Statement on Newgon
In the process of setting up Mu as an organization, it was pointed out to us by two individuals that a founding committee member (Jim Burton) held a position as Strategic Lead at an online MAP organization called Newgon.
We were, and are already aware of Newgon as an organization within the realm of MAP rights, as it has operated intermittently since 2007 - for example, it is listed on Wikipedia.org (as part of a separate article, alongside Ipce), and has been mentioned in some media.
One of the main objectives of Mu's other committee members was to set up an organization based on principles remarkably different to those of Newgon:
- To consult and attempt to represent the community as a whole, not just one portion of it.
- To take a less comprehensive and more internationalist approach towards presenting information.
- To de-emphasize the "zero-sum" politics and strategy associated with projects such as Newgon.
These aims gelled perfectly with Jim's long-stated wish to work alongside anti-contact parts of the community, and existing plans to launch an "information hub" associated with the MAP identity, and so, an organization was born. An administrative effort to set up a website and forum was launched.
To be clear, the inclusion of a Newgon member on Mu's committee does not imply:
- Endorsement of, or responsibility for material shared via a highly controversial "memes index" on NewgonWiki. Nor does Newgon appear to endorse said material.
- Endorsement of, or responsibility for Newgon editorial, which we may ourselves use as an encyclopedic source among others.
- Endorsement of the separate PCMA chat workgroup, initially set up on a server owned by Newgon, nor the views of its members.
With respect to the campaign against Newgon, Jim Burton and other pro-c's within parts of the MAP community:
Mu condemns the use of doxing and non-consensual sharing of private information against MAPs by other supposed MAPs, some of whom occupy a position within the community that is highly concerning. This is an episode most of our community wishes to put behind us, but one we should also never forget.
We also strongly condemn the abuse of misquotes, unsupported allegations and misinformation to attack other MAPs or allies as "Fascists" or as motivated by "hate", as has clearly happened in Jim's case (simply input "Newgon" as a search term to find examples of this). With Newgon being a private effort of Jim and his editorial team, we find it highly unlikely this approach will convince them to revise their material in the complainants' favor.