1992 жылғы "Exodus" ұжымы: Лутон қалалық қоғамдық қозғалысының тарихы

Community collective formed in 1992, in Luton, England

Exodus Collective was a community collective and sound system formed in 1992, in the Marsh Farm area of Luton, England. It organised free parties and became involved in housing, social exclusion, and community projects, founded upon the principle of DIY culture. The group squatted buildings and repeatedly came into conflict with Bedfordshire Police, which by 1995 had resulted in Bedfordshire County Council voting for a public inquiry into alleged police harassment. The license of a pub owned by the mother of people in the collective was revoked, a decision which was later overturned by a judicial review. The collective occupied a disused farm and turned it into a community project which they later bought. The fortnightly raves in venues across Bedfordshire attracted up to 10,000 people and, especially during the Marsh Farm riots of 1995, served to defuse tensions locally. By 2000, the collective was holding licensed raves in agreement with landowners. The collective disbanded in 2000, later reforming under the name Leviticus. Some former members were then involved in the Marsh Farm Outreach community group, which successfully campaigned to build a local community centre.

Exodus as a sound system was formed on 5 June 1992, when the collective hosted a free party near woods in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, promoting it through word of mouth in local pubs. A few days earlier, founding member DJ Hazad had reclaimed some speaker cabinets which had been left in a rubbish bin, enlisting a friend to fit speakers in them. The collective was inspired by Luton dub sound system Gemini High Power. Exodus raised funds through donations and bar takings, reinvesting the money in equipment. By the time a third party was held on New Year's Eve 1992, it was estimated to have been attended by 10,000 people.

In summer of 1992, the collective squatted a warehouse which was then evicted in August. Exodus then immediately occupied Long Meadow Farm, which was owned (but left disused) by the Department of Transport. The farm sat beside the M1 motorway, which was due to be expanded in 2000. The group renovated it extensively, eventually being offered a lease. A working farm was set up and it began to hold open days for local schools. The case collapsed at trial with police officers giving contradictory statements. The murder charge was later dropped. In an uncommon sequence of events, the trial was first brought forward six months and then the presiding judge (Maurice Drake) agreed to step aside since he was a Freemason and the Exodus collective had for years come into conflict with masons. By 1998, there had been 11 police raids, 65 arrests and 55 charges. This had resulted in 10 convictions, 9 of which were related to organising unlicensed parties. Further, the police had applied to revoke the licence of a pub in Luton run by Glenn Jenkins's mother, which was frequented by members of the collective. Mrs Jenkins appealed the judgement unsuccessfully and then pursued a judicial review of the case. Lord Justice Dyson ruled in her favour, criticising the judgement of the Appeal Judge Davis as "plainly inadequate" since the reasons to dismiss the appeal had not been made clear. Dyson commented that much more weight should have been given to petition signed by eleven of the pub's twelve neighbours in support of Mrs Jenkins, since the original reason for the revocation of the license was that the pub had been a local nuisance. At the beginning of January 1993, Exodus had supported fourteen homeless people who were squatting a long empty property in Luton called the Oakmore Hotel. Bucket collections were organised at parties in order to help repair the building. After two weeks, the police violently raided the property. All the occupiers would pay their rent or housing benefit into a pot, and decisions as to how the money was spent (for example, renovating the building) were reached by consensus. Marsh Farm, a suburb of Luton, saw three nights of riots in July 1995. In the aftermath of the 2011 England riots, Jenkins later commented in Red Pepper magazine: "From 1995 onwards we proved that youth diversion works better than police oppression. We stopped the Marsh Farm riot by putting on a dance just outside Luton. We wanted to divert the energy and say, c'mon, let's dance, then let's talk, and then let's build". In 1997, and for the next three years afterwards, Exodus held the Free The Spirit Festival at Longmeadow Farm. The 1999 festival resulted in local councillors calling on the then Home Secretary Jack Straw to intervene. Member of Parliament for Mid Bedfordshire Jonathan Sayeed called on the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions to support a decision to evict Exodus from the farm. However, by the end of 1999, the collective had bought the farm co operatively with loans from Triodos Bank and the Industrial Common Ownership Movement (ICOM). His son, now the Duke of Bedford, had negotiated with Exodus that they could organise raves three times a year on the 135,000 acres of Woburn Estates and commented that "they are very easy to talk to, they talk perfectly good sense and I would recommend someone talking to them".

Exodus were featured in Channel 4 documentaries Exodus Movement of Jah People (1995) and Exodus From Babylon (1997). In a 1999 episode of BBC2's Living with the Enemy, a Young Conservative went to stay with Exodus and unsuccessfully reported the collective to the police for smoking cannabis.