We write this text as a report of Albaniatek 2023 to try to return the complexity of what happened in
the first week of the festival.
The fourth teknival was held in the same place as last year, the Vile-Bashtove beach, where there are
concentred tourist interests, whit beach resorts and bath-houses, some of them under construction.
Even before it began, it was expected that the festival would be much larger than previous years, and
it seemed that no-one had thought about harm reduction.
Face of the claim of some sound systems and many people who would be going to Teknival, Lab57
decided to make a broader call as possible in an effort to organize a Risk Reduction intervention, with
the collaboration of people from the “Smash Repression” network and friends/comrades who joined
us during the party, who were able to help in such cases.
We prefer to talk about Risk Reduction like the French teams, rather than Harm Reduction,
because we believe that harms are not necessarily present if appropriate practices are
implemented, embedding genres and context.
Our approach is not based on simple social assistance nor welfarism that medicalizes substance use
by treating those who use them such as patients to be cured, rather it attempts to empower all people
involved in the party, obviously helping those in need, but providing all the necessary informations
so that everyone is aware of what they decide to take and the consequences, thus stimulating
selfmanagement and self-regulation in substance use.
Also in the spirit of empowerment, we decided to distribute to the persons of all sound systems the
Risk Reduction Guidelines explaining our work in chill-out, the list of useful materials to have on
hand at each stage, first aid items and what to do in case of harassment. In addition, each sound
systems had phone numbers to call in case of emergency and a little number of persons on duty in the
chill-out area .
On September 1, once we arrived, we realized the dimensions that the teknival was taking on: more
than 15 soundwalls were erected on a very large area of the beach, at least 2.5 km long, due to the
work of more than 50 crews (Albanian, Italian, French, Spanish, Czech,Turkish, among others), and
around them a city-camp of at least 10 thousand people was being held, even into the pine forest
behind the beach, reaching up to 15-20 thousand people as its maximum.
We were also struck by the massive trash amount on the beach: the sea we crossed is a garbage dump,
as the rest of the Oceans, into which up to 12 million tons of plastic are dumped each year. garbage
we produce that accumulates on the sides of the road crossing the teknival We find local guys cleaning
up and differencing the garbage we produce and accumulate on the road sides with their bare hands,
just for a few leks per day.
Although some people from the sounds have made efforts to try to clean up the place as much as
possible, it seems to us that the basic principle of Temporary Autonomous Zones of caring for the
place, regenerating it after leaving it clean, has been lacking.
As we walked through the party, we realize that very few local people were participating. But maybe
that is a thought that doesn’t really even cross our minds, because we were not building the party for
them as well. We tried to “redemption” ourselves by saying that we are bringing them money and
they were so kind, end even spoke our language. Perhaps we do not remember one of the concealed
and forgotten pages of colonialism: in 1939 the Italian fascist government occupied Albania,
remaining there until the armistice in 1943-a presence already inaugurated in the 1920s.
While repression crushes party people in Italy, for the fourth year the eastern tour of many raving
crews ends in Albania..
The privilege of being able to enjoy ourselves in a poorer area without running into the risks we
would have encountered elsewhere in Europe was being felt, and the question we are asking is about
the redistribution of the resources we have.
In the festivals we would like, to make connections with the territory is a key node. In building
these temporary autonomous zones, we want to be in touch with the past and present of the places
in which we dance, to create together moments of real sharing.
Within the festival there are also those who have offered moments of exchange and cultural
interpenetration: this was the case with the Melting Pot project, which hosted one of the most beautiful
moments of the entire Teknival. During the evening of September 1, we witnessed Albanian isopolyphonic
songs (here is a video of a 2014 performance by the Violinat E Lapardhase choir
These kinds of precious moments should be implemented, to relate sincerely with people and try
together to build something. What are the desires and needs of those who live in these places? What
are the critical issues that arise in front of a party of this size in such a context?
The Teknival was very dispersive, taking more than 20 minutes to walk it from one end to the other.
Thanks to the crucial support of the Melting Pot stage, we mounted the chill-out zone almost in the
half way.
Despite the difficulties we realized early on that the presence of the chill-out has become a point
of reference for people going through the Teknival, having made available:
– free water, food and juice;
– multi-lingual information materials on substances, harm reduction practices, and consent;
– health materials such as breathalyzer, condoms, clean snorting materials, etc;
– Free Drug-checking (substance analysis) 24h service;
– A chill-out area for resting and sleeping;
– a small first aid site with two doctors and basic medicines.
– help for people in trouble due to substance use or because of aggression or gender-based
violence.
These interventions proved to be very important. In these 7 days hundreds of people came to us
and we managed to avoid at least 20 hospitalizations for substance use and at least 3 very critical
interventions fortunately without consequences (2 seizures and an heart attack). We also treated
dozens of accidental injuriesa and fractures, and supported at least a dozen people in Bad Trip.
During the fifth day of the party, a group of people come to us reporting a particularly frightful rape
case that occurred the night before. At the same time we learnt of another rape.
Through their friends we offered support to people in case they wanted to talk to us and at the same
time we decided with them to write signs to put up close to the sounds. We called for a meeting in
the afternoon to build the materials, in which many people joined, including some who took part in
organizing the Teknival.
A spontaneous assembly was then formed, as the news of the violence spreaded like wildfire in the
meantime. During this first assembly another girl would tell of being harassed by some Italian men
as she moved from one sound to another.
