 THE RIGHT TO PARTY |
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Noctis.com Belgian Night
Syndicate is finally a place where you can complain against those who want us to cut the music, and shout loud the names of those who help the music to go on and on ! |
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************************************************************************** ************************************************************************** April 2005 - No smoke at night? Smoking, illegal in our clubs? A threat is running around our nights. It seems to be isolated at the moment ... but for how long? Rudy Demotte (PS), the federal Minister for the social Affairs and the Public health, is since a long time in war against tobacco. But he recently decided that the laws would take a harder direction for all the horeca department in Belgium. He thus invited several delegates of the Belgian horeca (primarily restaurants and bars) to an information-tour in Italy and Ireland ... and now this leads to a private bill prohibiting the tobacco in all the public places. But is a club simply a normal public place? This law applied to the clubs is inevitably the death sentence for half of them. That's why we wonder: who could stop it? Italy, Ireland and Norway already choose the hardest prohibition. Some studies already show a loss of 20% of the sales in Ireland! When in Belgium, horeca is gathering 500.000 jobs for 55.000 bars, restaurants, hotels and clubs... that sounds really scary. Sure, tobacco is a bad thing for health. But do we really think that we'd have had a Gainsbourg, a Bogart, a Billie Holiday, a Chet Baker or a Georges Simenon without their smokes around?? How came Jazz and Rock if it was not in the small misty clubs of USA? And, however they'd stop smoking in the clubs... what about the smoking-machines, the incenses, the perfumes? There are three aspects of the situation: And what's the result? Well, total prohibition to smoke in the bars and clubs in Norway did not have the expected effects: the Norwegians smokers from 16 to 74 years old reduced only of 0,3% in 2004, when it reduced of 3,1% in 2003. Actually, according to some recent information we had, it seems that the nightclubs will fortunately not be concerned by this new law. The question is: for how much longer? And what about the dj-bars and the independent parties? We'll wait for the law to get an answer.
************************************************************************** April 2004: Once Again they try to stop clubs at 6:00 [version française plus bas sur cette page] There we were thinking we had finished with these threats of forced closings at 6.00 am in the morning, mow... they are back. This time it is on the initiative of Denis D'Hondt (MR) that a private bill has emerged, aiming at the clubs of Hainaut primarily... but posing an unpleasant example for the rest of the country. He specifies that the objective is to find "a beginning of solution with the problem of the mega-dancing, which is the centre of attraction for many young people. [...] In the western part of Hainaut, it is common that more than ten thousand young people go out during all the weekend, some even from Friday evening to Monday morning. This closing hour should have the result that theses young people leave those dancehalls".  Located close to the French border,
some megaclubs are indeed known to welcome enormous crowds, and are consequently
associated with road accidents and problems of drugs... but why limit the parties and
indirectly the energy that they create? It is normal to close a club caught up in drug
traffiking, but since when do they need to demand closings clubs which mostly offer social
activities and interaction, and a good time for most people? We always hear about the
music, deejays, decoration, but all that is inevitably a pretext to the meeting and the
human gathering.Before trying to lock up the night in a strict rectangle, perhaps they should wonder what will replace these clubs in the morning of the people who leave them... and of what pushes some party-kids to trust more white pills than their own parents. Future debate indeed. Moreover, the choice of our French neighbours of a limitation at 5 a.m. became a typical example of displacement of the problem... they go in the close countries or set up clandestine raves without schedule. Not even speaking about the disaster of the English choice which since Criminal Justice Bill in the Nineties threw the young British on the roads at 3am in the morning in the search of one of the many after-parties avoiding any control and the inevitable danger of road traffic accidents. At the precise moment where in France, the most repressive country regarding soft drugs, one noted a spectacular increase in the use of cannabis, even speaking about vulgarizing (source Inserm April 2004)... one wonders who will first dare rising the finger to suggest to finally talk about prevention rather than schedules. Also we can preview a very bad effect on creation in the dance music scene, since each club will probably have to separate from a deejay... generally the last arrived, the youngest. (2 hours = one deejay). This won't satisfy the specialized record stores (these deejays are customers, of course) which already face a difficult time. Let us nevertheless say that Mr D' Hondt did not meet real opposition at the Chambre. At most, both the representatives of ecologist and SPA insisted on the importance not to move the problem to the bars, and on the importance of a dialogue with the mayors and the local authorities, but they didn't contest the deep core of the new text. Amusing: the dance halls for old people will not be aimed. That's right, the Viagra and DHEA dealers are mostly on Internet, not at the exit of the Polka clubs. And 4 grannies in a mustard-colour Daf car draws less attention, yes right. But if the problem is the young people, there's always a solution: turn them in to old people. ****************************************************************************** Avril 2004: Fermeture forcée à 6 heure, c'est reparti! On pensait en avoir fini avec ces menaces de fermetures forcées à 6 heures du matin,
