and attack coal power stations en-masse, despite the very real threat of arrest. Their adventures will entertain, illuminate and inspire.

GRAB IT HERE

UK TEKNIVAL TRIAL AND THE LICENSING ACT 2003

History is made at night : We reported last year on the police operation to close the UK Teknival at Dale Aerodrome in Pemrokeshire (Wales). 

The court case arising from this ended in November 2010, with ten people pleading guilty to charges of holding an event without a suitable licence. They were given Community Service Orders, with nine sentenced to carry out 100 unpaid work and the other 160 hours. Charges were dropped against six other people who pleaded not guilty. Continue reading here...

posted with a 6 month delay ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

  

 Image borrowed from Schnews

RAVING MADNESS
"AS UK TEKNIVAL ‘RAVE SIX’ FACE COURT ACTION AFTER BUST..."

 Weekly Schnews Issue 727

7/11 - ANTI SQUATTING LAW DEMO @ THE HAGUE (NL)

 7-11-2010 Demonstration against the anti squatting law.

On November the 7th 2010 a demonstration against the law on squatting will be held in The Hague. This law, enacted on the first of October 2010, effectively makes all the squatters in the Netherlands a criminal.

Millions of square meters of empty- and run-down buildings caused by speculation, solely in the name of profit. Massive cuts in social housing without anything to show for. There is a rising number of homeless people and homeless youth. Government- and local policies are degrading living conditions for all of us . Squatting is a fought-for right to counter unjust housing policies and unnecessary vacancies. It is the squatting of these unnecessary empty buildings that gave us the opportunity to create many innovative projects and initiatives like give-away shops, food banks, rehearsal spaces, projects for refugee aid, and a platform for culture and art. We have never squatted because they allowed us but always out of necessity! We are all entitled to a home and social- and cultural centers, not just those with substantial funding! Join the demonstration and raise your voice against the squatting ban and the housing shortage.

Necessity over laws! Squatting will stay!
 

17:00 (GMT+1) @ Kerkplein, The Hauge, Netherlands
web: KSU Den Haag
contact Kraakgroep Haaglanden: kraakgroephaaglanden[at]riseup.net

DJ AZTEK INTERVIEWED - ANNO '94

ABOUT TIME I STARTED POSTING AGAIN..
MISSED ME?
YEAH, HIGHLY DOUBT IT!
not that it matters anyway.. I just needed a little intro after my absence of.. 4 months. I had to check that while typing.. *ghh* 
HOLY CRAP TIME FLIES.

I am not going to make any promises.. because if I make them.. I will HAVE to fulfill them. Knowing myself.. I will just give it a try.

- me

SO ANYWAY,

Here is an excerpt from an interview of DJ Aztek, who played with for Spiral Tribe 2 years. I just had to share this because I was stunned. At first I found it recognizable and made me bring up some good memories.. but then the police joined the club and ruined my good mood..

...

Originally Aztek was freelance and DJ’ing in Plymouth. It was while working and socially attending most of the dance events that happened in Plymouth he heard the name ‘Spiral Tribe’ mentioned on numerous occasions, and every time it was a good report.



“This was where I met Simon and Sean, ‘S.A.S’ for short. One half of the duo I’m sure you’d know better as MC Ribbs. Then early one morning still in the dance spirit, a few friends and myself left the club and took off to our next place of call, a popular meeting point down on Plymouth Hoe, where there was music coming from a high powered car system. Whilst there Spiral Tribe was mentioned again, but this time I heard they were ‘in the area’. Bodmin Moor to be exact (which was 5 miles down the road from where I was living). So that was it, we were off. Spirits were high, we arrived on site at 9am ’ish face to face with a totally different culture and I was lovin’ every minute”.

