- This topic has 44 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated June 10, 2009 at 9:52 pm by .
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I’m sure some of my fellow Bristolians were aware of and may have even attended, the local psy-trance party on Saturday May 2nd Bank holiday weekend. It took place in a beautiful woodland spot along the Avonmouth river and the party as with others I have attended by this local lot was a good one, with good vibes & good people. However, I was soon to be left with a rather bitter taste in the mouth when I revisited the party site two days later and was met with what I can only describe as a total shit heap!
Even though some attempts had been made at stuffing rubbish into bin bags the effort seemed nothing more than a gesture and the bags were just left on site anyway, rendering the whole practice pointless. As well as the numerous bin bags dumped sporadically in groups spilling out their grotty contents everywhere, the whole site was covered with beer cans, balloons & laughing gas cylinders.
How could our responsible local party crew leave a woodland beauty spot like this? I quickly gave them the benefit of the doubt, assuming they would return in a few days to finish/start the tidy up. However three weeks later when I came back, nothing had been done. The actual party site now looked even worse as it appeared foxes or badgers had ripped apart the bags of rubbish dumped on their woodland home by idle humans, who even have the audacity to label themselves as “hippies”.
What an absolute joke. What a sham. The hypocrisy is astounding.
As far as I was aware the party scene particularly the psy-trance brigade promotes & celebrates a certain, ‘way of life’; apparently one of positive interaction, attitude & respect to all things. Most who gravitate towards the psy-trance community share this ethos. So is it not grossly hypocritical & undermining when a group of individuals from this community steamroll onto a woodland site, have a party & piss-off home leaving it covered in shit!?
If the likes of Chevron, BP, Dow Chemicals, Exxonmobil or other such organisations that people are so quick to demonise were to move into an area. Leave it in ruin. Exploiting it to pursue their own selfish interests. Everyone would be falling over themselves to point out their rather questionable ethics. So why tolerate a similar disregard for the environment (albeit on a smaller scale) by a crew who put parties on!?
All of this throws up the issue of accountability. When it comes down to the inevitable mess created at freeparties & the subsequent tidy-up, whose lap does it lie on; the many party-goers that attend these events or the few that organise them? I understand that other groups involved in such events may hold the view that the mess created at their parties is by the majority who travel to attend them; the accumulative consequence of so many party-goers arriving and then leaving without taking their junk.
As most of the people attending have no affiliation to the organisers, it’s understandable why they may see little reason to shoulder responsibility, for other peoples irresponsible behaviour. However, if you’re in the business of organising raves I think you should realise the responsibility that comes with the role. In this case the *** were the sole reason why all those people amassed to that site looking for a party. The place would have otherwise remained untouched. Along with this open invite you must surely accept that most people who turn up will get wasted, have a dance and leave their junk on the floor. Having any false pretence about this fact is at best extremely naive. If any conscientious ravers help out, then great! It’s a small bonus on your part, but ultimately it’s the responsibility of those who organise freeparties to clear the site upon leaving. In the same way when someone throws a house party inviting lots of people, It’s done knowing that the place will be trashed by morning and none of the guests are likely to stick around to tidy up. That duty is the price paid for throwing a fat party.
Even if you don’t see the point in clearing a party site for environmental reasons, do it to ensure the future of such events & the freeparty community. It should be a basic human right for people to be able to come together and dance without a license but the State & local councils/county police need little justification in taking a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards the parties they do not want happening anyway. I would hate to see more draconian legislation come to pass simply because the party community can’t be arsed to tidy up after themselves. For party crews to consistently leave sites in a mess compromises the very thing so many of us love doing.
if you are reading this please go back & clear the site from the May 2nd party and ensure this doesn’t happen again. I urge anyone else reading who agrees with what has been said, regardless of whether they attended the party, to send a brief email prompting them to return to the party site & clean it up.
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