20 years after John Lithgow outlawed dancing in “Footloose,” you might have assumed that the Bible Belt eventually came to the conclusion that perhaps public recreation is not the primary threat to American society after all.

You would have assumed wrong.

Last weekend, police disrupted a concert in Spanish Fork Canyon, Utah, after undercover agents reported instances of drug use. Nevermind the dubious reasons given by authorities for going out of their way to patrol an otherwise-legal social gathering– the truly disturbing details emerge after reading eyewitness accounts of the violent excess used to disperse the crowds. Camouflaged troopers beat several attendees (including women), while spraying tear gas and confiscating video documentation of the events.

So far, this story has received sparse media attention, despite an abundance of testimony and images– all of which clearly substantiate the accusations against law enforcement officers who have apparently mastered “enforcement” without paying much attention to the “law” part: the concert was held on privately owned property, and troopers were called in without any warrant having been issued.

The powers that be have always (understandably) feared the availability of spaces in which people can congregate and potentially disrupt the status quo. The advent of rock and roll, for instance, was less threatening for any specific lyrics and rhythms than for its ability to bring youth together in opposition to the restrictions of an older generation. If a Utah rave can be viewed as such a significant threat to “decency” and “order,” it is not difficult to imagine what could eventually happen to a group whose dissenting opinions are far more overt. A confrontation like this– unless publicly exposed as the police-state exercise that it is– could start a precedent that would threaten the efforts of those in spaces (such as Camp Casey) that offer hope for civil liberties in a post-Patriot Act America.

– Nate Titman

This entry was posted on Friday, August 26th, 2005 at 3:35 am by Intern. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.