Comments on RTS

by Brian D Fri Sep 27, 2002 13:33

"- The Sound System was too loud and therefore turned the RTS into a Street Rave, which
a) More or less prevented other (self-made) music to be played and so annoyed those who can’t stand rave music (like myself)"

much agreed i was hoping to here some more traditional irish music, drums and what not and while it was there, it was somewhat spoilt, thought that didnt take away from the sound

"b) Made it impossible to understand the street theatre properly"

true

"c) Hardly transports any political message
- The concept to split the demo into two factions obviously didn’t work. A bit more explanations might have been helpful."

This was a good idea and two very different routes SHOULD have been used as it would have thrown the garda operation into disarray

"- The location appeared to me a bit claustrophobic. Furthermore the street was not really busy or crucial for smoothly running traffic in Dublin. Thus a chance to confront the major target – cars – has been missed."

I though that the top of Grafton Street at the Green was a good place as it is a major nerve centre and of course o connell street would have been good as well. I must say though i didnt think that the street used was open enough to invite people who were in the city to the party.

"The supporters of the football final were more successful, although they didn’t intend it."

They did do a good job and who knows some concepts could have been passed on to some of the people attending, RTS Dingle anyone?

"- Garda violence was no issue on banners. Consequently the whole topic of ‘public order’, police-enforced ‘clean cities’ etc. was not very well covered."

There was the death of an anarchist which was done quite well but other than that i agree very little in the way of confrontigng such unnecessary things.

"- I missed a spirit of spontaneity that for example might have led to a spontaneous relocation of the party to another street or inside the Stephens Green Shopping Mall or so…"

Too planned, some sort of spontanity in the organiser would have been equally as good

"- The power-generator of the sound system stank, just like cars do! This was very unfortunate and contradicting. Maybe next time a cleaner alternative can be found."

mmm... this is true, perhaps solar power next summer?

other than that an excellent party that had many +'s which have already been pointed out on IMC

by Mags Fri Sep 27, 2002 13:45

I'll admit to begin with that I wasn't involved in organising any of the RTS stuff - busy with other campaigns and work, etc.

One thing that occured to me on the day was that the vast majority were around the same age - i.e. people in their 20s. Of course the people who attend are self selected, but I thought it would be positive to aim for a wider age range.

Understandably after what happened in May people would be scared of bringing children, but maybe some event next year could be specifically 'child friendly'? Only problem would be it likely could not be on the street. Also the rave music would not appeal to older people, so maybe a chance for greater diversity here. One protest a while back that had whole families on it was the big anti-War march and that was very positive.

At an earlier RTS (or it may have been a 'Critical Mass') on O Connell Street there were footballs produced and a kickaround took place for about 20 minutes. It was good craic and really challenged what streets are about. The cops were stunned and took a while work it out and to 'restore order'. Organised 'spontaneous' events like that are good, all the passersby stopped to look.

Just a few thoughts...

by rts organiser Fri Sep 27, 2002 15:38

1. "Too Planned" ?????? Sorry, you cant spontaneously lug a sound system around the place.
another action had been mooted for towards the end of the party, eventually it was decided that we are reluctant to get people involved in a confrontational situation that they may not have been prepared for. although I guess that anyone attending an RTS should be aware of the possibility. But this perhaps then conflicts with the aim of having a "child-friendly" RTS. dunno, catch 22 maybe, any ideas?

2. On the Sound system, there was ample room on Baggott St for people to spread out and do their own thing. Not aware of alternatives to a generator, anyone with ideas, GET INVOLVED! This party, like the last one, was arranged by a small bunch of people who can only do so much.

3. ditto on lack of banners, make your own! There were workshops advertised in the run-up to RTS, anyboy who wished to do so was free to attend.

I appreciate constructive criticism, please dont leave it at just that tho'! (I know Mags and Brian are busy doing other stuff)

by Marianne Fri Sep 27, 2002 18:04

wasnt there some kind of bicycle powered generator planned for the May 6th one? Where did that go? I think there's a way to tap into the city's energy, a lampost of something, I have friends in America who set up and play gigs on the street using this method. Any electricians about??
That would be totally in the spirit of reclaiming, but maybe it would just get unplugged right away. Be worth it tho.

by Mark Fri Sep 27, 2002 18:08

No tapping in to the city energy would betheft

by oggy Fri Sep 27, 2002 18:17

acoustic v rave (amplifyed).
this seems to be a bit of an emerging conflict line witin various 'Gatherings' regarding this. firstly i'll state my personal bias is towards the rave side at the moment. some reasons why:-
-i enjoy particapatory feeling that rave provides thro dancing espcially. the crowd structure of musicans/artists/performer on one hand and the viewer/audience/spectator is drastically reduced. call it being on the 'same level'
-by the same token to watch 'street theatre' is not one of the primary reasons why i come to a gathering like rts.
-the rave music does prevent/drown out attempts at acoustic music et al. this i can see/understand as being a source annoyance who are'nt into rave plus a block on certain activitys.
of course the bigger the gathering in terms of size the lesser this effect would become. therefore a costructive proposal would be one where by we RECLAIM MORE SPACE. id prefer to see attempts at this rather than proposals/ discussions of 'limits'.an attempt at reclaiming more space would also allow for poltical dimensions to shine through. RTS (particulary)need not settle for being pen'ed into an area which is alloccatted by the mere physical size of the crowd? Most of us know that SPACE is more than that.
-Presently RTS occurances are made of people in their late teens/20's/early30's. what form of music..... (i'll let prof. of socology finish that). need to get me dinna!

