Session 2 - Views from the Dance Floor [< Previous] | [Next >]
b) Rudiger Schmolke & Frederik Luhmer: Eclipse e.V
Rudiger Schmolke & Frederik Luhmer
Eclipse, Goehrener Strasse 7, D-10437 Berlin.
Phone no: ++49 +30 +4435 6561. Fax no: (phone before!) +4435 6562
www.eclipse-online.de www.eclipse-online.de
Introduction
Eclipse e.V is a group of about fifteen people mostly from Berlin, Germany. The consensus is that we all like to party, as most of us met each other at parties. Otherwise, we have very different backgrounds: some of us have some kind of professional background; some of us are also working in official drug counselling centres, others are psychologists and sociologists. We also have different interests in the field of drug work; some want to do drug research, others have political interests, others are just involved in the actual work on parties.
The project was founded about three years ago as an independent project without any regular financial support except for irregular payments from a few party or event organisers. We are self-organised and do not belong to the professional drug support system. We have contacts, but do not co-operate with other organisations within this system. Eclipse is a part of the nation-wide peer project network involved in the party scene. As we are an independent organisation, we are allowed to do whatever we want to, as long as it is legal. We share the point of view of drug users. That means that the people we work with should be the ones to define what help they get. We try to offer support that fits in with people's needs. That is the basis of what we do.
Activities
We work mainly in big open-air parties and big festivals around Berlin. These festivals are attended by about 10,000 or more people. We try to be a part of the party. We all enjoyed going to these parties before we became an organisation and still go to these parties outside of organisational work. When Eclipse is at a party we set up a regular chaishop, a nicely decorated tent with lights and coloured cloth. We sell chai (spiced tea with lots of milk), water and other things such as fruits and snacks. We also supply information, but we do not force people to take it.
First and foremost the tent is a chill out area. Nobody is forced to talk about anything; we don't address people aggressively. People can come to us with any problem or desire, not necessarily concerning drugs. They can talk to us about whatever topic they want. We are not social workers. We do not only talk about people's problems; we also like to share their good experiences. We defined it once as 'offering an open and communicative atmosphere'. We want people to participate in the party like we do, not only to dance and maybe take drugs but to also seize their creativity. That means: do whatever you want, participate, be a part of it, communicate, create things.
The 'adventure chill out area' is a chill out space where we try to offer people things to participate in. For example live action painting, or offering toys or giving people the opportunity to build objects with bricks. We also set up a typewriter where everyone can sit down and write whatever comes to mind about the party. The atmosphere is meant to be open, open to everything: open to drug users, open to non drug users, open to people with altered states of mind; open to whomever.
Another service we provide at these parties is what we call the 'psychedelic ambulance'. It is a kind of crisis intervention. Sometimes at parties people - especially those who take psychoactive or psychedelic drugs - can get into mental or social difficulties. Therefore we try to create another space, a quiet tent, which is, if possible, quite far away from all the noise. It is a place where people can just rest, leave the party if they are troubled by the light, the noises, the people, the music or anything else. We try to guide them through that state of mind, and talk people down, if necessary. Also we are providing mineral and fruit drinks. All in all, we are trying to take care of people.
Our group includes people with a therapeutic background in activities such as massage, yoga, breathing techniques etc., or psychotherapy. Contact is very important: showing them they are not alone, that they can share their experiences, soothe difficulties, and multiply benefits. Another thing that is very important at these parties is the promotion of networking. We try to encourage people to talk about their (drug) experiences, about good and bad experiences. Not only in the way of: 'this was great' and 'that was horrible'. People should recognise all shades of grey. They should present everything they feel like, not being ashamed of bad experiences. And they should not keep away good experiences because they are afraid of pushing other people to take drugs. Just the possibility to share their experiences helps a lot in integrating them into their everyday life.
The core of Eclipse's work is done at parties but we also have other projects. We are participating in a drug testing initiative in Germany. We have a web-site @ www.eclipse-online.de where we are offering drug information as we do at parties. We have also developed some drug information sheets, and flyers to explain what we do at parties and how to get in contact with us. People who come to us at a party usually do not get the impression that we are drug counsellors; there is just a tent with our name on it, nothing else. The full name of our organisation is 'eclipse: association for accepting drug work and psychedelic crisis intervention'. If we were to write this on our tent probably no one would show up. So what we try is to make ourselves known by word of mouth, let people inform each other like: "Have you heard there are some quite cool people in there? You can get information about drugs but you can also sit down and just drink a chai with them or just smoke a joint or whatever".
We have a consensus about not taking drugs at parties ourselves if we are working in the `psychedelic ambulance´, although that does not necessarily include cannabis. It is also very important to us that we work closely with the organisers, so we have walkie-talkies, and communication with the medical ambulance service, because we have our limits. We cannot help everyone, though we would like to, so we always work together.
Responses
People's reactions are usually quite positive because we don't push things. Maybe in part it is because we do not come into contact with people who do not like us, because they simply stay away. If people want to come to us, they can come, if they don´t want to, they don´t have to. Of course there are always exceptions, some people are very critical about what we do.
Another aspect of our activities is that we try to work with intermediaries, for example social workers or youth workers from the educational system. Their acceptance of us is sometimes crucial. But as we accept them, and don´t say we are right, and they are wrong, it is possible to talk with them about our point of view and give them the opportunity to consider the possibility of our different approach. We want to promote alternative lifestyles and self responsibility, we want to provide or develop the social infrastructure needed for other people to let things like this happen. The relationship depends on what we offer people and more on what they are asking for. In the eyes of some though, we are just another chaishop. They think that we are making money through them. But if we explain what we do, that we are not only offering drug information, but we are also there for people who have overdosed on drugs (although there are only a few people in severe psychotic states), people usually accept, and sometimes support, our work.
At parties, there are usually about fifteen people from the Eclipse organisation, but also our friends help out at parties, so there are usually 30, sometimes 35 people all together. We have people who help us to decorate, we have people who make music. The program we offer grows with the size of the party. We have an agreement that friends of ours can help us in serving chai and so on but not to talk about drug problems: that is only for members of Eclipse.
We have information sheets that provide basic information about different dance drugs and safer-use possibilities, and we put them with regular flyers on the tables of other chaishops and at the entrance to catch people's attention. We try to be open-minded and give people the feeling that they only have to do what they feel like.
Lots of people come and ask what we are doing. They are often surprised to find out that we are a non-profit organisation. Other people usually want to make money. Non-profit means that none of the money we make goes into private hands, most of the time we just cover our expenses. If we do make gains, the money flows back into other project activities. Otherwise we could only do our work by allying ourselves to a professional drug support institution. So far we neither have to nor want to do this. Nobody sends us to a party; we decide ourselves whether we attend a party or not. We have the freedom to do what we want to, unlike the regular drug support system where drug agencies have certain obligations. We have our agreements with the party organisers and the main focus for us is the needs and desires of the party goers.
Contact:
eclipse
Goehrener Strasse 7
D-10437 Berlin
phone ++49 +30 +4435 6561
fax (phone before!) +4435 6562
www.eclipse-online.de
info@eclipse-online.de
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