Pubdate: Thu, 15 Sep 2005
Source: NOW Magazine (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 NOW Communications Inc.
Contact: letters@nowtoronto.com
Website: http://www.nowtoronto.com/
Author: Albert Nerenberg

THESE COPS ALL THE RAVE

I'm sorry to even mention it in print, but until last week when the season ended, 
there was a wonderful place where people could dance all night in the forest right 
under the Toronto skyline.  I'm talking about the warm-weather happenings at a 
semi-secret glade near a treed part of Cherry Beach.  On any given night on our 
abandoned waterfront, there were several dances going at the same time, some with 
massive projection screens and lighting effects and the cops drive by and smile.

To understand how miraculous this actually was, click onto the widely circulated 
video of a horrendous bust of a rave on private property in a scenic Utah canyon just 
weeks ago.  ( Google "Utah" and "bust." )

Although there have been a few crackdowns over the years, our party scene, according 
to veterans, has gradually stabilized.  And the beach dances have flourished.  The 
stunning enclosure of sumac, majestic old trees and giant rusting oil towers seems to 
keep the sound in, so dancers can carry on all night under the stars without being 
too much of a nuisance.  Sometimes it's just one guy with a small boom box, but often 
it's much larger.  DJs bring generators to power a growing range of events: reggae, 
house, black light, jungle and various kinds of electronica.

Participants quickly clue in to the "respect" ethos.  People clean up after 
themselves, altercations are rare, and on a beautiful day the place is simply 
idyllic, with kids and dogs playing everywhere.  Some blow bubbles, others lie on 
blankets to listen to the music by the lake and the police glide gently by.

Yes, there are probably some substances being consumed, but the weirdest behaviour 
I've seen was some bad dancing and clumps of people lying on top of each other 
laughing.

As a contrast to this joyful fun-fest, take a look at the Utah video, nicknamed Iraq 
In Utah, featuring a police commando raid.

Because Utah is a conservative state, the organizers took extra care to make sure all 
permits were in order, hiring security, trucking in toilets and even having emergency 
medical personnel on hand, not to mention a $2 million insurance policy.

The first thing you see is DJs milling around the turntables.  The DJs then look up 
as they're lit by a high-powered helicopter searchlight shining directly at them.

For a second, they look amazed, as if they're thinking, "Hey, this party is even 
wilder than I thought!"

A soldier in elaborate combat gear walks into frame, and then others.  They're SWAT 
team officers with various state police agencies, wearing flak jackets and goggles 
and toting massive assault rifles.  One of them shouts at the bewildered DJ to cut 
the sound or "I'll take your ass straight to jail," then shuts down the sound system.

Armed groups of men wrestle with shadowy forms.  There's pandemonium as people run in 
every direction and helicopter searchlights pan the crowd.  Over 60 arrests are made, 
and eyewitness reports say partiers were traumatized by the over-the-top violence of 
the raid.  The police would later portray the event as a giant pot and ecstasy 
extravanza.

Compare this to the crackdown I witnessed, also in August.  Picture the scene.  At 
the beach, two parties are going on: one, called Shift, playing house music, the 
other psi-trance.  About 150 partiers roam between them.

More partiers arrive.  People in white begin to glow under the black lights.  The 
organizers here have no permits, no insurance and no emergency personnel standing by.  
And they don't have security.  They do have a lot of people lying around on the grass 
smiling.

Suddenly, the DJ dips the music.  A cruiser has stopped at the edge of the glade; two 
officers calmly walk over, met by a couple of the organizers.  There are a few 
anxious looks as police scan the scene: the generator-powered DJ booth, the dancers, 
a few people lying together on a blanket.

As one of the organizers, Marc Roy, tells me later, "The police exercised excellent 
judgment.  They made sure no one was really drunk, they checked that we knew to clean 
up and suggested we not raise the volume late at night.  We concurred."

Soon the fuzz get back in their cruiser.  As the DJ raises the volume of the music, 
the officers sound their siren to the beat.  It's an amazing gesture.  The crowd 
roars.

If the police only knew of the wave of goodwill directed at them at that moment.  
Forgive my dime-store psychologizing, but people want to be given a chance to love 
the police or at least respect them, and will do so in an instant when they see them 
behaving decently, reasonably and especially with humour.

Then there's Utah: party-pooperdom on a mass scale, a gargantuan waste of taxpayers' 
money, hundreds of young people endangered and traumatized for no good reason, the 
state made to look like it's run by bullies playing commando.

If Utah's drug hounds were to be deployed anywhere along the lake Ontario coastline 
on a sunny summer day, their heads would probably explode.

But, hey, this is another country.