One era seemed weighted against Cold War mutually assured destruction & civil rights, while the other appeared as an almighty hurrah that at least one aspect of the Cold War had passed with the wall coming down, even if nuclear arsenals are still among us.
Speaking of civil rights, anyone get to any of the Reclaim the Streets demos? Systems such as DiY, Smokscreen & various others put a United Systems organisation together to get around the CJB, stack of benefits that did so much good, Smokies even went as far as making a suicide rig from scratch in case of seizure.
However, some aspects seemed doomed to failure, compounded by my own deep mistrust of bongo drum circles & fire/poi jugglers (or “rave spinners” as one mate once described them). Sections of the protest movement seemed overtly provocative, partially exacerbated by a large public school contingent among traveler ranks. They had less to lose overall, so bringing it on top with police played to their wannabe bootstrap radicalism. The music seemed secondary to their desire to turn everything into a circus.
While my experience of the rave era was highlighted by dissolving societal distinctions among this generation, there’s also a more problematic theme of entitled kids just looking to rebel. Trustifarians who, by the late 90’s, were the first wave of property owning buy to renters, with more hypocritical bs spouted about helping a city area regenerate, as opposed to the clear profit motive.
The Mark Kennedy case is an insightful example of policing, the rave era & popular protests. Granted, the group he infiltrated had clearly defined environmental goals closing coal powered stations, you wonder how much provocation was police led with hindsight.
“I was lying because it was my job to lie. I'm not a dishonest person.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...kennedy-undercover-cop-environmental-activist