“I already had my records with me as I had played the night before and hadn’t been home. It took me about 15 minutes to get across to where Spiral Tribe were set up. The music was happy and uplifting, it complimented the time of day, (morning trax is the term). People were still dancing from the night before, some were chillin’ out. As the day progressed, the busier it became and the beats hardened up. The night returned and out came the fire eaters and jugglers. Whistles, horns and shouts from the over-whelming crowd could be heard echoing out over the moors, merging into the musical mayhem of hectic rhythms and wailing synths coming from the Spiral sound system. I had already played for 2 hours around midday and was looking forward to my night time set. From this day forward I was hooked, I stayed and played for 2 more days and then had to go as I was relying on friends for transport, only to return the next weekend”.

The next weekend it was DJ Hush Hush and Aztek doing long sets, while the other Spiral DJ’s got some rest. Others came when night time returned with more revellers, and it was full-on once again. The music never stopped. There were mad statues and backdrops everywhere all glowing under UV lights. This was the ‘Spiral Euphoria’ that many came to expect and was so addictive.

“It was for the creative, the open minded, the free thinking, free spirited people who have the freedom of expression, speech and movement. To be individual, original and different. It was for all races, colour, class and creed, without ego, without attitude. This was the ‘White Goddess Festival’, in Cornwall which went on for 14 days from the 22nd August to September 4th 1991. I went home, got some more clothes and some more records and on the 6th my friend Mark dropped me off at Spiral’s next location. Smeatharpe Air Base, in Devon and the rest is history!”

This was when Aztek first met Robbie D along with a few other names that you possibly know today. The list of parties that Aztek attended is far too long to list, but it was the ’92 Easter party, Acton Lane, London, that had much controversy surrounding it. A leaflet was distributed at the next event that read as follows:

Police Violence – Enough if Enough

Spiral Tribe was established in the summer of 1990 for and by young people, as a creative channel using music as the main creative force. Since the beginning, the show has toured the country non-stop holding large free events within the cities and outdoors, run with local participation and funded by donations. Spiral Tribe is a volunteer group giving numerous opportunities to talented youngsters nationwide. Training on recording and musical equipment is given freely and all creative aspects are encouraged. Many young performers, musicians and DJ’s have started their careers with Spiral Tribe. The formula for creative freedom has been so popular that now Spiral Tribe run an independent record label and shortly plan to open a community based record studio.

On Monday 20th April 1992, 1000 people were dancing at an Easter party run by Spiral Tribe on Action Lane, London. At approximately 2.30am police suddenly sealed off the building. There had been no trouble and no complaints – the party was free and open to all – there was no explanation from the police as to what the intentions were, nor indeed any justification for what happened next.

The police then prevented anyone entering or leaving the premises – anyone who attempted it was maliciously beaten to the ground with truncheons and kicked.

(ed.) little comment here; isn't that manslaughter? kicking someone who is on the ground is a big no no.. even if it is self defense it isn't. the only reason that makes it legal is that you can prove your life is threatened. I highly doubt that any of these pigs were in a life threating situation. this is one of the main reason I decided to quote this interview. how brutal the police has been back then.. and still is. always been.

By 3.30am a massive force of riot police wearing padded jackets and helmets and wielding shields and batons stormed the building. No warning was given.

Sledge hammers and a JCB digger were used to collapse the walls in on the people trapped inside. When they finally got into the building they indiscriminately beat up men, women and children.

At this point, there were about 750 people in the building – all trying to escape the vicious onslaught from the police. A panic started as people tried to crush through one small exit. Instead of alleviating the crush, the police pushed up hard behind everyone, hitting out and forcing everyone face down to the ground. Some people were singled out and given further severe beatings. The police then started on the equipment that had been lent or donated destroying it needlessly.

The local hospital reported up to 700 casualties amongst the party goers with one policeman injured. 5 arrests were made – for assaults on police officers and for breach of the peace. No charges were made against Spiral Tribe.

I hope Spiral don’t mind me including this leaflet, it was distributed to party goers at their next event, informing and bringing to light what actually occurred at the Easter party, this shows you the kind of bullshit Injustice that is covered up by this unjust and corrupt government run constabulary and, if my memory serves me correct, the reason why they wanted the event stopped was in the name of Health & Safety. It wasn’t particularly Health & Safety conscious battering 700 party goers.

