A festive meeting of electronic music purists, of which the mayor, Bruno Marty, has made a political standard-bearer. “Dancing is not a crime,” he wrote again…
A festive meeting of electronic music purists, of which the mayor, Bruno Marty, has made a political standard-bearer. “Dancing is not a crime,” he wrote again on Wednesday May 20 on his social networks to promote the event which should bring together up to 6,000 people per evening for two evenings.
“If there were more communities ready to welcome them, there would be less illegality”, imagines the elected official, who considers that it is “above all repression” which pushes these enthusiasts to organize free parties. “I think the state is wrong in wanting to repress them,” says Michaël Gérard, co-director of the Millésime festival. “We must rather supervise them. They will never arrest the young people, there will always be free ones.”
“The opposite effect”
The Ripost law could, however, considerably toughen repression with a Senate pushing in this direction. If the Upper House’s proposals are adopted in the Assembly, organizing a free party will become an offense punishable by two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 euros compared to a simple infraction currently. The participants, also targeted, will risk up to six months in prison and a fine of 7,500 euros or a fixed criminal fine of 1,500 euros. Furthermore, senators voted to lower the threshold from 500 to 250 participants beyond which a declaration to the prefecture is required.
“We must rather supervise them. They will never arrest the young people, there will always be free ones »
“We’ve already known that,” comments Joël Tambour, who performs at the Millésime festival on Friday May 22 under the name Suburbass. “In 1995, the circular from the Ministry of the Interior entitled ‘‘Rave parties, high-risk situations’ was a real detonator: by stigmatizing an entire culture, it caused the effect opposite to that sought and contributed to the explosion of the illegal free party movement in France. It pushed many organizers to go underground, for lack of a viable framework and dialogue.”
“Creativity”
The “underground techno festival” that is Millésime, as Michaël Gérard describes it, is not a free party but can attract an audience accustomed to these clandestine evenings. It also benefits from the bridges between these different festive settings. “How many mega-known DJs are there who cut their teeth in free parties?” asks Paul-Louis Durieux, the other director of Millésime. “It’s an environment that allows lots of young zicos [musiciens, NDLR] to take their first steps. Without that, you lose a piece of creativity. »
