(JTA) — SlutWalk Chicago in a post on its official Facebook page clarified the policy for its upcoming event.

“Bring symbols of your respective faiths, if that is what you choose to do. Bring symbols of resistance, but leave symbols of nationalism and oppression at home,” read the message posted Monday.

“Let us be clear: the Star of David is welcome at our event, just as all symbols of faith and heritage are welcome. We are as firmly against anti-Semitism as we are against Islamophobia,” it also said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Under the new policy, Jewish Pride flags will be permitted, but Israeli flags and all other national flags are not.

“SlutWalk is a day where people come together to fight back against rape culture. We can be proud of our own individual identities while doing so, but this is a march to stand firmly against the oppression people face because of patriarchy, rape culture, and inaccessibility to reproductive healthcare, not expressly a pride parade. Some of the biggest perpetrators of rape culture are state governments, which not only create conditions for these oppressions but actively enforce them through unjust laws and practices. We want to unite all oppressed people by fighting back against the forces of injustice, not divide people by the borders that we oppose as an anti-state collective that stands against the fear and divisions fomented by nationalism,” the post said.

The group also apologized for its original tweets in the wake of the Chicago Dyke March in which it said it supported the decision to remove three women carrying Jewish Pride flags.

“We also apologize for two retweets posted to the SlutWalk twitter last weekend that stated that the Magen David was always a Zionist symbol and could not be claimed as a symbol of Jewish pride outside of the context of Zionism. This is not a position that we as a collective stand behind, the person responsible for the retweets has removed themselves from the group, and we are no longer organizing with them pending an accountability process,” the apology said.

ADVERTISEMENT

Organizers of the Chicago Dyke March in June asked three women carrying rainbow flags with a white Star of David, saying they would be a “trigger,” or traumatic stimulus, for those who found them offensive.

Haaretz reported Sunday, citing an organizer of the SlutWalk Chicago, that the group would welcome all participants at the Aug. 12 march who wish to protest sexual violence and the attitudes of shame and blame that surround it. The organizer, identified as Red, also said the collective needs to make amends to the Jewish community for past actions.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)