Post by Sociopath on Dec 17, 2005 15:01:43 GMT -5
Greetings C2DG Community... For the older members, its been a while. i hope all is well in your lives...
I've returned to discuss something that happened in my hometown over the summer, perhaps you have heard about it. It was the single greatest example of civil rights violation that i have had the misfortune to witness.
Last summer i attended an outdoor electronic music concert called "Versus 2". I avoid using the term "Rave" because of the negative connotation... this event was organised with the explicit intent of disassociating the electronic music community from those negative stereotypes but the collective ignorance of our policy makers prevailed once again. The promoter is a personal friend of mine. he spent over 20k to make this event happen and showed extraordinary diligence to ensure that there would be nothing about this event that could be construed as illegal, immoral or any other stereotypical adjective associated with "raves". This party should have been a shining beacon of the good side of the electronic dance music(EDM) community but it was ruined in the most shocking of ways.
I arrived at the party at about 10:30. it was held in a valley on private land about 15 miles outside of Provo city, Utah. A place called Diamond fork canyon. We took a dirt road 2 miles off the highway and crossed a bridge to a security checkpoint. they took our tickets, searched the car for contraband and showed us to the parking area. they had plowed an area equivalent to several football feilds, easily enough space to accomidate over 1000 cars. We passed through another security checkpoint where they searched us individually for contraband. I gave one of the headliners, DJ Brain, A ride to the event. The entire car ride he was talking about how great this should be. Jeremy, the promoter spared no expense in ensuring that... There was an ambulance on hand with 4 emts. At least 20 portable toilets, 20 security guards and trash cans every 25 yards or so. Jeremy even got a $2,000,000 insurance policy to cover the event, as well as the necessary permits to make this event completely legitimate with the local authorities... But at around 11:30 a helicopter appeared on the horrizon and orbited the party, shining its spotlight. DJ brain reassured me that they were just doing recon, estimating the attendance to ensure that we were abiding by the limits of the mass gathering laws and they would soon leave.
But they didnt. 2 minutes later men in full camoflaged military fatigues sprang from the bushes with assault rifles. some were even wearing nightvision. They rushed the stage and yelled "shut it down now or you're all going to jail!". they released attack dogs, I watched a girl, couldnt be older than 18, being mauled by a german shephard. at this time over 15 vehicles arrived, including a mobile command center, 2 swat vehicles and plenty of sheriff trucks. At least 60 personelle, maybe 20 of them in full riot gear poured out of these vehicles to accompony the 30 that had already came out from the forest. They struck with such precise timing that i would call it a para-military exercise.
They arrested the entire staff, including the security guards and charged them with possession of the contraband that they had confiscated. They ordered everyone to disperse. the parking lot was chaos, so many people were begging for rides because their's had been arrested... and, despite the promoters intentions some people were intoxicated and forced to drive down diamond fork canyon. for those who do not know, diamond fork canyon is notoriously unsafe. in fact it has the highest mortality rate of any highway in Utah... and now there are 1000 cars being funneled into it in a panicky manner.
They confiscated cameras... They took my friend's cell phone because he used it to take pictures. On our way out, we passed a regiment of police officers who had just arrived in the trucks(this all happened in under 2 minutes) and one of them grabbed me by the hood of my sweatshirt and said "Get the fuck out of here" and threw me into another officer. the officer directly behind the one i had collided with threw me to the ground, accused me of assaulting his comrade and proceeded to zip-tie my hands behindmy back. fortunately enough for me the officer i had hit came to my defence, explained and released me telling me to once again "get the fuck out of here".
A member of our community was arrested and charged with ditribution of narcotics, even though he didnt have any substances on him. The evidence they used to support this charge was the large quantity of low denominations of money he had in his pocket. Why did he have this money? He was selling burgers and drinks that he had grilled. they arrested him AT HIS BURGER STAND and charged him with distribution. Those that were arrested were informally secured using zip-ties and had their alledged offense written in black marker on their forearm, then placed into the awaiting vans for processing.
A video of the fiasco can be seen here: www.music-versus-guns.org/mamboserver/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,31/func,select/id,2/
The event also made it into high times: www.hightimes.com/ht/news/content.php?bid=662&aid=24
As well as several other websites accrossed the globe. Many prominant djs in places as far away as europe have spoken out about it.
As for the local media, the initial reports seemed to be a smeer campaign. I was outraged when a news anchor had the audacity to say, and i quote:
"There were security guards posted to ensure that no outside drugs were being brought into the party"
outside drugs? what was he insinuating? that the promoter and staff held this event to sell their own drugs?
The ACLU has taken the case and there are at least six suits slated to be heard by the Utah federal court. some of the suits imply civil rights violations. What is going on here? Can they do that? was it necessary? Before this i took a lot of the stories about civil rights violations, our freedom going down the drain, american police state etc... with a grain of salt. i always figured there were two sides to every story and that it really couldnt be that bad. Albeit, utah is a very conservative state... and if there were one place this could happen, its utah. Still, This has outraged me and im seeing more and more of this country's dark side... i dont like it.
