As most of you know, the rave scene here in the United States (and in some other countries) is being bullied by area governments and police forces. In some cities, the police is acting on it's own to enforce bogus or antiquated laws which prohibit dance gatherings. Some places they say you need special permits just to have Djs perform at an event. Some places they say you can't have an event last past a certain time, regardless if alcohol is present or not. Some places won't even allow dancing AT ALL! (some parts of Washington State).

The media in particular is causing a lot of our problems. Media is supposed to be objective and unbiased. But we all know that is not always the case. TV stations need ratings to keep those advertising dollars coming in. Newspapers need readers. Thus, most media will focus only on the sensationalized areas of an issue, whatever will garner them more of an audience. In the case of raves, the media is fixated on the drug issues, blowing all statistical figures and other positive elements of what raves are about out the window and utilizing scare tactics in order to get parents to tune in and see what it is their children are up to and are not telling them about. Viewers believe what they see and hear and read courtesy of the media, and they are not usually getting the full or objective story. The 20/20 show which covered raves was an example of such a biased media program. They focused ONLY on the drugs, and seemed to have searched for the bad apples of our bunch (and doesn't every bunch have it's own??) and put them on national television to make us all look bad. That show was a huge disservice to our movement, and gave the militant police more cause to unconstitutionally withold freedom from us. A lot of us were soo outraged at this slanted news report that we wrote many letters to ABC demanding a more objective show be done, to show what raves are REALLY about, not simply focusing on drugs. In return, they aired the same exact episode this year.

We, as people who attend and support raves, will be the first to admit that drugs are present at raves. The truth is, drugs are present EVERYWHERE. Go to a professional sporting event. Drugs are there. Go to an area high school. Drugs are there. Go to your local bar. Drugs are there, not just including alcohol and tobacco. Illegal drug activity is going on there as well. Alcohol and tobacco (legal drugs)are more harmful to the user and people in contact with the user than most ILLEGAL drugs. You can do some research to see that for yourself, but that's another story. We are not trying to push for legalisation of drugs with our movement. We simply demand the right to peacefully gather to listen to the music we love. And yet we are the only group targetted and harassed and denied our constitutional right to gather.

Another fact- raves are statistically safer than professional sporting events, schools (look at the Arkansas shooting incident recently), and bars. Raves can have as many as 5,000 people attending, yet there is virtually NO violence. How many fights do you see at your average pro-sports game, high school or bar? Lots, eh? Likewise with rapes, muggings, the list goes on and on. Which would you rather your child be present at? Why is something soo peaceful being targetted when other, more dangerous events or institutions are not?

Activated Magazine has the opportunity of seeing this oppression firsthand, as we are based in Baltimore- one of the most anti-rave cities in the United States. Right after the 20/20 episode first aired, the police raided and shut down a legitimate club that had existed here for many years, after only charging 3 people with drug possession. On an average night, Fever (at Club Paradox), usually had about 1,000 people there. Now do the math, that's .3%!!! They had the right to shut down a club and harass that many people and deny them their rights for a 1/3 of one person out of every hundred there?? That is ridiculous. They have done things like this on many occassions. They have harassed and wrongfully arrested promoters. Another such incident was an event called "Fathom". Fathom was a fully permitted and licensed event on a boat used for proms and other social events in Baltimore. the Coast Guard raided the boat and brought it back to Baltimore Harbor, where a number of police officers were waiting along with a SWAT Team in the near vacinity. They arrested 5 people for drug possession, one of which was the promoter, even though he was not in personal possession. The attendance of this event was 500 people. Let's do the math again- 1% (including the promoter, which was just a scare tactic and shouldn't even count). So, the city justifies the taxpayer's money to pay the salaries of the police, SWAT and Coast Guard to deprive 495 people of their rights just to catch 5 people. I think this money could be going to better use. Not to mention to negative experience those 495 innocent citizens had to be put through for such a small payoff. This was also the night before a city police officer shot and killed a man in public (and on television) and was later dismissed from his job for not following procedures. Seems like the Baltimore City Police Department was getting a little trigger happy that weekend.

The police also took it on their own to have an event at the Maryland Science Center cancelled, simply because a dj was going to be present. That dj was the world famous ambient guru, Mixmaster Morris.

The police also took it on it's own to call Johns Hopkins University to threaten to take away their Student Union's liquor permit if they allowed an ambient music gathering to take place, simply because djs were going to be performing, even though it was part of an annual university function.

The police show up at an event in progress and temporarily shut it down to rudely conduct a surprise inspection by the Fire Marshall, knowing full well they could have done it prior and not have interfered with the event. This event was Systems Upgrade in August of 1997. This not only shows the police's contempt for any event with a disc jockey and dance music, but the methods they use to harass innocent citizens. The event did continue after a 30 minute delay, but if the inspection was held prior to the event there would have been no need for the Fire Marshall inspection, which also happened to be accompanied by about 15 police officers. Given the city's crime problem, the peaceful nature of our gatherings, and the city's recent credit problem, why were 15 police officers needed for a "routine" fire inspection? The location of Systems Upgrade was a club called "The Funnel", which was in existence for many years prior as "The Bank". The event was on a weekend. Now, wouldn't you think an established entertainment facility (which holds concerts and other events without any harassment) would be accorded the respect and professionalism of a weekday inspection when an event was not in progress? Of course. This was just more harassment.

The police showed up at another event in progress that was held at Club Orpheus, a dance club which had existed for 30 years or more, and shut the event down because it did not have a "dj license"???? This club had a dj booth for MANY years, and was not a secret club. Why did they suddenly realize that and feel obliged to raid the event after all those years of knowing that disc jockeys performed there? And why in the world should there be a need for a "Disc Jockey's License"???? Are there "Live Band Licenses"??

Many other unjust events have occurred here. I will add more as i get the information. But the point is, why is this happening? Where are they getting the right to rake away our rights like this? Is this one step closer to Orwell's version of Big Brother? Do we not still have the right to peaceably gather? Are we really hurting anybody?

Please check out this page for a letter from Lonnie Fischer of Ultraworld Productions. He was the promoter of the Fathom event, and has had many run-ins with the police here. If you agree that this treatment should not be happening, contact the people he mentions and demand that this be stopped. Even if you don't live near Baltimore, this could be your city. In fact it is occuring in other cities around the US. Even if you have no interest in raves, are you still not interested in having your constitutional rights upheld? Or even interested in your tax dollars being wasted uselessly?

A Letter from Lonnie Fischer, "Take ACTION!"

Activated Online