Last Sunday there was a "demonstration" event that was a free daytime outdoor rave just to get people from all areas of the scene together to stand up against injustice. At that event, Lisa Smith (aka DJ Shiva) gave a speech. Here she is what she said:

It all started with jazz.

From the 30's right up until the twenty-first century, music has been the catalyst for creating long lasting cultural movements that defied convention and inspired generations to come.

To the defenders of the status quo, music is also a very dangerous thing. Jazz was accused of corrupting young white children, exposing them to black music as well as tempting them with the demon drugs.

In the 40's it was swing. Raging dance parties were an escape from the reality of war and the fear of fascism spreading throughout Europe.

Skip to the 50's for the beginnings of Rock & Roll. They called it "the devil's music", for it too had the power to corrupt youth with sex and drugs. From Little Richard's overt sexuality to Elvis and his gyrating hips, rock n roll inspired fear and hysteria throughout mainstream America. And with good cause, because from rock and roll came the next step:

Protest music in the 60's...people using music as a way of bucking the system and telling the status quo (and the war effort) to go to hell. And of course, whether a participant or just a historical observer, we've all heard the lurid tales of drug use.

Skip to the 70's, with disco and eventually the upset of the modern world...PUNK ROCK. And of course, tales of drug use were never far behind for either movement.

In the 80's, hip hop brought tales of black ghetto life both good and bad to the forefront of American awareness. Groundbreaking in its approach, it too was vilified for opennes about drug use (whether sad tales of addiction or celebrations of cannibis).

And then we come to the 90's and the early 00's...and the movement that's scaring moms and dads all over suburbia is "rave music". Music started in economically ravaged Detroit, taken overseas and used as the soundtrack for huge overnight parties and then brought right back to the states, electronic music has developed artistically and commercially and is now a major force in musical culture.

And of course, the stigma of "demon drugs" is not far behind.

Rave and electronic music culture has been scapegoated for introducing evil drugs into the mainstream society. The truth is less spectacular: the drugs are already there.

This country has been fighting a failing battle with drugs for decades, and despite record amounts of money being thrown at the problem, drug use is going up, not down. We spend more money to fight drugs in the US than any other country, and yet we have the highest drug use of any country. And so far, we are dealing with a government that would rather continue the constant barrage of abuses associated with the drug war, then admit their strategy is a failing one.

And now, they've given up on trying to arrest drug dealers, and are attacking electronic music culture.

It's easier to arrest promoters and DJs; we don't shoot at them. And we're an easy target due to the massive amounts of sensationalist media coverage and misinformation that has been fed to governmental authorities and law enforcement agencies.

The problem with this attack is that it's a witch hunt; an obvious ploy to satisfy political agendas and concerned parents groups, while at the same time trampling the constitutional rights of everyone involved in the music culture under attack.

And it's happening right here in Indianapolis. Mayor Bart Peterson, along with IPD Chief Jerry Barker and Marion county Sheriff Cottey have decided that electronic music events are dangerous dens of inequity that introduce children to rampant drug use and unprotected sex. And they're using their power as city officials, along with labyrinthine permit processes, to destroy an entire culture, arguably based on the actions of a statistical few.

It's no secret that you'll find illicit substances at electronic music events, just as it's no secret that you'll find them at just about any musical event. Look around at your local mall, school or sporting event, I'd bet money you'll find drugs there too. And unlike most of these, promoters at electronic music events have made a concerted effort to keep drugs out.

Everything from strict searches at the door, to increased security forces patrolling events have been used to try to discourage drug use and keep negative elements out. Local promoters even had IPD officers working events for quite a while, until IPD officers were ordered by the city to discontinue working security for these events. It seems city officials are more interested in their "image" than the actual safety of event attendees.

Of course, some drugs make it into events no matter how tough the searches. It's statistically impossible to keep all drugs out; if the entire country has failed to do it, I'm not sure how they expect event promoters to accomplish a miraculously drug free atmosphere.

