Monday, June 25, 2007

Stop the Violence

A sad weekend in London, with two young people out with their friends killed in separate incidents. Annaka Pinto (left), a 17 year old from Tottenham, was shot in the Swan Pub/club in Phillip Lane, Tottenham, North London.

Across town at The Works nightclub in Kingston, South West London, 23 year old Mikey Brown was stabbed to death.

Of course it's not just a London thing - in Miami a 15 year old has been charged with shooting dead Samuel Brown, 16, and Michael Bradshaw, at a party at the city's Polish American Club. Every weekend all over the world there are people being stabbed, shot, raped or beaten to a pulp at nightclubs and parties or on the way home afterwards.

On this site I try to focus on the positive possibilities of people coming together for music and dancing, but despite what I sometimes say I know that parties and gigs aren't really Motherships that lift people away from everyday life (or at least not always). All the shit of this society - violence, machismo, nihilism, addiction, despair - is played out on the dancefloor just like everywhere else. I don't have any great analysis of this, let alone solutions - do you?

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