MAMyths Mission

March Against Myths was created to stand up for science and to call on others to do the same. We are radicals for science utilizing organization and movement building for social change. We employ tactics of direct action where applicable. We are not an educational/outreach group, but rely on our partner Biology Fortified, Inc for those efforts.

We do this by operating in the spirit of Satyagraha (tenacity for truth with compassion) and Agape (unconditional love for our fellow humans).

• We respect people regardless of their inherent traits.
• We counter systems, not people.
• We are unapologetically steadfast and resolute in the fight.
• We maintain independence, free from influence of any profit-motivated industry.
• We are nonviolent in our opposition.
• We do not destroy property.
• We operate within the law.

2016 Campaign Strategy

Before we took action again this year we reached out and tried to negotiate with MAM. Our offer was basically “March against Monsanto if you must, but please leave the GMOs (and other pseudoscience) out of it. They rejected our offer so we are now compelled to take direct action and counter-protest their march.

In this context we developed a 3 pronged approach to utilize our resources most efficiently with the greatest chance for success.

1. Prong Advocate: This is our main tactic that we suggest for all chapters. While we are unrepentant direct action organizers we hear the appeals of our supporters. “Let’s reach out instead of attacking.” So we did just that. We invented a project called GMO Voices and we are collecting the stories of the people who know the GMO issue up close and personal. While we bicker day in and day out this otherwise abstract issue, this affects people in a real concrete way. These are their stories. We will pick a representative handful and read them outloud, as proxies, on their behalf, on the streets so that MAM and the public can finally hear them.
2. Prong Boost: If March Against Monsanto is so proud of the pseudoscience myths they propagate let’s help amplify that message and show the public what they’re really about! We will ask MAMyths activists who are not joining Prong Advocate to JOIN MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO. Yes, you heard that correctly. There is no qualification to being a MAM participant. Just show up with a sign and you’re in. But here’s the catch. Go on their website and find an egregious myth that you think is the worst (document it). Then make a poster of it and join their march. It will show the public what MAM is really about and any picture or video will expose their true intentions. If you are worried about being recognized, wear a Guy Fawkes mask! Easy Peasy!
3. Prong Pledge: Not everybody can make it out to the action though. This is their chance to contribute. MAM tends to inflate their numbers. So let’s turn that into a plus! For every MAM activist (legit or MAMyths inspired) reported by a local chapter, the public will donate a certain amount of money towards The American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project. The more Chapters the more MAM marchers to be counted and the more money donated! Imagine a forest of restored GMO chestnut tree representative of MAM marchers!

By submitting an application for a MAMyths Chapter you agree to the following:

• You understand and agree with the MAMyths mission to employ the tools of direct action to make a movement to counter anti-GMO and other pseudoscience injustice.
• You have read, understand and agree to implement to the best of your ability to abide by our Code of Conduct standards to ensure the safety for all participants.
• You accept our 2016 Campaign Strategy plan for the counter-protest against MAM and will implement the required steps as outlined.
• We encourage chapters to tailor actions to their locality so there’s room for you to be creative but there may be some details we will ask to be required.

If accepted you will get access to private areas on the website as well as a Facebook group where we will help provide materials and training for your event.

Code of Conduct

MAMyths adopts this code of conduct not only for the safety and fun for people participating in our activities but to inoculate our space from interlopers who may seek to undermine our efforts. Due to the nature of our volunteer-based organization we leave ourselves open to saboteurs. We should strive for transparency and virtue to maintain a strong organization to fight pseudoscience injustice.

This code of conduct applies to all MAMyths spaces, including online social media spaces and events of action. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the MAMyths executive directors.

Some MAMyths spaces may have additional rules in place, which will be made clearly available to participants. Participants are responsible for knowing and abiding by these rules.

Questionable behavior includes:

• Encouragement of illegal activities.
• Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion.
• Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
• Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behaviour in spaces where they’re not appropriate.
• Threats of violence.
• Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.
• Deliberate intimidation.
• Stalking or following.
• Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.
• Sustained disruption of discussion.
• Unwelcome sexual attention.

Reporting
If you are being harassed by a member of MAMyths, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact the MAMyths executive directors at mamyths@mamyths.org. If the person who is harassing you is on the team, they will recuse themselves from handling your incident. We will respond as promptly as we can.

In order to protect volunteers from abuse and burnout, we reserve the right to reject any report we believe to have been made in bad faith. Reports intended to silence legitimate criticism may be deleted without response.

We will respect confidentiality requests for the purpose of protecting victims of abuse. At our discretion, we may publicly name a person about whom we’ve received harassment complaints, or privately warn third parties about them, if we believe that doing so will increase the safety of MAMyths members or the general public. We will not name harassment victims without their affirmative consent.

Consequences
Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If a participant engages in harassing behavior, MAMyths may take any action they deem appropriate, up to and including expulsion from all MAMyths spaces and identification of the participant as a harasser to other MAMyths members or the general public.

*This Code of Conduct was originally sourced and inspired by Geek Feminism Wiki

Chapter Registration Form