I'm not sure this mail went out to everyone so I'm
sending it again, so delete if you already got it.
Well for those that were not there, the first ever
> 'Reclaim the Streets Protest Party' went off!
>
> I've been to quite a few demos, protests and
parties.
> This one matches and surpasses most. I'll give you
> all a run-down as I saw it.
>
> Thursday night the organising crew met at an inner
> city pub and 3 groups discussed set-up, location and
> police liaison. No-one but those at that one group
> meeting knew the location, well a couple knew in the
> set-up crew but it was all very tight lipped about
> location.
> Saturday morning crew met outside the same pub and
> then we went our seperate ways to do our tasks.
Mine
> was to pick-up the main PA and hire a generator
large
> enough for it then transport it all to the site.
>
> The PA was big! 4 sub-bass bins and the best
mid/high
> speakers that Adelaide has, 2 gemini decks and a 3C
> mixer also a gemini. Denon cd decks were hired but
> later replaced with pioneer with the big disk for
> pitch control. The amps were 1200watts each and we
> were ready to burst the deaf ears of 'the
> authorities'.
>
> I needed a small trailer and the whole tray of me
> ute(actually Ingy's but...). I dropped off the gear
> with a minder behind Caos Cafe which was shut for
the
> day. I went off to get a 8kVa genny and came back
to
> hide from the main drag of Hindley Street, the
target
> for our festivities.
>
> For those that don't know Adelaide, the street we
> chose is the main drag of town with boombox cars
> crawling the street. We chose the part that started
> from the intersection of Morphett and Hindley and
> extended 2 blocks to the end of the Worldsend Pub.
>
> I drove past the assembly point of Victoria Square
at
> 10 to 1 and saw only 50 people and no visible sign
of
> police. It seemed that the police were not
expecting
> anything too major and it seems that people may not
> come in the numbers to make it all happen.
>
> I waited till Adam got a mobile call telling us that
> the party was coming our way. Now we moved to
set-up
> 2 PAs so that more tunes could be added to the pied
> piper procession of Mark'nIzzys vegie oil van
pumping
> out 12volt beats that led around 400 people to
Hindley
> Street West.
>
> With that orange plastic fencing that you can
liberate
> from road construction sites and signs 'borrowed'
and
> made we moved to fence off the road at both ends.
The
> crowd carried 2 tripods to the street from the
square
> which went up one at either end.
>
> The atmosphere was family, it was community, it was
> up-beat and positive. At the beginning lotsa people
> were sitting down in the shade both tired and
> apprehensive. Once the other PAs got
> cranking(5-7mins) the crowd got itself going.
>
> Me, Steve Lowe(aka Loco) and the first dj whose name
I
> don't know, all rapped and while I was doing my
> 'fight' rap, 8 pigs walked in front of the PA and I
> let them know it would be okay to see them do some
> breaking on the bitumen then hassled them for being
> overwhelmed by our prescence.
>
> The police started growing in numbers but had no
plan.
> Police Liaison did a great job of throwing the pigs
a
> mental rubik's cube and then watching them try and
> grapple with the 'problem'. The federal police and
> the star force big wigs turned up. The next day
there
> was to be a police exhibition in Port Adelaide, so
> there were plenty of pol-experts to work us over.
>
> The police demanded that we ask the crowd to go.
> Ingrid Lees? addressed the crowd telling them what
the
> police wanted and what they threatened then handed
the
> mike to me, I said 'What are we here for?(crowd
> reply)The police want us to move, What is our
> answer(crowd reply) So let's party!'
>
> The police continued to huddle together and talk
> tactics. They came up with the deal of moving us
into
> a dead end side street at 7.30pm. We countered with
> an escorted march along the whole length of Hindley
> then King William then doubling back along Currie
> street just to go the 100 metres to Light Square.
>
> We got going about 9pm after the last band had
played.
> We packed the main PA up onto the ute and then
> everyone followed the vegieoil powered van on the
> procession to the park via the long route. They
tried
> to stop us going the whole way along Hindley but let
> the vegie van go past the side street they were
> planning on ushering us up but people went round the
> police and their cars to continue. Some went with
my
> car to the park to setup the big PA. We ran it off
> the generator as we didn't have the benefit of
> sympathetic shop owners allowing us to plug in.
>
> You could hear this system everywhere for a radius
of
> 300 metres over the traffic. This was the after
party
> party that went till 2am without hassle or obvious
> surveillence by police.
> The media was good and extensive being one of the
lead
> stories on ABC. Someone saw it on channel 7 and
> thought it looked so good that they came down to
join
> in!
>
> Video was taken by lotsa people, a permaculture
> display was setup, carpets put down, skate ramps and
> rails were set up, banners hung, the bands played
> ranging from world percussion through the usual to
> hardcore punk. This event really put a good vibe
out.
>
>
> people were definitely empowered. I had a greattime
> although I was glad that it wrapped up when it did,
I
> was knackered!
>
> As a political activity it has significance. It
made
> a point, broke the stereotype of protests being
> typified by anger and shouting, provided a sense of
> community in reclaimed space and let more people add
> to the whole event as it required no inside
political
> info, just knowledge on how to have a good time.
> I wrote a rap for the event which I will now reveal
to
> you.
>
> Reclaiming the streets with a drum 'n bass beat
> With the power of our numbers, no elite shall defeat
> Growing this party, organic, evolutionary
> Dancing in the street is now revolutionary
> We are the masses, we are the majority
> We demand to participate in a real democracy
> Elect nobody to do my thinking for me
> We can all do our own, original theories
> Reclaim the streets, revolution fermenting
> Original solutions we are implementing
> Stop the urban sprawl, no more cementing
> Move with our feet, not traffic generating
> More public transport and bicycle commuting
> The mainstream choices we are here refuting
>
> More urban food gardens not grass the green cancer
> Monsanto roundup poison is not the answer
> Or buying stocks'n shares inna coca-cola
mono-culture
> Picking from the 3rd world like a hungry vulture
> You breaking the law?, I reply, 'yes sir!'
> We are here to build a better future
> You breaking the law?, I reply, 'yes sir!'
> The people and this planet we are here to nuture!
>
> If you wanna write an ask me stuff, do it.
=====
love and lines of liberation,
Dean
Deanarchist
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