At the Kerry Festival 1992, Wales, they tried to remove us from the site by continually buzzing us with two Tornado Jets costing twenty five thousand pounds a trip, that must have cost the tax payers a fortune?! I just sat back and watched, I love a good air display a bit over the top though, don’t you think!

I attended the Castle Morton Festival 1992, Gloucestershire, but was on the ‘Bedlam’ sound system most of the time, then my first anniversary with the ‘Tribe’ at Smeatharpe Air Base 1992, Devon which was the alternative Glastonbury free site for the free people, tearing up with Bedlam again for this one…These are just a select few of the parties I attended, there were many, many more parties I attended with Spiral Tribe, just too many to mention! I hope this has enlightened your feeling to what the Spiral Tribe – Euphoria was like. It was the rebirth of the 88/89 Acid House days… but with a difference!!”

Aztek wouldn’t say that he left Spiral Tribe, he drifted apart, he’s very independent and likes doing his own thing. At the time he was getting a lot of work offered to him, some paid, some free. During his time with the ‘Tribe’ he had 175 records stolen, taken from the squat where he lived. Then about 5 months later another 100 records were taken by someone he owed £20 to. With the police presence around illegal parties and the taking of equipment and records, he didn’t want to lose anymore music. Every penny he got went on records, it’s his life. This was also the reason why he stopped doing as many illegal parties. So what about Spiral Tribe today?

...

Read the whole interview at the source: fantazia.co.uk

A PLACE CALLED CHIAPAS

directed by Nettie Wild

On January 1, 1994, the day the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect, the Zapatista National Liberation Army, made up of impoverished Mayan Indians from the state of Chiapas, took over five towns and 500 ranches in southern Mexico. The Government deployed its troops, and at least 145 people died in the ensuing battle. Fighting for indigenous Mexicans to regain control over their lives and the land, the Zapatista Army, led by the charismatic, guerrilla poet Subcommandante Marcos, started sending their message to the world via the Internet. The result was what The New York Times called “the world's first post-modern revolution.” Filmmaker Nettie Wild travelled to the jungle canyons of southern Mexico to film the elusive and fragile life of the uprising. Her camera effectively and movingly captures the human dimensions behind this war of symbols.

http://rapidshare.com/files/305290847/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305303526/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305315937/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305328711/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305345566/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305359453/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305374319/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/305378056/A_Place_Called_Chiapas.part8.rar

LE FACH', LE NAIN, LE..

More at antisarko.net or torapamavoa blog and million other sources.

AND HE WILL ALWAYS BE SHORT, CREEPY LITTLE FUCKER

He should be touring with freak-show instead of trying to be a president. 

ANIMAL FARM

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. 

"When the animals take over the farm, they think it is the start of a better life. Their dreams is of a world where all animals are equal and all property is shared. But soon the pigs take control and one of them, Napoleon, becomes the leader of all the animals. One by one the principles of the revolution are abandoned, until the animals have even less freedom than before." That is basically what this cartoon is about. Animal Farm is cartoon by Halas & Batchelor produced in 1954 as one of the first animated feature films in the UK. It was based on the book Animal Farm by George Orwell but Halas replaced commonplace propaganda for his own reticent, melancholy satire in his version. Halas stated that his happier ending is reward to the audience for their emotional investment.. Orwell would not have liked this at all.. me neither. I prefer the book over this film because here the animals look on in dismay when they realize that the pigs have become nothing better than the human masters of old. Despite the changes made by Halas this cartoon is a good watch, but keep in mind that the happy ending is just the make you feel better. The reality is different.

DOWNLOAD BELOW

http://rapidshare.com/files/335475728/Anima1Frm-McM.54.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/335479332/Anima1Frm-McM.54.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/335483357/Anima1Frm-McM.54.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/335486804/Anima1Frm-McM.54.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/335490402/Anima1Frm-McM.54.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/335492476/Anima1Frm-McM.54.part6.rar
 

Again, I prefer the original book. You can grab it below.

GRAB IT HERE

I AM SPEECHLESS

WARNING!

