INTERVIEW WITH AN UNNAMED PROTESTOR
Q: so why don’t you like the Police?
A: They are just Very Hostile and violent 99% of them are just pieces of sh*t, they are deeply deeply racist and deeply violent. There is some good police officer I believe, but those at the back (white helmet traffic police) are the worst of the worst, they are the most racist and the most violent, and then you have other types of police but the white helmets which are awful, they were forbidden for killing a north African man and an arab man in the ’80s for no reason, they came back two years ago…
Q: what do you think about the reason for the protest then?
A: It’s not about the age it was never the reason, it’s one of the reasons but the way this law has been passed, I mean you had 80% of French people that are against this (when we had a vote), really everyone against this you know but they passed it anyway to make the poor people pay for the upper class, at the same time 2 or 3 years ago there was a special tax for really rich people called ESF only like 5% of the population paid this, but Macron decreased their taxes, there is a lot of stuff he has done for the ultra-rich people the 1%, but at the same time they say we don’t have enough money to support the country and they raise the taxes for everyone. There are some small resources to help the poor people who can’t work where you get 500 euros but you can barely live off of that. It is only to avoid people living in the streets and so they can barely survive. but 2 months ago they wanted to make people having this support work 20 hours a week to get it and there’s a lot of stuff he (Macron) wants to do to make the poor people poorer and she doesn’t do sh*t to the rich people, so there’s a lot of hostility. That is why we are protesting.
Q: Thank you for speaking to me, stay safe.
A: Thank you for coming and supporting our protest, stay safe.
Q: what’s your name, what collectives do you dj for and what genres do you mix?
A: My name is Ciaran my DJ name is Riskz, I am the resident Dj for a London sound system called Faktion Audio, and I am a representative for frequencies events up north I am a bassline/ 4x4/ hard trance/ Tekno DJ
Q: What got you into going to free parties? and what’s the appeal to you?
A: My first appeal about free parties, raves and the scene was hearing growing up as a teenager about how my parents, my father and Mum, it seemed like it’s such a fun place. When I was young and naive the drug side didn’t really appeal to me as when you’re younger you’re taught that, you don’t want to be doing drugs because they’re bad and scary like to do them. But yeah my first appeal was stories from my parents and stuff. and then as I got older seeing events, such as under 16 events and going into things like under 17s relations was the legal side to Raving. Then what first caught my brain was finding out via other people about raves that go on illegally. So I thought but how can this be more fun than a legal rave obviously it’s illegal and with a legal with you know there are rules, and an illegal one could be more dangerous. And then with the free party scene and there’s a difference you have squat raves which are finding a building typically not in use or abandoned and using your knowledge of rights and laws, which involves the law of you being able to potentially squat, meaning stay in the building and you can use a section 144, a free party is a party that has no fee and no charge and they are typing into the countryside and use amplified equipment known as rigs.
Q: How do you feel about the Police and policing taken towards ravers?
A: I have a balanced opinion on policing towards raving there’s both a positive and a negative side to it. a lot of the time the negativity of the police is taking more power and authority than they should. In a lot of people’s eyes, they see a lot of these underground parties and free parties as people just wanting to have a good time and dance in front of some loudspeakers and not bother anyone. However, there’s the drug side to it which is the police issue with it, as well as the noise complaint side to it which can be seen as negative towards the public. the positive side about the police to me is that sometimes they allow raves to go on knowing everyone is safe and that under the policies authority, they are under control and that there is no violence or issues, so sometimes its good to know that there’s a bit of safety in case anything goes medically wrong or someone gets violent it can be helpful to have them there. Even though this is the case my overall experience with the police has been negative due to them overstepping their authority to seize rigs even after agreeing to their conditions, and getting aggressive towards partygoers.
Q: Do you feel as though policing has got more aggressive towards Raves in recent times?
A: A lot of the time if the police are there people will try to respect the police in a manner that they don’t want anything bad to happen to them which leads to the police having a more positive reaction to ravers. But if they’re not shown respect then there’s more aggression, many a time there will be points where they’ll be a section 63, which is a dispersal order in the area, and sometimes it gets ignored and that is when aggression can occur from the authorities. I do believe that policing has become more brutal and more aggressive towards raving if you read articles about raving back in the 80s and 90s that was the time for it as there was a lot more freedom to it because back then there were not many laws to do with raving and amplified equipment, and if there was any police aggression it was a lot less powerful than today as they weren’t prepared for it. In the most recent times and a lot of the more recent things I’ve been to have been to a lot more forcefulness from police and even higher authorities such as Tactical Support Groups is shown. There’s a big phrase in the party scene called PLUR which means Peace Love Unity and respect and that goes towards everyone ravers, the public and the police and other authorities. We use it for everything it is it shows that we just want our music, our freedom, and to do what we want without having the sort of opposition against us for doing something that can be seen as so beautiful.
Q: Do you feel as though going to raves has links to protesting?
A: I feel as though there are certain raves that are put on in protest and to show opposition towards laws and rules that are given to us by the authorities, such as not being able to use amplified equipment. there are a lot of rave groups that are active on social media in protest of current laws such as @SAVEOURSCENE which is based around how the government has shut down loads of clubs over the last two decards where around 2/3s of Englands clubs have shut due to stricter laws so music is often used to help spread our message in protest. People just want their music and the freedom to listen to it for one night at a time or a couple of days in the field as it doesn’t hurt anyone and our using our music helps spread our protest to the authorities.
Q: Have you got a final message
A: People deserve their freedom and we don’t need all these laws stopping it.
