Community Safety

With freedom comes responsibility. In a free society, although it may only be temporary, in question of personal and community most important to consider is the requirement for awareness and communication. Some basic ideas or tips listed below but first here is a collection of writings which discuss the issue of community "policing" in an autonomous or anarchist free society.

From an article entitled "Crime, punishment & community policing":

".....the man who is called 'criminal' is simply unfortunate;....the remedy is not to flog him, to chain him up, or to kill him on the scaffold or in prison, but to help him by the most brotherly care, by treatment based on equality........"

"Over one hundred years ago, the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin suggested that crime can be divided into three categories : property related crime, government related crime and crimes against the person. In putting forward this analysis he was arguing that if you remove property and government - in other words if you base society on freedom, socialism and democracy - you remove two of the biggest causes of crime. It could also be argued that a large number of crimes against the person (people injured in muggings, for example) have their root in crimes against property."

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/rbr/rbr6/crime.html

From "Breaking the Law: Anti-authoritarian Visions of Crime and Justice":

"“we can never find meaning or freedom in living if we consider life processes from the floundering orbits of law, the state or corporate economy, but only through lifting ourselves to the warmth of experience and human community.”

“All law, authority and institutions of state are based on force, violence and the fear of punishment. . . . The function of law historically has been to deny some people the right to their personal journey, to detain us, by demanding that we resolve our contradictions within the confines of law and the state. . . . Law prohibits us from freeing ourselves, experiencing ourselves in the struggle to be human. . . . To accept law, therefore is to accept a reality in which there is imposition of person upon person. It is to accept the reality of enslavement, the plantation of the welfare state. It is to accept the division of the world into parts that translate into subject and objects, and the mechanisms to manage this hierarchical division, denying autonomy to everyone.”"

http://www.newformulation.org/4Amster.htm

That said, the least you can do is make every effort to ensure your own personal safety and avoid opportunities for injustices.

ideas/tips aka "common sense":

-stay with people you trust
-tent with a group
-do not carry cash
-do not bring weapons
-communicate any "sketchy" behaviour to your group and/or the closest soundsystem
-soundsystems should have at least one sober person around in case of emergency and watching gear
-do not get so wasted you ignore common sense

if you encounter a problem

-tell someone about it immediately
-identify the offender(s)
-don't deal with it alone

any other suggestions??