THE ARTICLE BELOW CONTAINS A BRUTAL POLICE ACT.

31 March 2010 - RAVE GEAR TOO BE SHREDDED AFTER SEIZURE

ILLEGAL rave equipment worth more than £2000 is set to be destroyed after it was confiscated by police.

The seized sound system will be placed into an industrial shredder at Delmonte Garage on Concorde Road in Norwich tomorrow at 3pm.

Inspector Mike Brown said; “This is a clear message to rave organisers. The date is significant as it would be foolish for anyone to hold an illegal event over the Easter period.

It will not be tolerated, your equipment will be seized and it will be disposed of. These events are not harmless, they cause significant disruption and cost to the rural communities they affect.

For the public and landowners these actions are further evidence that we have listened to their concerns and of our commitment to stopping raves from taking place anywhere in the county.”

The equipment was seized from the successful disruption of an unlicensed music event at Shotesham, Norfolk.

Source: Great Yarmouth Mercury

Imagine this happing to your own sound or anyones sound. 

This not a clear message at all, this should be illegal. 

How can one be able to take anyones baby and throw it in a shredder. 

They should hang that police force and feed their corpses to pigs!

T.F.F.K.Z.

...

Say wha'?

That's right, it makes no sense.

T.F.F.K.Z  means Temporary Free From Karma Zone

and yes I made that up.

 BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN STRUCK BY THE KARMA POLICE!

allow me to explain,

I had it coming, the almighty law of return shows no mercy!

The beneficial or harmful effects one has on the world will always return to oneself.

What makes it more exciting, is that you don't know when.

The effect of your cause might happen the same day..
or week.. or any other time.

 This time I was safe for about a year..

Driving such long distances most weekends to get to that autonomous zones I choose to be,

I drive by a lot of people having a car malfunction on the highway or those struck by bad luck (or the karma police) such as a flat tire for example. Tho I must admit that I will be pointing and laughing when passing by. I enjoy it and I know some of you out there do to. The reason for that is because I can!

I can because I know I have it coming soon..

And today it did (well, yesterday by now)

Out of no where one of my tires gave up on me and committed suicide on the highway (E313). So I was forced to pull over to the side and replace my tire with the replacement tire. Which looks more like a toys wheel that will fail any time soon.

 But it won't and it didn't! Because right after that tire popped,
I entered a new Temporary Free From Karma Zone.
Which makes me invulnerable to fate for an undecided period of time.
I took it, I enjoyed it and I feel relieved.
For now :D

There are of course other methods to deal with these kind of situations.
 Like crying about it, feeling bad about yourself or whatever.
But that is for you to experience and decide how to deal with it.

 Just be aware of the karma police.

They are better trained than these numbnuts below,
 encaging us at a benefit 2 weeks ago.. just to taunt us.
Stealing our freedom.. on a Sunday even!
They should edit the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and ad a law to prevent Sunday time theft by any blue knight of the fairy parade.

Men in blue..
TRY HARDER!
karma will make you fail,
again,
again,
and again.

STAND UP

 Google censores the footage below in China. You should check it.

The whole story of 1989's revolution in china on wikipedia here.
--

---

This is what I call making a stand for what you believe in.

A little chinese student, not afraid of his government's tanks.

Respect.

The poster hangs above my bed.
It reminds me that a lot of people fought for the freedom we take for granted.
So we must make a stand to protect it.

BIG BROTHER

 Incriminated, numbered, photographed, put on list AGAIN.

All this for going to a party.

Nice to feel protected by my government.

Nice to know they are still watching us.

Nice to feel the gentle touch of repression all over my body,

head to toe by two pair of hands, digging deep in every pocket, even tickling my balls.

Faced against a wall, legs wide & arms high, swallowing some cliché copjokes on top of it.

 Because I attended this party.

No explanation needed for being held inside the venue for hours.

Watch the news tommorow they said.

Just hold the numbers for your photo please.

Smile please.

No charges, just your government checkin' in again.

You have a nice day now, sir.

For going to a party in a legal venue.

Fucked up shit.

