"Basta!" Teens Prepare For Loss Of Hall

national | anti-capitalism | feature

Tuesday April 04, 2006 22:18

by W - wsm - anarchist youth

improvemyself at hotmail dot com

The kids are doing it for themselves

"Ha! Get Down There Young Fella Ya'll Only Do Yourself An Injury

Wicklow based Basta youth collective, a radical non-profit youth group, are to find themselves homeless as Paddy’s Hall in Greystones has been boarded up.

The group of self-organised teenagers have been using the hall for over a year to put on alcohol free, drugs free gigs as well as film showings and providing space for their Basta drama group.

Paddy’s hall has been the groups base of operations since they formed in October 2004 and has played host to bands from across Ireland as well as American and European acts. It has also provided space for many local bands to play who wouldn’t normally have a chance to play to large crowds of their peers.

Originally owned by the local protestant church the hall was sold on to a consortium of developers who allowed Basta to continue using it so long as they provided their own insurance. The hall is now to be boarded up as local youths are constantly breaking in and vandalising the building.

Some Related Links:

Basta Youth Collective Mission Statement | Punkforit - a forum where parts of the scene that has developed around the Basta Youth Collective engage in discussions on politics, culture etc | Photo's from Basta's Xmas and NY's afternoon gig. | Radio Doc on Hope Promotions, who were diy gig promoters doing rock/hardcore gigs in Dublin between 1987 – 1999 whose memory still inspires people today

David Clune a young Basta member says that this will not be the end of the collective, “We are currently looking for other social spaces it doesn’t matter where we go, if we are together we will always prevail in the face of the guards, developers or anyone.
The question of survival isn’t the issue, its where we will take ourselves”

Basta members are looking to find a new building for their activities. They hope to rent a space which might allow them a greater amount of control over their activities. Dylan Haskins, a founding member of the collective, said, “From having total control over Paddy’s hall we saw the potential for what we could do with our own space, we wanted to open a zine library on friday nights so anyone could hang out there and discuss..it gave us a sense of what could be achieved”

Basta have faced trouble in the past claiming to have suffered harassment at both the hands of the gardai and a local gang, “A member of the collective was stabbed during the summer, the gardai said there was no co-operation even though the people that did it were outside, they were saying it was our fault for not giving our names, trying to pin it on us saying we were witnesses but most of us hadn’t seen anything” Haskins said.

Basta events in Paddy’s hall have drawn crowds of up to 200 teens in the past and the collective itself has more than 20 members who make all the decisions on a consensus basis allowing everyone a say in what goes on. They are connected to similar youth groups around the country which formed after the Basta tour of Ireland last year.

They operate on what they call a “DIY ethic”, the main goal is to create an inclusive community. "We wanted with our own bands to create a sense of community and use the music as a medium to get broader political messages out there. Through that we’ve created a tight community that’s getting new people involved” says Haskins. They view the corporate music world and “rock star mentality” as problematic and encourage people to play music for enjoyment rather than financial gain.

Basta contingent at "Take Back The City"