One tried to figure out how to react to the situation: we were faced with some people- the masculine
plural is not accidental- who tried to question whether the violence really happened, demanding
evidence and trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation, while fortunately so many people
actively tried to find solutions in order to not allow the reproduction of that violent dynamics in the
party itself.
According to some people, the best thing would be to stop immediately and to break up, other were
agree to continue. By this time, however, it was 7 p.m., and it was felt that shutting down at any
moment was not a good idea. Therefore, some strategies were realized : those who were present from
the crews committed themselves to illuminate as much as possible the areas around the sounds; a
group of people write on posters a message translated into at least 7 languages that would be hung in
each sound; an audio version of this message is also made, which some walls broadcasting it.
To those claiming that this has “total paranoia,” we replied that the only thing that should scare us is
the attempt to silence violence in the name of a celebration that must necessarily continue.
Some of us who participated in the Risk Reduction set up a distro with materials centered on gender
issues, like fanzines among others that ranged from restitution of struggles to reflections on the
relationships we built, but also on violence itself, its structural nature and the strategies putted in place
to deal with it.
We make an appointment for the next day to assess whether the practices put in place had worked,
finding ourselves in a much better attended assembly than the previous one (at least 200 people),
during which all the sounds go out for a few hours to allow it to continue as best as possible. More
girls told about harassment and the rapes rise to three. We were again confronted with males trying
to deny what is happening in order that the party would continue “undisturbed”. For many people
instead the only thing to do at that point is to turn it off. Some crews didn’t want to do so and say
they want to stay until 10th (the originally set closing date), while others decided that they would shut
down, disassemble, and leave the area the next day. We were still faced with another night.
The discussion goes on for hours: many people begin to argue that the violence comes exclusively
from people sneaked into the party on that purpose, from Albanian locals arriving in the evening by
car. And we found ourselves listening to an old tune: “we must defend our women.” We are familiar
with these narratives: the so-called “black danger” was a key weapon in historical colonialism, a
weapon that continues to this day, enabling racially motivated violence through the reproduction of
the patriarchal idea of women as helpless subjects in need of a man’s protection.
One wonders, too, whether the party would have stopped if the first case of violence had not had such
heinous features. A good portion of people present at the assembly rejected the racist and monstrous
narrative proposed by some. Many reasoned instead about how easy it is to reproduce a patriarchal
world even in free-parties. We know well that the one who acts violence is not a monster, a raver, a
junkie, an Albanian or a mad-man: the one who rapes is a man.
The proposals were very different, some would end up being further violent. It was decided to form
groups, so-called team-care ones, to go around the entire party to provide roving garrisons of care in
case there were lonely people in need, someone provides walkie-talkies, and shifts were arranged
throughout the night. It was reiterated repeatedly that no escalation of violence should be created (and
it has been). Small safer zones were also created close to each sound, and all crews take responsibility
for being focal points for those in need.
Team-care worked: in addition to providing great support to the RoR by reporting people in need,
they defused several situations of gender-based and racist violence that were occurring against
Albanian people in a completely arbitrary manner.
Some girls begin to draw “X’ on visible parts of their bodies, a practice that takes its cue from the
colorful zip ties used as recognition in the streets by the feminist “Ni Una Menos” movement.
We are aware of the partiality of some practices adopted but we believe that no-one of us have
solutions in our mind, replicable in every context: we believe in the power that is built collectively,
being in contact with contradictions and issues that arise in processes.
Because gender violence, as well as racial violence, is structural, we do not presume to feel outside
the problem, but instead seek to be in contact with it: we want to relate to it, taking into account the
positions of each one.
It is precisely for this reason that the community care practices we built have centrality, without
lapsing into welfarism and delegation, but oriented toward active and widespread participation from
a self-management perspective that takes into account human, non-human (even dogs are part of our
communities!) and place.
Whether it is about risk reduction related to substances, gender-based violence, racially motivated
violence, or caring for the places we pass through our gaze is intersectional. The party for us is a
time to experiment with a way of building a different world, where we try to live in freedom, making
place for joy and not capitalist productivism, without reproducing the multiple forms of violence on
which the society we live in is built.
The next day, September 7, as we previously decided, we disassemble the chillout and leave. With
us most part of the sounds disassemblee and leave.
In the meantime, that avalanche of misinformation has now begun, getting bigger and bigger and is
made worse by warnings on social media. Some speak of settling of scores, organized armed gangs
waiting for ravers at the exit of the party. We go out in great tranquility, without encountering anyone.
Here is where our report stops. The crews that remained with the last active stages continued the party
and started to break away from 10/09, the last sound went out on September 12.
Upon returning to Italy, we thought we would devote ourselves to this text immediately, but we were
slowly joined by more and more voices denying the violence.
“Where is the evidence? And then who are these girls? It was a collective paranoia.”
We come to read increasingly problematic comments and proposals. Some argue that Albanian people
should not have even approached the area, or that the violences were all fake news.
It makes us very sad to see how easily violence is denied or downplayed to defend the “reputation”
of the party rather than questioning and proposing with respect to the practices experienced; it makes
us angry to see how easily violence is disbelieved because the people who experienced it did not give
a detailed account of it to some people who think they have authority in an anti-authoritarian context
such as a party (and who then demand to the cops to make sure there are no complaints!).
On the other hand, it is crucial for us to report what happened: we had never seen a Teknival stopping
and the creation of spontaneous assemblies after gender-based violence.
The party is not only made by the crews who organize and bring the sound, it is made also by
all the people who participate and dance in front of those speakers.
We want to dance free from violence.
We also want our parties to be places in which we take care one to each other