16/11/2021
Saturday night (13/11/21) at the first edition of Manifold, a person was r***d. The party is (mis)represented as a q***r, safe(r) space event by the organizers, but necessary precautions to assure the safety of the party were not taken. The precautions that were taken were not complied with or performative and shallow of nature. People who went to the party report being groped, being verbally and physically harassed, being followed home, someone came forward for having their drink spiked and someone was r***d. Manifold will attest to these events happening. Organizers went live on their Instagram page to address the situation. However, as people who were also coincidentally present at this party, we are appalled at how they misrepresented the facts – in what we can only assume is an attempt to save face.
As it is mentioned in Manifold’s Instagram-video (2:50), one of the organizers interrupted the r**e (they called it an assault, however) happening in the toilets. They told us over the phone the day after the party that they did this because they assumed someone was doing drugs there. In their video however, they make it seem as if they stopped a r**e on purpose. In reality, one of the people at the other side of the door told the victim that this was not the place to have s*x. Her response to this was that she did not consent to what happened. We know this, because after being left unsupervised and helpless for 1,5 hours at the party – the victim was taken to a safe place by people outside of the event (two people from meldet), where we talked. When talking to the hosts on the phone, it became clear to us that one of them did not know what happened even after more than an hour had passed. The news was however spreading among the crowd and the bouncers of the event and that is how we came to know and search for this person.
What Manifold also fails to mention is that they let the ra**st in question go and did not call the police. Their explanation for this (15:20) is that the victim did not want to talk to the police. We believe however that it is unacceptable to let a ra**st run free when caught in the act. We believe that it is possible to call the police and keep the victim safe from having to interact with them. In their video they want to assure us that the police has been contacted (3:10). However, police was only contacted the day after, when we demanded them to secure the camera footage of the bar and call the police with a description of the perpetrator – since we knew one of them had seen the man.
About 7 minutes into their video (7:00) they mention their eight bouncers, because it’s thanks to them that ‘it’ was noticed and could be prevented. We don’t know what they are referring to however because someone got r***d, someone got spiked. Multiple people got groped, harassed and followed home. None of it was prevented.
Lastly, we would like to address: “the many fu***ng precautions [we took] to keep it safe space” (quote, 5:50). Aforementioned precautions: “consent is s*xy”-stickers, bracelets according to whether or not you wanted to be photographed, house rule posters, and eight bouncers explaining the concept of a safe space. Though everyone who contacted us were not informed about these house-rules or the safe space concept at the door or inside. Also bracelets according to whether or not you wanted to be photographed were not present.
Lest us not forget that the organizers only admitted to being wrong in the last 30 seconds of their 18 minute video. In the video of the organizers asks themself: “Could I have prevented this?” (8:30) Maybe not. But you could have called the police and caught a ra**st. You could have taken care of a person who was just r***d, instead of leaving them outside with one of the bouncers, “to sober up” (their words). You could have kept people from assuming they were safe at your event, when you have no idea how to create a safe space. You could have been honest in your communication, but you were more occupied with saving face.
You could have set the right example.
What happened at manifold is not exceptional, but it will keep happening if intense cultural change doesn’t happen. This will be difficult and there are no shortcuts in the process. You cannot paste a poster on the wall and put an untrained bouncer outside of the door and call it a safe(r) space. This is a dangerous mindset. This is part of the problem.
