For more times I wrote a critique towards free tekno, even if I leave aside the fact that their version of anarchy includes total freedom for all drugs, and the erosion of what once made a human being truly human…
Someone may invoke the idea of freedom, but through their actions, they actually occupy, destroy, or displace the freedom of others.
When you claim the right to disturb the peace, to take space, to be accountable to no one — while the people around you lose the ability to decide about their own environment, their own sleep, their own body — their right to rest, to health, to dignity — then you’re no longer fighting for freedom. You’re claiming the rights of others as if they were unguarded territory.
When someone says they live freely, yet completely ignores the consequences of their actions on others, they are not speaking of freedom — but of egocentrism. It’s not ethics — it’s convenient justification. And if this community is unwilling to reflect on the consequences of its presence, then it cannot expect respect, nor understanding from the outside world.
If the free tekno community in practice violates peace, dignity, safety, and the living space of others, then it is objectively in conflict with human rights and freedoms, no matter what it claims about itself.
That’s why this community does not have my respect — not because a music style, but because of its disregard, masked as freedom. Freedom without responsibility is not freedom. It is a denial of humanity.
In my view, this is an attempt — whether conscious or not — to convince or even pressure everyone to eventually accept their version of anarchy, a world where no one asks anymore, where people are no longer truly human, but have regressed into “animals”.
Much of what I’ve said here is also the reason why I support daytime events — often in the Netherlands — where even organizers themselves refuse during weekend’s to play music after midnight out of respect for others.
Yet when I wrote multiple times that “Strictness is Freedom,” this is exactly what I meant — another example from the Netherlands. The strictness exists to support the understanding of human rights and freedoms as they truly are. To me, this reflects the idea that human rights and freedoms function better in Western societies, and because of that, these societies are better freer for everyone.
In short: European Free Tekno Scene
In Britain, where free tekno originated, the free tekno scene was already broken in the 1990s by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. In the Benelux—Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium, there is no identical law like the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, but authorities commonly classify these events as illegal raves and quickly disperse them—often seizing sound equipment, towing vehicles, and issuing fines.
The behavior of the free tekno community in these countries is considered socially unacceptable, disturbing public order and the lives of local residents. This is at the core of the concept of “anti-social behavior.” In Luxembourg, rapid interventions are also supported by nature protection laws.
Contrast with surrounding countries
• While in Luxembourg or Belgium the police may arrive with dozens of vehicles, helicopters, and immediately seize equipment, in the Czech Republic monitoring and oversight are the standard response.
• In the Netherlands or England, the mere fact of a free tekno gathering with music is enough to trigger inevitable intervention.
• In the Czech Republic, events often last several days, and the police usually address related issues (traffic, drugs) rather than the music itself or another anti-social aspects.
Result:
While the scene in Britain practically disappeared after 1994, France and the Czech Republic became “safe havens” for exiled sound systems, where free tekno not only survived but grew into a mass phenomenon. From there, the culture spread further into Italy, Germany, Spain, Slovakia and Poland, but the main core remained in France and the Czech Republic. While it’s true that France (Bretagne, Occitanie, Marseille, for example) has the largest free tekno community in absolute numbers, when adjusted for population size, Czechia has the largest. It’s a central hub for the European sound system scene.
