#rager

It might freak you out but stories from survivors of events like astroworld can help you get a idea of how it goes down.

Im not an expert, just a nerd who has fixated on crowd anxiety and has been to shows.

- if you're organizing an event like a protest, have a plan for prevention and for crowd control. You need volume, visuals, simple directions. The more we become self sustaining, the less a police fuckup will be our downfall.oi

- it is wise to avoid getting into the front or middle of a big crowd up against barriers. No blame to people who end up in those spots, sometimes in a crowd surge they didnt understand what was happening and had no control. I mean in situations where you are able to make a decision about where you are about to put your body, think about it. If you see a spot is getting tight, that's a good time to not add to it.

- dont fuckin push your way forward or engage in surging behaviors. If you're at the back, sorry, you're at the back. In fact, if it looks like this is happening and you're at the back, you could even communicate with each other and remind each other to back up and give space.

- if someone falls we pick them up!

- pay attention to whats around you and if someone seems like they're struggling, flag a bouncer, surf them out, pull them out, pick them up, make space if you can.

- bystanders: be brave, speak up! get attention to the problem! keep advocating! I know it's hard. Everyone who has lived in a big city has had a "I failed to act ideally as a bystander" story, Im sure. So how do we make ourselves good bystanders? It can help to be prepared. Dont worry if you're overreacting or anything, just sound the alarm that we need to calm down the crowd. Ive seen performers do it in person from the stage, sometimes they do notice you and act.

- if you're stuck, keep your arms up, not above your head (nope!) but framing your chest kinda like a boxer to protect your lungs and keep from getting pinned. move with the flow, dont push against it. focus on your breathing.

- personally when Im in crowds I always used to just try to maintain space and not let more and more people push in. Let people go past to get out, sure, but make my body a little boxier and wider to keep people from squeezing in more and more bodies all around me.

- A lot of historic crowd crushes have happened when crowds got worked up, incited, like "first to get here gets a prize!". The response can be the problem, stuff like the staff not opening the doors as the crowds surged forwards. If you are seeing a surge, ffs dont BLOCK exits, open em.

- There's also a lot of incidences where the problem was the way the space was, like buildings not following the law to respect the space needed in an alleyway for pedestrians. As a community we can advocate for, for lots of reasons including this.

- We can also advocate by making sure venues and festivals actually have these safety protocols and know that we care about it.

The family of one of the Astroworld victims, Madison Alexis Dubiski, set up a foundation to this purpose.

Again, not an expert. Feel free to tell me if you think Im wrong on any points. or add more info.

eta: if you are trying to get people to move back, do it slowly. Knocking people over is deadly.