So instead of working with electronic music promoters, the city of Indianapolis has decided to shut us down. Chief Barker pledged at a recent IPD "rave summit" that he will shut electronic music events down "wherever and whenever they occur". No due process; no communication with event promoters...just shut em down. Doesn't it feel great to live in America?

This is an outrage. It is a direct attack upon our first amendment rights to free speech and peaceful assembly. It is the unfortunate effect of an entire country declaring war upon its own people because of fear and hysteria surrounding drugs. It is a city government using its power over the media and the people to destroy a vital musical subculture because it's too lazy to go after the real criminals.

According to reports from the IPD rave summit, officials expected event promoters to run. They expected us to slink away in the night like the dirty criminals they have painted us as, but instead the opposite is happening.

Instead, the sometimes disparate factions of our community are coming together to fight for a musical culture we have strived for years to build. Instead, we're organizing our forces and demanding to be heard. Instead, we are holding our government accountable for its antagonistic efforts to criminalize something so integral to all our lives as music.

We refuse to be demonized and attacked without response. We refuse to be treated as criminals when our only crime is wanting to dance and celebrate electronic music. We refuse to be vilified and tossed aside based on theactions of a minority of drug abusers and we refuse to let our rights be trampled under a glut of drug war-fuelled hysteria.

We demand to be heard by our elected officials and law enforcement officers that are in their positions to SERVE "we the people", not attack us. We demand a clear, documented approach to the permit processes necessary to hold legal events. We demand that police officers be made available for the safety of our events, as they would be for any other non-electronic event. We demand the same rights afforded to every citizen of this state and this country.

And just in case anyone forgot: we ARE citizens. We DO vote. We know our rights. We know that political careers can end at the ballot box. We know that we have the power to send the ultimate message of disapproval to Mayor Peterson, and we won't forget this attack on our culture come election day.

It's ironic that Mayor Peterson chose the eve of his proposed Indianapolis Cultural Initiative to instigate a city wide witch hunt on electronic music. While one finger is pointing to the arts as a way of building community and recognition for Indianapolis, the other finger is pointing at OUR art and OUR culture and demanding its destruction.

To further fuel the irony, he also chose the same month as the city-wide Indy Jazz Fest, touting the virtues of a musical form that was attacked and vilified in the 30's much the same way as electronic music is today.

It is up to those of us here today and out community as a whole, to help Mayor Peterson understand these ironies--to understand the history of musical movements, their vilification, and history's subsequent redemption of all of them. It is up to us to make this city understand that electronic music is an important culture that has revitalized music as a whole, moving it firmly into the 21st century. We make the music that will influence generations to come, and we will not go down without a fight.

It may come as a surprise to Mayor Peterson, Chief Barker and Sheriff Cottey that electronic music promoters, DJs and musicians are very much interested in creating safe, secure, legal and drug free events for the enjoyment of our music. Many of us have struggled and starved for years to build a scene in Indianapolis that is respected in cities twice our size, and we want our DJs, musicians and artists to be recognized as the world class artists they truly are, without risking arrest simply for choosing a form of music that has been persecuted and criminalized by the media and city authorities.

Our city government and law enforcement officials must recognize that our culture will continue, but we would like to continue with the help and cooperation of the city. Cooperation is the key: is our city willing to do what it takes and make a real effort to help electronic music promoters throw safe events, or is our musical culture doomed to be just another throwaway generation to be demonized and ostracized by the masses, only to be accepted and used by those masses when it suits their purposes?

That is the question I pose to Mayor Peterson, city authorities and the local media. Are you going to treat us like criminals simply because we choose to dance to weird electronic noise all night, or are you going to step up to the plate and move the city of Indianapolis into the twenty-first century?

While the authorities ponder the question, I know what we will be doing. We'll be spreading the word. We'll be organizing. And no matter what, we'll be dancing.

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