<nettime> Utah : letter of protest

["tobias c. van Veen" <tobias@techno.ca>]

-- as this has seen some passage on Nettime, here is some action being done
about the Utah situation. Also a number of academics on DanceCult-L are
looking into the Czech situation, especially in regards to EU status (a
recent bust in Czech that was *extraordinarily* violent). All of this pales
with the situation in Iraq and devastation worldwide, but one fights where
one can.

"Technendocolonization," anyone ?

best, tobias

-------------



dear colleagues:

Please find below a letter of protest concerning the Utah events, which if
you haven't seen, may be viewed and read here :

    http://www.music-versus-guns.org
    http://prisonplanet.com/video/230805fascism.mov [video]

The letter is being written and signed by members of the academic electronic
dance music culture email list, DanceCult-L. It will be circulated to the
press on Monday.

We are gathering signatures; please feel free to append yours and please
reply directly to me [ tobias.c.vanveen @ mail . mcgill . ca ]. Please also
feel free to forward this email to whom you see fit.

best,

    tobias c. van Veen
    Ph.D Candidate, Communication Studies and Philosophy
    McGill University
    

tobias c. van Veen -----------++++
http://www.quadrantcrossing.org --
http://www.thisistheonlyart.com --
McGill Communication + Philosophy
ICQ: 18766209 | AIM: thesaibot +++


======





Sir-,

We wish to deplore and condemn the violent, abusive and uncalled for actions
by a militarized task force of Utah police raiding an electronic dance music
event on August 20th, 2005.

The use of armed force to subdue so-called undesirable elements of society
has a long history: the Civil Rights movement, anti-war demonstrations, and
Women's Equality have all witnessed the blunt end of a system of law that
has been later, and justly, found in the wrong. For the past twenty years,
this systematic use of militarized force has been directed against
electronic dance music cultures, not only in the United States but
throughout the world, and often under the supposed reasoning of the War on
Drugs, as well as due to mostly inaccurate perceptions of electronic dance
music culture as violent, drug-ridden, and sexually irresponsible.

As educators, academics, artists and researchers of electronic dance music
culture, we wish to dispel these all-too prevalent myths that raves--the
primary form of experience and expression of this multifaceted, global and
diverse culture--are the dens of illegality they are made out to be. Raves
and other electronic dance culture events are, on the whole, a far safer and
more affirmative experience than most bars, hockey rinks and football games;
certainly they warrant no special attention among the fundamental rights of
humans to appreciate, gather and express their freedoms. At their best,
raves exhibit the positive characteristics that electronic dance music
culture cherishes and cultivates: a sense of peace and respect shared
through the common love of dance, art and music. They are today's carnivals
and fairs, the folk gatherings that humanity has enjoyed for millenia.

We feel that electronic dance music culture has been unduly marked by a far
more dangerous and violent sector, in short, a State bent on the
militarization of society. We ask of the public to celebrate and protect
their rights and freedoms in the face of ever-increasing limitations and
pressures. Without the ability to express the freedoms every human
cherishes, the ubiquitous rhetoric that necessitates their defense with
force rings all the more hollow.

Yours sincerely,




======



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