Events in Berlin – Fuck Parade:

Usually held on the same day as the Love Parade, the Fuck Parade (which started its life in 1997 as the Hate Parade) trampled an alternative course through the streets of Berlin. Those who began to be sickened by the highly commercialised Love Parade decided to return the day to the real soul of Berlin, and so created an event where run-down transit vans and trucks blasted out Gabba, Hard Techno and Drum ‘n’ Bass. It was, understandably, more fashionable than the day’s highly mainstream alternative. Things have gone a bit wrong, though. An upping of the stakes in 2001, when the organisers planned a three-pronged attack on Alexanderplatz, looked as if it could really challenge its commercial rival as the party of the day. Even after the Love Parade’s unexpected postponement to the weekend after, the Fuck Parade still enjoyed the billing as the curtain raiser event that was to launch Berlin’s first “Love Week”. Unfortunately, the Berlin Senate’s decision not to accept the Love Parade’s status as a political demonstration applied to the Fuck Parade as well. With no intention of paying for the clean-up, which the organisers of non-political events are obliged to take responsibility for, the Senate saw fit to pull the plug on the parade, forbidding all music. The ensuing Fuck Parade as a “demonstration for a right to demonstrate” proved to be a damp squib as the aimless organisers bellowed badly rehearsed references to music and society through megaphones while the police endeavoured to confiscate all stereos on sight. It seems the sun has nearly set on the era when street festivals could rise out of pointless protest. If the organisers of the Fuck Parade want to wear party hats and blow whistles in the future, they’d better get used to filling black plastic bags, too.