UNPLUG far too loud GAY PRIDE
– emancipation should be about mutal respect
– about sharing space
– about caring for others
The GAY PRIDE canal parade only takes 5 hours with an over the top loud blasting sounds from all the boats participating… it is still bearable in the sense that it is moving through the town and then for each region it is only 2 to 3 hours of the nasty blasting high tones and deep roaring bases that pollute the streets and houses: still DOABLE.
For years many people from this town have asked the question what this sound blasting street parties that pester entire neighborhoods have to do with ‘homo-emancipation’. Why it is that the local population should be pestered by high volume sound as an expression of ‘love’, and ‘friendship’. This critique is ONLY about the events of Gay Pride in PUBLIC SPACE… when one reads the whole program, there are many valuable and positive meetings, performances, exhibitions and concerts. Concerts that are not out on the streets are of course NO PART of this critique. There are a few events outside this map at Mercatorplein (good idea to go there), none in the Blijlmer, none in Noord… sonly one seems to be an acceptable level of duration (maybe also of sound content) the event planned at the Nieuwmarkt on August the second.
High sound volumes can be produced by anyone these days. Big sound systems can be rented or bought for low prices. FAR TOO LOUD music in the public space is a structural problem in this city, not only during the Gay Parade, there are many contested outdoor festivals that pester whole neighborhoods, ruin public parks and chase away animals. The organizers of Gay Pride seem to be totally blind to these civil protests against commercial outdoor mass events.
WHY HAS THERE NEVER BEEN A THOUGHT, LET ALONE AN ATTEMPT, TO HAVE AN UNPLUGGED GAY PRIDE? Does that idea not fit with the idea of GAY EMANCIPATION? Is the total commercialized party industry of our days the norm?
What comes before and after the (doable) Canal Parade for those who live in one of the ‘clusters’ of open air stages as mapped here is UNBEARABLE.
We inhabitants of this town have many years of experience with the Gay Pride FAR TOO LOUD event… and those who are not deaf and sensible try to flee their houses… If it was only one day that would have been doable. NO it is two to three days now. Many people do not have the financial means to leave their house and town for several days. Check out the permissible permits given by this town council who supports this sound-terror (that is what it is) and chases the people they should care for, the inhabitants, out of their houses.
There is 21 hours of street-stage activity planned, but NOWHERE it is possible to see what is in the making. The organizers, both from the Gay Enterprise and the Municipality are aware that they stretch things to the limit. This explains their vicious strategy of deception when it comes to give a full insight of the impact on town of the coming up outdoors events. That impact is hidden, not shown.
NO OVERVIEW MAPPING by the organizers, NO OVERVIEW MAP by the Municipality. When you check the many web-sites of Gay Pride promotors you are confronted with amateur made agendas full with superlative descriptions, but with no clear indication of what is ‘indoors’ and what is ‘outdoors’ often very unclear about when a specific event is starting or ending.
So the only overview I could find is a municipal page with links to 15 ‘bewonersbrieven’ (letters to the inhabitants)…
https://www.amsterdamgaypride.nl
Each letter is in PDF format (so they need to be opened one by one). The links to the ‘bewonersbrieven’ do indicate only partly the street of area name, some only carry the name of a bar that has a permit for a street stage, without mentioning a street name, like: ‘Bewonersbrief straatfeest Cafe Reality’, Bewonersbrief straatfeest Vivelavie’.
The content of the ‘bewonersbrieven’ all mention the fact that the event will create ‘some disturbance/nuisance’ followed by a contact number 14020 (which is the general nuisance complain number of the city). There is NO statement about the admissible sound-level set by the municipality and how sound levels will be controlled, if there is any mechanism to stop a situation when too much noise is produced.
Of course us inhabitants of the inner town know, that once the party is going there is NO STOPPING… You can call, wait for a long, long time before getting someone on the telephone. There is always insufficient response capacity, not enough controllers on the ground that have the equipment to do sound measuring, let alone anybody willing or formally entitled to unplug a sound system that breaches all rules.
Nobody ever has thought about the municipality buying sound-control systems that can be steered by the municipality itself instantly and constantly keeping the sound levels at the level promised. There have been many meetings and commissions and procedures, but these are all just for producing documents that prove that ‘on paper’ everything is done correctly.
This is a the typical Amsterdam bureaucracy specialty. The paper work they produce is impressive, but means nothing. Let me quote the titles of two of such documents form the list on the municipal web site:
– ‘Beleidskader 2011’ (policy paper 20110)
– ‘Handreiking voor een brandveilig evenement’ (reach-out paper for a fire safe event)
Then I see a link to a PDF with drawings at the bottom of that list… https://bekendmakingen.amsterdam.nl/publish/pages/96787/6_tekeningen_feesten_en_overig_2018.pdf
And when I browse through this document I come across a few more stages than in the list of letters to the inhabitants: -Geelvincksteeg, -Rembrandtplein, -Elandsstraat/Hazenstraat. Are these street events scrapped? No idea! This almost hidden document just shows detailed drawings for stages and loudspeakers.
The dates and times mentioned in the municipal permits and shown in this map DO NOT INCLUDE the building up and taking down of all the stage equipment, outside bars and the like. Also several permits for sound from street stages end at midnight, but the street parties may continue – according to the permits – for one hour more…
What is also not included is the tremendous noise produced by the municipal vacuum cleaners and broom wagons that will be for hours in the streets and areas affected.
What is not included is the noise and nuisance of masses of party goers who will have not only filled themselves to the limit with alcohol but also with all kinds of other recreational drugs. They will shout, they will piss, they will leave their tins, bottles and so on, on the doorsteps of houses and in wide circles around the core space of the 10 street events.
ALL THIS IN THE NAME OF GAY EMANCIPATION… which thus becomes a lie because it does not produce “love and friendship”. It is just like any other mass consumption party event… that brutally takes over public space and negates the fact that all this is happening inside a city, putting the burden on a few neighborhoods that are already affected by mass tourism and all the misfortunes of being part of the leisure industry that slowly takes over this town.
EMANCIPATION SHOULD BE ABOUT MUTAL RESPECT, ABOUT SHARING SPACE, ABOUT CARING FOR OTHERS, not a self centred international community partying with total disrespect of local inhabitants.
poster I made in the year 2012… nothing has been learned by the Gay Pride Incorporated enterprises and the community that supports their business.
the limping messenger 