Slutwalk - Perspective and Apologies as an Organizer

Kia ora koutou,
Comment on the route as an organizer.

*edit - I HAD AN INCREDIBLE TIME (as the post below will bear witness) and I usually reserve this blog for positivity and thanks, I felt it was appropriate to address the issues that were raised at The Handmirror, they were valid and should be addressed.

I will begin by saying a heartfelt thanks for all of you for attending and giving this event the support it deserves. Also thank you for all the feedback, good and bad. It means that next year it can be better and the movement can continue to grow. It also allows me to front up and address concerns in an open forum which I am delighted to do and is also helping me address my own shortcomings. Thanks very much for the opportunity.

It has been a massive learning curve for me, the first protest/march I have ever organised. It was wonderful and amazing but definitely far from perfect. I am not using my newness or naivety as an excuse for where we fell short, rather as context for why we ended going up the stairs and also why the route seemed rather "hidden".

Maia, you’re correct in saying that whatever the Council/Police had advised us to do, does not absolve us of our responsibility as the organisers. We made the choice what to do and what we should follow. The council and police were both open to the idea of the march but also maintained the need not to disrupt the peace/hold up traffic for a political purpose and the fact they would not support an event that did that.

There was a lot of consultation/emailing/meetings between me/MJ/Police/WCC regarding the route we were to take. Both MJ and I proposed initially to walk down a main arterial route (Lambton Quay, Cable Street) but this was not met with any approval and was eventually whittled down to a route that went down the waterfront and then on to Civic Square. I will take responsibility for this and give the following reasons why Saturday looked like it did (a mixture of pragmatism and also emotion) :

1) Safety for everyone marching was of prime importance for me and if we didn't have Police support to march down the roads, I wasn't going to orchestrate that myself.
2) An ongoing and quite intense outpouring of idiocy, hate and general shit talking in my personal life and also on the facebook pages regarding the event lead me to want to provide a route that was both visible but also would avoid hatred spewing out IRL. A mixture of a lack of courage on my part and also a desire to ensure the march occurred in a space that was safe for everyone lead me to comply with the route the police approved. *edit I also wanted to maintain a postive image for tis event and not have the coverage focused on traffic disrutption as it did with Queer the Night recently.
I can see now that this kept us “hidden” or at least gave that impression, I apologise to anyone who felt that way because being “hidden” from the mainstream for something that shouldn’t be offensive or polarizing is bullshit and is not my intention. In it's own way it perpetuates the culture that we are trying to move against so for that I am really ashamed and really sorry.
3) We made the call on the day to march up the stairs, rather than across the road/up the ramp, as we approached the City to Sea bridge and I could see the sea of people behind me I took the route that was familiar to me and that I had discussed with both the police and the WCC before the march occured, we definitely considered a whole range of routes to get to civic square but I made the call on the day not to march across the road/up the ramp - a mixture of my newness, stupidity, panic, lack of courage and wanting to keep everyone safe and something that was DEFINITELY was ableist of me. I acknowledge this and my need to see beyond myself. I am really deeply and truly sorry.

Good Gravey, we were informed of the Chinese Festival occurring in Civic Square but were told that if we left Waitangi Park at 2:30 they would be packed up but the time we got there and we could have the whole of Civic Square to rally in. As you can all tell this was not the case. So we were stuck at the top of the stairs.

Hope that clears a few things up. I can see from the response that I really did fuck up and didn’t consider my privilege as someone who is able bodied/doesn’t have children and a pram and that as an organiser I have the power and responsibility to make it as inclusive as possible. I let a lot of people down here and for that I am sorry and I take personal responsibility for the shortcomings of the event. I don’t know if an apology now means much but I will personally undertake that it will be improved for next year and I am more than willing to meet with and talk to anyone who wants to so I know I can set it right and make this event as inclusive as possible. No event is ever perfect but I can see now after glow has faded, there is so much to work on. I’m committed to doing that not just for all of you that were brave enough to come out and support us and the cause but also for myself and my continuing education as a feminist, event organiser and decent human being.
Email me Pollyanne.pena@slutwalkaotearoa.com if you have any further questions or need to talk to me about anything regarding the event.

Thanks again all for the opportunity to talk about this in an open and transparent forum. I hope that the message wasn’t lost in the lack-lustre organisation.

Nga mihi hui,

Polly

*edit: the people I refer to in this post are some of the ones that had responded to a thread at the hand mirror