02.08.2005 PK ARCHIVE AUG 01 +++ Fuck The Parade: Political Dancing |
  The development led to a breakup of the scene. Those who weren’t only in it for the money went and started their own parade: in reaction to their counter players they called theirs Hateparade. It started it five years ago, and it has been running ever since, with a growing number of people that were repulsed by the growing commercialisation of the Love Parade. They, from the very beginning, called themselves a political demo and listed them in their manifesto. Today the makers call it Fuckparade, and it sported over 30 trucks last year. "We are here to promote drugs, alcohol and fags!" Originally registered as a political demonstration, the Love Parade has, for years, been nothing more than the birthday party of its founder, Dr. Motte. Looking for a legal loophole, he and his crazy mob of friends registered their party as a demonstration, their motto simply being "peace, pleasure and pancakes". You can imagine the faces of the bourgeois German shoppers when they saw 150 pranksters jumping up and down Kurfürstendamm in Berlin in 1988, playing booming loud techno music and celebrating the burgeoning of a new German underground culture movement lifestyle feeling that would subsequently change the world! They hit a nerve, as every year more and more people from all over Germany decided to join them in their quest to show grey post-post-war-traumatised Germany the future how they imagined it: bright, multicoloured, pierced, tattooed, naked, twatted, techy, androgynous and open! With the people came the tourists and with the tourists came the money. The sheer number of “opinion leaders” and “trend setters” united in one place and made up was an argument for several big sponsors to move into the Parade, and soon the overall picture was dominated by Red Bull, Fanta, T-Online, etc, etc. Being asked about his function at Love Parade, Cristian Vogel, a famous techno DJ from Brighton, answered: "We are here to promote drugs, alcohol and fags!" "Streamlined, media-pimping and self-obsessed" Whereas the Love Parade still seemed to carry a meaning for many – especially in and foreign countries it was well-conceived – it lost its spirit for those who made it happen initially: the backbone of the scene. Those who kept on promoting the event were rumoured to make much more than just a living out of it. Until today, nobody knows how many millions in sponsoring money they actually received, but once the people realised that the "Love, Peace, Unity" bollox they all desperately believed in was more about filling someone else’s pockets, there was a tiny upheaval. Mind, it wasn’t a revolution, it was just a small uproar of those who were excluded from the "big happy family". Teenyweeny independent labels that could not pay the starting fees and truck rental costs, labels that did not represent the overall taste, for example Gabbatechno, Drillcore, Drum'n'Bass, Goatrance, clubs that did not follow the requirements to fit into the overall picture... Basically, all those who were not "streamlined, media-pimping and self-obsessed," as Hauke from Tresor puts it. “Dancing is not political???” Things have changed. In 2001, Germany’s courts administered a new law as they came to the conclusion that "dancing and playing loud music" is "by no means" showing "internal connection of the protesters" and does not "carry any political meaning". Hence they withdrew the political status of both parades. Now both, Love and Fuck Parade, are treated as a usual street party, which implies that the organisers have to pay the costs for cleaning up, police and ambulances. Whereas the Love Parade could initially afford it due to big sponsors, the Fuckparade couldn’t. Which could not stop them though. They decided to proceed and registered the demonstration as a "demo for the forbidden demo", a clever move which was unsuccessful as well though. So they finally decided to ditch the trucks and DJs altogether and just have an old-fashioned demonstration with banners and megaphone speeches. On one historic Saturday afternoon, the 14th of July, we, the remainders of the free party scene, gathered at Frankfurter Tor, which gives way to Karl-Marx-Allee, the Russian-style ally that leads to Alexanderplatz, another bombastic Socialistic monument, to demonstrate for our right to listen to music in public places—as a political statement. We are about a thousand people cordoned and outnumbered by squadrons of plated and armed terror force policemen. “Fuck off, Polizei” It did not take long before the peaceful march turned into an agitated shuffling and push pulling as some of the demonstrators start hurling empty beer bottles at the lined up officers after some of them drag some people into a police car for no apparent reason—well, actually there was a “reason”: They carried some portable radios which were playing some music. People climb the Rosa Luxemburg theatre and pull moonies, freaky people dance provocatively in from of the clad up police people and play squeaky melodies on recorders: “Music is a form of expression”, we shout. “Fuck off, Polizei,” says a raver after the demo. “Whoever went to Fuckparade 2001 and experienced how people with ghetto blasters were arrested when all they wanted was to listen to the public radio station that broadcasted live from the event knows what I am talking about. It is impossible to believe that police have a shortage of staff – if they have time to send them down here! I don’t feel like a free citizen any longer.” The result of this farcical power struggle that cost the tax payers…. Youth loosing faith in democracy. Dangerous. Dangerous. Dangerous. What happened last weekend in Berlin is of relevance for for the future as it will have effects on all the events ravers and protesters thoughout the nation will stage in the years to come. Our grand children will not under stand what united us in these years as they will never have a chance to experience the same liberties. If you have any questions about the parades, please write to fuckparade@bembelterror.de. Words and pics by Katrin Richter Link: www.bembelterror.de/fuckparade/2005/ |
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