The year 2010 is nearing an end and California is in danger of becoming culturally reminiscent of the Thatcher era.
Assemblywoman Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco/San Mateo County) has proposed legislation that would ban electronic dance music events, more commonly known as raves, across all of California. Similarly, the fun-hating conservative British PM Margaret Thatcher attempted to crush the acid house music scene in the late 1980s. This new, strange house music and budding alternative rave culture sent lawmakers into a wave of panic over the following years, thus spurring the stringent Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994. AB 74, or the Anti-Raves Act of 2011, proposed by Asm. Ma and the draconian measures taken against alternative cultures in the U.K are worded differently but are one and the same -- they are full-frontal assaults on electronic dance music culture.
Since the music's inception, there seems to have always been a fear of electronic music (or simply "techno" as it's known to the masses) by those that govern. In the U.K, it was the Conservatives. In the U.S, it's curiously the Democrats. The federal RAVE Act of 2003 sponsored by then Senator Joe Biden was co-sponsored by numerous Democrats, including then Senator Hillary Clinton, and Senators Dick Durbin and the late Ted Kennedy, amongst others. Now we have California Democrat Fiona Ma actually attempting to ban an entire massive subculture from the nation's most populous state -- an outrageous and futile endeavor.
In the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, one of the characteristics that defines a rave is "any 'music' (yes, music in quotations) that includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats." In Asm. Ma's proposed legislation, she would like to forbid "any public event at night that includes prerecorded music and lasts more than three and one-half hours." Events held at bars, clubs, and other licensed entertainment venues are excepted, and Ma says the law isn't intended to affect "traditional music concerts."
Some twenty years later in (allegedly) progressive California, electronic dance music is being persecuted and singled out from other genres of music -- for example, punk rock shows and mosh pits and spiked jewelry are surely safer than people waving glow sticks and wearing furry boots. According to Ma's logic, when musicians are wailing on guitars and banging on drums, people are obviously not taking drugs. Targeting a particular type of music -- that I'm going to assume she's not a fan of -- is not the way to go about curbing drug use amongst teens. What, indeed, defines a "traditional music concert?" I don't know when the last time was that Ma attended a "traditional" death metal show -- they obviously aren't using any drugs or drinking in excess there. Ma's bill exempts bars, clubs, and licensed entertainment venues that serve and champion alcohol, the drug that caused 10,619 deaths and 72,771 injuries in California in 2006, according to a study done by the Marin Institute released this January.
The electronic dance music scene is generally apolitical in nature with a few exceptions, but I'm pretty sure that EDM fans aren't going to go down without a fight. Activists in the EDM scene began to organize literally minutes after news of this proposed legislation began to spread. For starters, they've utilized networking sites by creating a Facebook page (currently at 1,425 people in a little over 24 hours) and have put up a website, Save the Rave, in opposition against this ludicrous bill. Fiona Ma, an avid Facebook user, posted on the anti-AB 74 page herself in an attempt to explain the reasoning behind her dangerously broad and poorly-worded bill.
In an ironic twist to this story, Fiona Ma herself is throwing a New Years Eve rave -- there will be a DJ spinning music for over 3.5 hours at her event. Her rationale and sly circumvention around the wording of her own bill? It's a private event, and you can gain entrance to this exclusive gala bash for a mere $100-$500. To top it off, she had the nerve to put "Let's Dance!" on the flier.
EDM fans are well aware that this unnecessarily extreme legislation is a serious infringement on rights, and everyone of all political leanings and musical tastes should be concerned. I have no idea how this legislation will fare in Sacramento as of now, the session does not begin until 2011 and there will be months of committee hearings before it even reaches the floor of the Assembly, so it's important that you get an early start and contact Ma's office as well as your local representative and let them know that you do not support this crap legislation.
Ultimately, I think Fiona Ma could use a little raver ethos and find some PLUR in her political life: Peace, Love, Unity and Respect.