KRAAKVERBOD

Pamflet over het kraakverbod.
Ksu-c - 14.12.2009 01:13

Een informatief pamflet over wat de nieuwe anti-kraak wet betekent en wat er te verwachten valt als deze aangenomen wordt. Bij gevoegd als PDF in Nederands en Engels.

A pamflet about the new anit-squat law and what is expected to happen when it is passed. PDF file attached.

Pamflet in het Nederlands -

Pamflet in English -

Kraakverbod

de nieuwe wet die kraaken criminalisieert in Nederland.

In 2008 begonnen drie politieke partijen (CDA, ChristenUnie en VVD) te werken aan de nieuwe "Kraken en Leegstand Wet". Het beoogt een complete criminalisering van elke vorm van kraken in Nederland. De tweede kamer heeft op 15 oktober 2009 vóór deze wet gestemd. De voorstanders van deze zogeheten kraakverbod waren te vinden bij VVD, ChristenUnie, SGP, CDA, PVV en de eenmansfractie Rita Verdonk.

Voordat de nieuwe wet in werking treedt moet de Eerste kamer hier nog over stemmen. Dit was op 1 december geplanned. Het lijkt er nu op dat dit even is uitgesteld vanwege aanvragen van spreektijd door een aantal fracties. Na goedkeuring door de eerste kamer gaat de wet voor ondertekening naar het staatshoofd. Er is een gerede kans dat de wet dan in werking treedt op 1 januari 2010.

Wat staat er specifiek in deze wet?

De wet bestaat in zijn algemeen uit twee delen.

Het eerste deel beslaat veranderingen in Het Weboek van Strafrecht, Het Wetboek van Strafvordering en de Uitleveringswet. Dit zijn de nieuwe artikelen die het kraken moeten verbieden.

Het Wetboek van Strafrecht:
- verandering in art. 138
- nieuwe art. 138 sectie a
- bestaande art. 138 sectie a wordt art. 138 sectie ab
- verandering in art. 139 sectie b
- vervallen van art. 429 inclusief alle secties.
Het Wetboek van Strafvordering:
- verandering in art. 67 sectie b
- nieuwe art. 551 sectie a.
Uitleveringswet:
- verandering in art. 51 sectie a.


Het tweede deel van de wet betreft veranderingen in de Leegstandwet en de Huisvestingswet. In het kort streven deze voorkoming van leegstand na, evenals het beboeten van eigenaren die hun bezit leeg laten staan.

Wat betekent deze wet?

De eerste deel van de wet (waarop de focus ligt van dit pamflet ) criminalisieert kraken in het algemeen en maakt het strafbaar. Art 138a stelt dat een ieder die een leegstaande woning betreedt of erin verblijft angeklaagd kan worden voor kraken wat verboden is bij wet en dus strafbaar. Dit kan bestraft worden met een geldstraf van de derde categorie of hechtenis tot een jaar. Als er sprake is van geweld of dreigementen kan dit bestraft worden met een geldstraf van de vierde categorie of een gevangenisstraf van maximaal twee jaar. Als het kraken gepleegd is door twee of meer personen (in vereniging) kan dit leidden tot een strafverhoging van een derde.

Dus de nieuwe wet zal tot twee grote veranderingen leiden:
- Het kraken, wat betekent het bezetten van een gebouw dat leeg staat of niet in gebruik is, zal totaal verboden worden. De leegstandsduur doet er dan niet meer toe aangezien art 429 (wat een jaar leegstand voorscheef voor een rechtmatige kraak) komt te vervallen. Het kraken van gebouwen die niet leeg staan of nog in gebruik zijn, is natuurlijk nog steeds strafbaar onder art 138 met een maximale strafoplegging van een boete van de vierde categorie of 2 jaar gevangenisstraf.

- Alleen al het zich bevinden in een gekraakt gebouw zal ook strafbaar worden. Dit betreft een ieder in elke gekraakte huis. Hoe lang een huis gekraakt is doet er niet toe. Dit betekent dat iedereen die in een kraakpand verblijft, dus niet alleen de bewoners maar ook bezoekers automatisch een strafbaar feit plegen. Ook gasten die kunnen aantonen elders te wonen kunnen worden aangehouden en vervolgd.