Peace.
I've returned to discuss something that happened in my hometown over the summer, perhaps you have heard about it. It was the single greatest example of civil rights violation that i have had the misfortune to witness.
Last summer i attended an outdoor electronic music concert called "Versus 2". I avoid using the term "Rave" because of the negative connotation... this event was organised with the explicit intent of disassociating the electronic music community from those negative stereotypes but the collective ignorance of our policy makers prevailed once again. The promoter is a personal friend of mine. he spent over 20k to make this event happen and showed extraordinary diligence to ensure that there would be nothing about this event that could be construed as illegal, immoral or any other stereotypical adjective associated with "raves". This party should have been a shining beacon of the good side of the electronic dance music(EDM) community but it was ruined in the most shocking of ways.
I arrived at the party at about 10:30. it was held in a valley on private land about 15 miles outside of Provo city, Utah. A place called Diamond fork canyon. We took a dirt road 2 miles off the highway and crossed a bridge to a security checkpoint. they took our tickets, searched the car for contraband and showed us to the parking area. they had plowed an area equivalent to several football feilds, easily enough space to accomidate over 1000 cars. We passed through another security checkpoint where they searched us individually for contraband. I gave one of the headliners, DJ Brain, A ride to the event. The entire car ride he was talking about how great this should be. Jeremy, the promoter spared no expense in ensuring that... There was an ambulance on hand with 4 emts. At least 20 portable toilets, 20 security guards and trash cans every 25 yards or so. Jeremy even got a $2,000,000 insurance policy to cover the event, as well as the necessary permits to make this event completely legitimate with the local authorities... But at around 11:30 a helicopter appeared on the horrizon and orbited the party, shining its spotlight. DJ brain reassured me that they were just doing recon, estimating the attendance to ensure that we were abiding by the limits of the mass gathering laws and they would soon leave.
But they didnt. 2 minutes later men in full camoflaged military fatigues sprang from the bushes with assault rifles. some were even wearing nightvision. They rushed the stage and yelled "shut it down now or you're all going to jail!". they released attack dogs, I watched a girl, couldnt be older than 18, being mauled by a german shephard. at this time over 15 vehicles arrived, including a mobile command center, 2 swat vehicles and plenty of sheriff trucks. At least 60 personelle, maybe 20 of them in full riot gear poured out of these vehicles to accompony the 30 that had already came out from the forest. They struck with such precise timing that i would call it a para-military exercise.
They arrested the entire staff, including the security guards and charged them with possession of the contraband that they had confiscated. They ordered everyone to disperse. the parking lot was chaos, so many people were begging for rides because their's had been arrested... and, despite the promoters intentions some people were intoxicated and forced to drive down diamond fork canyon. for those who do not know, diamond fork canyon is notoriously unsafe. in fact it has the highest mortality rate of any highway in Utah... and now there are 1000 cars being funneled into it in a panicky manner.
They confiscated cameras... They took my friend's cell phone because he used it to take pictures. On our way out, we passed a regiment of police officers who had just arrived in the trucks(this all happened in under 2 minutes) and one of them grabbed me by the hood of my sweatshirt and said "Get the fuck out of here" and threw me into another officer. the officer directly behind the one i had collided with threw me to the ground, accused me of assaulting his comrade and proceeded to zip-tie my hands behindmy back. fortunately enough for me the officer i had hit came to my defence, explained and released me telling me to once again "get the fuck out of here".
A member of our community was arrested and charged with ditribution of narcotics, even though he didnt have any substances on him. The evidence they used to support this charge was the large quantity of low denominations of money he had in his pocket. Why did he have this money? He was selling burgers and drinks that he had grilled. they arrested him AT HIS BURGER STAND and charged him with distribution. Those that were arrested were informally secured using zip-ties and had their alledged offense written in black marker on their forearm, then placed into the awaiting vans for processing.
A video of the fiasco can be seen here: www.music-versus-guns.org/mamboserver/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,31/func,select/id,2/
The event also made it into high times: www.hightimes.com/ht/news/content.php?bid=662&aid=24
As well as several other websites accrossed the globe. Many prominant djs in places as far away as europe have spoken out about it.
As for the local media, the initial reports seemed to be a smeer campaign. I was outraged when a news anchor had the audacity to say, and i quote:
"There were security guards posted to ensure that no outside drugs were being brought into the party"
outside drugs? what was he insinuating? that the promoter and staff held this event to sell their own drugs?
The ACLU has taken the case and there are at least six suits slated to be heard by the Utah federal court. some of the suits imply civil rights violations. What is going on here? Can they do that? was it necessary? Before this i took a lot of the stories about civil rights violations, our freedom going down the drain, american police state etc... with a grain of salt. i always figured there were two sides to every story and that it really couldnt be that bad. Albeit, utah is a very conservative state... and if there were one place this could happen, its utah. Still, This has outraged me and im seeing more and more of this country's dark side... i dont like it.
Peace.
