Carnival Compromised

This year’s “non-political” Cuba Street Carnival moved a step closer to blatant commercialism and away from the community event it once was. The parade featured SUVs emblazoned with ZM logos, road closures that were set up by Fulton-Hogan, the contractor responsible for the current gutting of the Te Aro community, and just to highlight the crassness of the whole thing, ZM announcer Polly Gillespie declared that the James Smith’s Xmas parade should emulate the carnival and have “more breasts.”

It is time the carnival organisers understood that succumbing to business and council pressures, commercialising the parade with corporate logos and cutting out community groups is hardly “non-political.” In fact the appearance of Mark Blumsky, ex-mayor and supporter of Kerry Prendergast, was further proof of the very political nature of the event.
It is time to reclaim the carnival for the community.