"RAVE"-WHATS THAT!#####

by billy - [email protected] Fri Sep 27, 2002 19:10

Hey,

i think that most of these points are definitely justified but in our (rts) defence, as other people have already pointed out, there were only a certain number of people involved and theres only so much that a small group can do.

re: the sound system, i don't think it was too big, in fact i would have liked a bigger one, it wouldn't have been a problem if there was more going on and we could have occupied a bigger space.

Ok, Baggot st on a Sunday wasn't the most ambitious target but Sunday was Car Free Day, next year it'll fall on a Monday, maybe we can go for something bigger.

Diesel generators are smelly and noisy but i don't see much alternative, the pedal powered sound system didn't work out this time (hopefully it will for the next one)and in fairness solar isn't really an option in Ireland if you want to make much noise. (Man, I'd love to be proved wrong on this, if you know the score better than i do then let me know).

Crowd Movement: well it was a good idea but it didn't work so well, I drew up the leaflet so i guess i have to take some responsibility for that. Still, we can improve it next time.

All in all we need more people to activly participate, it'd be nice if more came to the meetings but you don't need to do that to do something on the day. One of the things I really liked was the crew that came along with free food, off their own bat. Anyone that wants to bring along music or banners or music is allways welcome.(Not necessarily party political banners though).

We've got about nine months to plan the next one, and like we've said before: if you want to get involved, get in touch. We could have done plenty of things better, hopefully next time we will!!

In a spirit of friendly discussion

billy rts

by Ois Fri Sep 27, 2002 21:40

Spontaneity when it comes to the movement of a mass of people is not a good idea. Spontaneity at the last one ended us in College Green when we were trying to get to the Civic Offices. Spontaneity led to people being very confused and eventually at the wrong end of a baton. More spontaneity on this level is most certianly not something I'd call for.

Of course there is also good spontaneity, like that excercised by the people who gave me a few sandwich. Thank you, if you are reading.

One thing I think that should be done for the next one is for it to disperse somewhere where people can stay on for hours if they want to. The way we were kicked out of the park was in my mind an annoying way to end. But apart from that it was nothing but fun.

Oh and the bicycle generator was considered but was decided against, I can't exactly remember why,, I think it was the fact that we needed some one to do the cycling. When for a 60 euro we could rent out a generator.

But of course if you have ideas about how to improve the party, well, when the terribly long Irish Winter ends and the next Reclaim the Streets Starts to get organised Get Involved and help to oreganise it yourself.

by Stephen Fri Sep 27, 2002 22:13

On the topic of the location, I think had the part been organised on the crossroads just up from Baggot St Lwr, it would have been a better location blocking traffic coming from 4 different roads.

by get up on yer bike - cogs Sat Sep 28, 2002 02:55

We could ask Paddy from Belfast who was at ecotopia how to build one or if he is interested in coming to the next one. Has anyone here seen his speakers and bike powered amp etc?

People were happy to take turns cycling it – we played music at ecotopia and also ran a laptop to play videos.

I thought the RTS genny was loud and smelly and we should have a range of music which relects the diverse group - Im not into rave

by conor - ucd socialist alternative (in a personal capacity) Sat Sep 28, 2002 12:52 conor at ziplip dot com

first off to say rts was fantastic.brilliant buzz and lots of sounds,my only boo hoo was the way we went to st stephens green afterward-when it is one of the few free public spaces in dublin.a trip up to that "private" park owned by tony o rielly and co would have been nice.

also the critical mass before hand was the best ever. everyone (i.ethe general public and even some motor is ts were well on side)after yesterdays(friday)letdown,whos for critical mass on a sunday??

by Marianne Sun Sep 29, 2002 14:58

I didn't think there was a problem with having both the rave music which many people seemed to be enjoying and the acoustic, which many people seemed to be enjoying. I'm not big into rave myself but was certainly not put out by the music. There was lots of room for both I thought and the street theatre (which was great) too.
The sandwiches we're exactly spontanious but definately rushed as we only started actually making them that morning. I wrote something up before but again, if anyone wants to do some food not bombs stalls e-mail me at [email protected]
I think people would cycle a bike-powered generator if they wanted music. There must be other energy sources too, maybe combining solar with something else. Well done to everyone involved in the organising and everyone who brought their own ideas along on the day. It was a great day, better than May 6th in many ways I thought.