Psychedelics under Catastrophe: Reflections on the October 7 Rave Massacre
The South Atlantic Quarterly April 1, 2025 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1215/00382876-11626577 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
The essay argues that the hedonistic and spiritual culture of psychedelic trance music in Israel does not oppose the country's militarism but instead expresses its underlying settler-colonial structure. It reflects on the October 7, 2023, massacre of Israeli ravers by Palestinian militants, emphasizing that the countercultural specifics of psytrance help explain its unique popularity in Israel. Pleasure, the text contends, is shaped by violence and catastrophe.
Study at a glance
| Design | theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key finding | The spirituality and hedonism of psytrance articulate rather than oppose Israel's settler-colonial fabric. |
Abstract
How is pleasure structured by violence and catastrophe? This essay provides reflections on an event profusely mentioned but little understood at the time of writing, the massacre of Israeli ravers in the attack on October 7, 2023, by Palestinian militants. It is important to sketch the countercultural specificities of psychedelic trance music to appreciate how it became singularly popular in the state of Israel. It turns out the spirituality and hedonism of psytrance do not stand in opposition to the militarism of Israel but form an articulation of its disavowed settler-colonial fabric.