las... elles sont de retour. Cette fois c'est sous l'impulsion de Denis D'Hondt
(MR) qu'une proposition de loi a surgi, visant essentiellement les clubs du
Hainaut... mais posant un désagréable exemple pour le reste du pays. Situés près de la frontière française, quelques mégaclubs sont en effet connus pour accueillir d'énormes foules, et sont associés à des accidents de la route et à des problèmes de consommation de drogues... mais pourquoi limiter la fête et indirectement la création qu'elle génère? Il est logique de fermer un établissement impliqué dans un traffic, mais depuis quand impose-t-on des fermetures à des clubs qui offrent surtout de la rencontre? On parle toujours de la musique, des deejays, du décor, mais tout cela est forcément prétexte à la rencontre et au rassemblement humain. Avant de vouloir enfermer la nuit dans un rectangle bien droit, il faudrait peut-être se poser le problème de ce qui remplacera ces clubs dans les mâtinées des jeunes qui en sortent... et de ce qui pousse certains à faire plus confiance à des cachets blancs qu'en leurs parents. Grands débats en vue. En outre le choix chez nos voisins français d'une limitation à 5 heure est devenu un exemple type de déplacement du problème... ils vont dans les pays voisins ou mettent en place des raves clandestines sans horaire. Sans parler du désastre des choix anglais qui depuis la Criminal Justice Bill des années 90 ont jeté les jeunes britanniques sur les routes à 3 heures du matin à la recherche d'une des nombreuses after-party échappant à tout contrôle. Au moment précis où en France, le pays le plus répressif en matière de drogues douces, on a constaté une augmentation spectaculaire des fumeurs de cannabis, jusqu'à parler de banalisation (source Inserm avril 2004) ... on se demande qui osera lever le doigt le premier pour suggérer qu'on parle enfin de prévention plutôt que d'horaires. Et comptons aussi sur un coup porté à la création dans ce domaine, puisque chaque club devra probablement se séparer d'un deejay... le plus souvent le dernier arrivé, le plus jeune. Voilà qui n'arrangera pas les magasins de disques spécialisés (dont ces deejays sont clients) qui déjà font face à une période un peu rude. Signalons quand même que monsieur D'Hondt n'a pas rencontré d'opposition réelle à la Chambre. Tout au plus les représentantes d'écolo et du SPa ont elles insisté sur l'importance de ne pas déplacer le problème dans les bars, et sur l'importance du dialogue avec les bourgmestres et les autorités locales, mais sans remettre en cause le fond de la proposition. Amusant: les dancings pour les personnes âgées ne seront pas visés. C'est vrai, les dealers de Viagra et de DHEA se trouvent surtout sur internet, pas à la sortie du club polka. Et puis quatre mamys dans une Daf moutarde ça attire moins l'attention, oui bon. Mais si le problème c'est les jeunes, y a toujours une solution: en faire des vieux. ************************************************************************** May 2004: Brussels City supports Fuse ! Free entrance Sat 22 May! This is not a joke! ************************************************************************** December 2002 Bouncers Controls results for last week-end 12 December It was a large operation concerning the security crews of the nightclubs (the bouncers) and leaded by Minister Antoine Duquesne (MR) to verify the compliance of those crews with the recent excellent laws about guardians groups. After Tournai and the Luxembourg area, it was the time to check in Brussels (except Etterbeek and Woluwe). 47 nightclubs of a list of 80 have been controlled. 17 fines have been reported and only 3 cases of illegal weapon carrying. Seems things are slowly getting better... but what a week-end it was! ************************************************************************** June 2002: clubs and minister together for free water! Wednesday (26 june 2002), the Brussels Regional Minister Didier Gosuin (MR)
took an agreement with the majority of the clubs in the city. from now on, all the clubs
will propose a chilling room to their public, calm and separate from the dancefloor,
equipped with free water for thirsty people, and a member of the personnel qualified for
assistance in the event of collapse or physical troubles. this decision aims as much the
comfort of people of the night as for more safety and information against chemical drugs,
and is done in collaboration with association Modus Vivendi (vzw/asbl). In england,
actions of this type take place since a long time and have encouraging results. and those
who say that it will standardize the use of the illicit products, the Minister answers
"those who say that are blind. It is not a question to encourage but to
prevent". so, now... free water and a chillout room in all clubs of Brussels,
including the Fuse, Claridge (Johnny), Mirano (Dirty Dancing), Bal-Mezzanine, Jeux
d'Hiver, Sud, Cactus (Auderghem), Louise Gallery, ... no doubt that all the other clubs
will soon follow.
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Yes the Fuse will have a free entrance on 22 May ... and with an
international deejay. Saturday 22, Fuse will be open all the ways and free... and not free
by exhaustion (Fuses is full every week) but because the City of Brussels joined the club
to make you this gift to celebrate the Fuse 10 years anniversary. An amusing idea with a
real program: the fortiche Jack of Marseille (nice person, big knowledge, and with an
insane talent), the very House and very Dutch Frederik (musician and deejay since 1989),
and the residents Deg, T-Quest, Pierre and St Dic. For the tenth birthday of Fuse, the
City thus wanted to claim high and strong that "electronic music is culture, and
that good clubs in an urban setting are also the fibre of the modern society we live
in". Isn't it beautiful? Sure it is, and it sounds very good for the future of
the Brussels nightlife, 
thanks to the Mayor Freddy Thielemans
(PS). Thus now you can enter... you first, please. And be sure that it is not the
end, because gossips talk about large electronic events, free and open air, in the old
centre of Brussels and coming on short-term. [Gazon will come back next summer, but it's
not what we're talking about right now].
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