Datacide 11

23Feb11

History is Made at Night writes:

I went to Berlin recently for the launch of the new issue (number 11) of Datacide – ‘the magazine for noise and politics’.

There were a couple of events. First up was a series of talks at Cagliostro, a bar in Friedrichshain which also houses the Praxis record shop (plenty of breakcore, noise and hard drum and bass vinyl with some radical literature too – funny seeing Aufheben, the German-titled English communist magazine on sale in Germany). Praxis is the label started by ChristophFringeli who also initiated Datacide.[…]

I gave a talk based on my article in the magazine Dance Before the Police Come, looking at the different ways the state tries to regulate clubs, raves and parties. I also reflected on the role of sound systems in the recent student demonstrations in the UK. […]

Then on the Friday night there was a launch party at Subversiv, a housing project with a bar and brick basement. Berlin nightlife gets going late, the music started about one and the dancefloor peaked around four. Hard breaks and beats were supplied by DJs from Berlin, Bologna, Los Angeles and Essex including Christoph Fringeli, Balli (Sonic Belligeranza), Kovert, Baseck (Dark Matter), Nemeton (Dark Matter), LT, Cannibal Brother. I missed the last couple as I had to leave to get to the airport. But it was a good party and the notion of praxis as the unity of theory and action was certainly embedded in the event with at least four of the DJs also writing articles for the new Datacide.

In the basemenet of Subversiv – the red poster sets out the venue’s rules: ‘Diese Party ist ein Freiraum in dem Sexismus,Transphobe, Homophobe, Mackertum, Antisemitismus and Rassismus KEINEN PLATZ haben’ (approximately ‘this party is a free space in which sexism, transphobia, homophobia, macho behaviour, anti-semitism and racism have no place’)

Subversiv is one of the few squatted projects left in Berlin from the period after the fall of the wall when vacant properties were occupied en masse. Many of these were subsequently licensed in deals with the local government, but as the buildings have been sold off to developers and private landlords most have been evicted.The day before I arrived another high profile squat was evicted in Friedrichshain, with 25 residents cleared from the Liebig14 tenement block. The eviction was a big deal, the day was announced in advance and thousands of cops swamped the streets to make sure it went ahead.On Wednesday night (2nd February) a march of a couple of thousand people in the area was stopped by the police short of its destination, and there were clashes followed by cat and mouse chasing through the streets with groups heading off causing mischief. I saw smashed bank windows and lots of graffiti, and apparently windows were broken at the O2 centre (big corporate entertainment centre similar to its London counterpart). [READ THE WHOLE POST]

FEATURES

Christoph Fringeli – “Hedonism and Revolution: The Barricade and the Dancefloor”

Stewart Home – “Dope smuggling, LSD manufacture, organized crime & the law in 1960s London”

John Eden – “Shaking the Foundations: Reggae soundsystem meets ‘Big Ben British values’ downtown”

Alexis Wolton – “Tortugan tower blocks? Pirate signals from the margins”

Neil Transpontine – “Dancing before the police come”

Christoph Fringeli – “From Subculture to Hegemony: Transversal Strategies of the New Right in Neofolk and Industrial”

Nemeton – “From Conspiracy Theories to Attempted Assassinations: The American Radical Right and the Rise of the Tea Party Movement”

R. C. – “How to start with the subject. Notes on Burroughs and the ‘combination of all forms of struggle’”

Matthew Fuller and Steve Goodman – “Beat Blasted Planet. An interview with Steve Goodman on ‘Sonic Warfare’”

Terra Audio – “Free Parties”

Gorki Plubakter – “This is the end… the official ending”

FICTION

“Sonic Fictions” by Riccardo Balli
“Digital Disease” by Dan Hekate
“Infra-Noir. 23 Untitled Poems” by Howard Slater
“Office Work” by Matthew Fuller

PLUS

Record Reviews
The Lives and TImes of Bloor Schleppy
Charts

Available now for EUR 4.00 incl. postage – order now by sending this amount via paypal to praxis(at)c8.com, or send EUR 10 for 3 issues (note that currently only issues 5, 7 and 10 are still available, but you can also pre-order future issues.) Also from the Praxis Webshop.

The zine is now available in London, currently exclusively at the 56a Info Shop, 56 Crampton Street, SE17. Some back issues on line.

Related Articles [auto-generated]

• A conspiracy theory of history (antigerman.wordpress.com)
• Violent clashes at Berlin commune eviction (guardian.co.uk)
• Berlin Squat Cleared After 20 Years (news.sky.com)
• Berlin squat eviction results in arrests and huge protests (guardian.co.uk)
• Berlin’s gentrification needs radical ideas | Markus Hesselmann (guardian.co.uk)
• Is trendy East Berlin losing its edge? (cnn.com)
• Communes in Berlin: German gentrification (economist.com)

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Tags: berlin, dance music, Datacide, free parties, squat party