Me Tū Kotahi Tātou: Stronger Together Communities For Public Health

Aotearoa Stronger Together is inviting communities to come together at 2pm this Saturday to show their support for a collective response to COVID that cares for everyone, particularly those most at risk.

At least eight events have been organised around the Wellington region and people are encouraged to organise their own masked and distanced outdoor events to demonstrate the depth of community commitment to public health and against disinformation.

“In normal times, we would rally and march to stand up for our public health workers and against the kinds of hateful messages and disinformation we have seen at Parliament,” says spokesperson Serah Allison.

“But these are not normal times. We want to keep our communities safe. So we are asking people to gather in a socially distanced way...”

“This Saturday, the 5th of March, join with your family, faith group, union, political group, or neighbours to show that we are stronger together. If we all gather at 2pm, at our various locations across Wellington and around the country, we can show strength in numbers without compromising our health and safety.”

“We want everyone to send an image of your gathering to our email address ( aotearoastrongertogether@protonmail.com ) and to share their gathering on social media using the hashtag #StrongerTogether. Show that we support health care and health care workers, and that we want everyone to have access to the resources they need to be safe during the pandemic.”

Organisers are very clear they are not gathering near the occupation at Parliament and do not want any confrontation with occupiers.

“We do not want gatherings that risk exposure to COVID-19. We are building a mass, measured response: distanced, but united across the city and country. We say identify a good location for your group and build from there” says spokesperson Serah Allison.

So far events are planned in Kāpiti, Porirua, Victoria University, Kilbirnie, Karori, outside Wellington Hospital, Petone, and Berhampore.

For more details about how to be involved, see Aotearoa Stronger Together on Facebook, or visit aotearoatogether.org

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