Arts & Entertainment

Would-be successor to Love Parade debuts in Berlin

Berlin, Jul 9 (EFE).- Rave The Planet, meant to recapture the magic of the legendary Love Parade, made its debut here Saturday with larger-than-expected turnout.

By late afternoon, some 45,000 people had joined the procession down Berlin’s stately Kurfürstendamm, according to police estimates.

While a far cry from the 1.5 million drawn by the Love Parade in in its late-1990’s heyday, participation was substantially better than the 25,000 predicted by organizers, especially in light of the downpour that drenched the German capital.

“Everything is taking place in peace and without incident,” a police officer said.

The impetus behind Rave The Planet comes from DJ Dr. Motte, the founder of the original Love Parade, which moved out of Berlin in the first decade of this century before disappearing entirely in the wake of the 2010 edition in Duisburg, where a stampede left 21 people dead.

Saturday’s procession began with a speech from Dr. Motte, who advocated the establishment of a basic income for art and culture workers and asked Unesco to recognize techno music and clubbing culture as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The theme of the event was “Together Again.”

When Dr. Motte first floated the idea of reviving the festival in 2020, politically engaged people on the left in the techno world were skeptical.

Reclaim Cultur Club, who three years ago helped organize a massive protest after the far-right AfD, said that Dr. Motte’s political agenda was too vague and noted that the original Love Parade suffered from a tendency toward commercialization.

Berlin’s techno scene has always had a political dimension in terms of battling xenophobia and defending the rights of minorities, including LGBT people. EFE rz/dr

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