An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.
(Victor Hugo)
J4MB considers AVfM the most important MHRA website in the world. We’ve been a strong and unyielding supporter of AVfM from the day we launched our party in February 2013. Our enemies have learned that there’s little point in attacking us for supporting AVfM. Indeed, they’ve learned that the more they attack us for doing so, the more exposure and support we’ll give AVfM.
When AVfM had its “hour of need”—the crisis over security for the Detroit conference—J4MB instantly donated $1,000 to the crowdfunder. A British supporter of J4MB also donated $1,000, and numerous other J4MB supporters contributed what they could. All were pleased they’d done so when it was confirmed the conference would proceed. The conference was one of the highlights of the lives of those of us who travelled from the UK to Detroit—as it was for all the speakers and delegates, I feel sure—and we look forward to ICMI15 and later conferences.
In less than seven months’ time, the UK will be holding what for the Men’s Human Rights Movement could prove to be one of the most important general elections for the past 50 years. The British political landscape is wide open, and anyone who confidently predicts the outcome of the 2015 election based on old political groupings would be considered foolish. The domination of the political landscape by the two major parties is fracturing before our eyes, and their traditional voters’ loyalty is becoming ever harder to retain. It is against this exciting backdrop that J4MB—which remains the only political party in the English-speaking world fighting for the human rights of men and boys—will be contesting a number of marginal seats. Votes for J4MB will be a testament to our core strategy being sound—namely, to eventually grow our public support to the point that the main political parties will have no choice but to engage with J4MB in a bid to dissuade us from contesting their marginal seats at future general elections.
However, the mainstream media continues to give us minimal exposure, even as the state’s assaults on the human rights of men and boys worsen year after year. This lack of media exposure presents a challenge to J4MB, and we need to raise the party’s public profile in the constituencies we’ll be contesting, particularly in my own, Bedford & Kempston.
What are our options for raising the party’s profile, to maximise our votes at the general election? We’ve had major input from professional marketing people who are giving their time for nothing. Based on the latest knowledge of voter intentions, informed by current thinking in the USA, they’ve developed a detailed advertising campaign for the Bedford & Kempston constituency, for posters and other materials to be visible to the general public in the months leading up to the election.
The campaign will cost £39,500 ($63,500), and we’ve just launched a crowdfunder to raise the sum. On the crowdfunder website we’ve uploaded images of two of the initial poster designs: the first on the rights of children, fathers, and grandparents; the second on male victims of domestic violence—a graphic designer has yet to “polish” the designs—as well as “mocked up” images of how the posters will look on roadside hoardings, near shops, on buses, etc.
Our previous crowdfunders met their targets, and we ask AVfM supporters to help make this one a success too. The success of this campaign would be felt beyond the UK. On behalf of all those working tirelessly for J4MB, I thank you for your support, and I thank Paul Elam and his colleagues at AVfM for their support too. The campaign will last just two weeks, ending at 23:59 on Sunday, November 9.
The remainder of this piece is drawn from the crowdfunder website and explains in more detail the thinking behind the advertising campaign:
HELP US MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN 2015
A major public advertising campaign for the 2015 general election
£39,500 NEEDED NOW!
In less than seven months—7 May, 2015, to be precise—British citizens will have their first opportunity to vote in a general election in defence of the human rights of men and boys, and we’re raising the money we need to HAMMER OUT OUR ELECTION MESSAGE. Please help us do that.
WE NEED £39,500 and we’re launching this 2-WEEK FUNDRAISER to fund a PLANNED CAMPAIGN.
Since we launched J4MB in February 2013, we’ve made no secret of the scale of our ambitions. Ray Barry and I will be standing as election candidates. I’ll be standing in Bedford and Kempston, Ray in Wolverhampton South-West, and we plan to attract enough votes that one day the main political parties will have no option but to engage with us to deter us from contesting their marginal seats in future general elections.
OUR STRATEGY IS RIGHT, OUR CAUSE IS JUST, and our campaign has been thoroughly planned. We’ve had major input from professional marketing people who are giving their time for nothing. WE KNOW WHO OUR TARGET VOTERS ARE and WE KNOW HOW TO GET OUR MESSAGE TO THEM, but we need your help, because it will cost money—£39,500 TO BE PRECISE.
Ray and I are going to give this everything we’ve got. Every ounce of energy will go into this campaign. WE’RE GOING TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS—no holds barred—our planned messages are powerful. We will be appealing to the voters’ deepest emotional reactions, through billboard hoardings, bus route adverts, and direct-delivered leaflets—all targeted at specific neighbourhoods where we know our target voters live. We’re not wasting time or energy on non-productive areas.
PLEASE HELP US SEND THIS CLEAR MESSAGE TO VOTERS. Please help us make that vital difference through the ballot box.
PLEASE GIVE WHAT YOU CAN. We hope to raise the full amount, but our plans are flexible: WE CAN USE WHATEVER YOU GIVE EFFECTIVELY.
YOU can play a vital role in ending the state’s assaults on the human rights of men and boys. Vote for J4MB. PLEASE GIVE NOW! YOUR CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE £39,500 WILL BE WELL SPENT.
Thank you for your support, as always.
Mike Buchanan
PARTY LEADER
Justice for men & boys
(and the women who love them)
http://j4mb.org.uk