Het nieuwe art 551a houd in dat in het geval van een misdrijf zoals bedoelt in art 138, 138a en 139 van het WvS (Het Wetboek van Strafrecht) elke politie agent een huis kan betreden zonder opsporingsbevel en elke aanwezige aldaar kan arresteren evenals het verwijderen van alle bezittingen, of opdragen deze te verwijderen. Dit artikel houd verder in dat de eigenaar geen aangifte hoeft te doen om een ontruimings procedure in werking te stellen. Het eigenaar kan zelfs op dat moment in het buitenland verblijven (wellicht zich schuil houden voor justitie),maar de smeris heeft als nog het recht om zijn bezit te verdedigen tegen krakers.

Wat betekent dit in de praktijk?

Het nederlandse parlement sugereerd keiharde repressie gedurende de eerste zes maanden na in werking treding van de nieuwe wet. Hierdoor zal, verwacht de Tweede Kamer, de grote meerderheid van krakers en hun sympathisanten afgeschrikt worden, en zal er ook een tweedeling onstaan tussen de zogenaamde harde-kern en de rest. Zij vertrouwen erop dat de zogenaamde harde-kern krakers een zeer kleine minderheid vormen en met gemak gecontroleed kunnen worden door de repressie organen. Na dit half jaar verwacht het parlement dat kraken „uitgestorven” zal zijn.

Dit is hoe de dames en heren politici hun theorie ten uitvoer zien worden. In de practijk zal het echter anders uitpakken. Het openbaar Ministerie geeft nu al aan dat zij en niet het parlement de uitvoerende instantie is en zelf wel haar prioriteiten zal stellen. De vraag blijft of het OM, de politie met burgemeesters als korpsbeheerders genoeg middelen zullen hebben om de wet ten uitvoer te brengen. (denk aan hoeveelheid politie, materiaal, celruimte etc) op de manier waar het parlement om vraagt. De burgemeester zal nog steeds de beslissende stem hebben met betrekking tot ontruimingen . Echter als deze besluit om niet tot ontruiming over te gaan kan de eigenaar een procedure aanspannen tegen de beslissing van de burgemeester. Zulke gevallen hebben zich in het verleden ook al voorgedaan en over het algemeen krijgt de eigenaar dan gelijk van de rechter.

Ook is het belangrijk om na te denken over veiligheids vraagstukken. Als kraken als misdrijf te boek komt te staan kunnen er legio nieuwe opsporingsmethodes aangewend worden en veel gemakkelijker worden ingezet, zoals telefoon taps, langere voorarrest voor zittingen etc.

Advocaten die de wet onderzoeken (en eventueele gaten er in) zijn tot het conclusie gekomen dat door de manier waarop deze geschrewen is, het verdedigen van kraken in een rechtszaal welhaast onmogelijk zal worden. De enige plek om voor kraken te vechten zal op straat zijn. Door het continu kraken van vele mensen zal aangetoond moeten worden dat de wet onuitvoerbaar is en dat mensen gekraakt hebben, nu kraken en ook in de toekomst zullen kraken. Advocaten raaden ook aan om niet geintimideerd te zijn door de hoge maximum straffen aangezien een belangrijk deel hiervan bangmakerij is en het uiteindelijk aan de rechters en hun beslssingen ligt wat de strafoplegging wordt. Hierom is het ook zo belangrijk dat we ons niet laten scheidden in „goede” krakers en „slechte” krakers, harde kern of zachte kern.
De wet is nog niet ingevoerd en niemand kent nog de uiteindelijke praktijk, maar een ding is zeker. Elke bestaande kraakpand moet zijn barricades voorbereiden en hun bouwstempels klaarleggen. Wat de toekomst betreft zullen we onze strategien heroverwegen en misschien veranderen voor de nieuwe realiteit die ons in de ogen staart.

The fun is over, it's time to fight!