Boycott Alien Nation NZ

Warwick Harrington, the sole organiser of the outdoor music festival Alien Nation New Zealand, has shown he has no regard for the safety of his patrons. We strongly recommend that anyone who cares about their welfare or that of their fellow festival attendees do not attend Alien Nation.

For five years the Warwick Harrington allowed one of his crew members, Mateo Nelson, more commonly known as “Tao”, to sexually assault festival attendees. Numerous people over that period of time attempted to address this with Warwick in regards to Mateo’s involvement to Alien Nation NZ. He ignored these concerns and let further women be assaulted at his event.

At the 2014 Alien Nation NZ, faced with the fact that a number of survivors who had been assaulted by Mateo Nelson and a large contingent of the outdoor festival community threatened not to attend if that crew member was present. Warwick Harrington agreed that Mateo would not be allowed to attend.

However on the last night of the event Mateo Nelson was allowed to attend, even with the survivors there. Warwick felt it more important that he have the help from him to pack up the party than the safety and wellbeing of his attendees. Warwick Harrington did not think it inappropriate to allow a serial rapist, who has sexually assaulted a number of attendees at party, to be at the event.

Since then the organiser of Alien Nation NZ, Warwick Harrington, has not offered a formal apology. He has shown no transparency about how they intend to address this issue in the future. In addition to this he and the people helping him organise Alien Nation continue to publicly victim blame the women his crew member sexually assaulted.

The organiser of Alien Nation NZ, Warwick Harrington, showed no regard for the safety of his patrons when numerous people tried to warn him about Mateo Nelson’s predation, including people who had been sexually assaulted by him at Alien Nation in previous years. When it became well known that Mateo Nelson was a rapist, Warwick still allowed that him to attend the party.

New Zealand deserves better outdoor music festivals than Alien Nation NZ. Festival attendees deserve to be at an event where the organiser takes their safety seriously. Warwick Harrington doesn’t care about your safety. Alien Nation NZ does not care about your safety. Boycott Alien Nation.

Links:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/71354750/Serial-rapists-sentence-highlights-fetid-dance-party-culture

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/70116349/man-involved-in-outdoor-dance-parties-convicted-of-multiple-rapes