a blurb I wrote for the Northbay Progressive about the Food Not Bombs group I work with.
Santa Rosa Food Not Bombs has held a weekly protest against war, capitalism and poverty for over four years. Every Sunday at 5pm in Courthouse Square, at the corner of 3rd and Mendocino in downtown Santa Rosa, free food is served to all takers along with progressive literature, art, music and conversation. Food Not Bombs links the issues of war, huger, poverty and capitalism by publicly asking why there is money for bombs but not for food. We answer the question by salvaging food that has been removed from market shelves and restaurant tables, and serving fresh free healthy vegan meals.
In these days of increasing repression and the current culture of complacency and complicity, it is crucial to build a culture of resistance. Food Not Bombs is activism on the “duh” level of human consciousness; capitalism creates poverty, capitalism creates waste food, Food Not Bombs brings the two together illustrating the failings of the marketplace. We model a different way for people to relate to power and wealth. Instead of the status quo where power comes down from above via police, bosses or bureaucrats; we organize people with a common interest (eating) to secure a common goal (food) and exercise our collective power to make our vision (a meal) real. We also remove food from the marketplace and insist that it is a human right to eat, demonstrating a way for everyone to get what they need by working together and sharing resources. Food Not Bombs does not claim to be a stand alone solution for the problems of war and capitalism. It is a protest and a glimpse of future possiblities.
We always need help. We reuse pint sized or larger plastic food containers as serving dishes, which can be dropped off at the Peace and Justice Center. Food can be brought directly to a serving, or call Ben at 707-544-3266 to arrange a pick up. Establishing new serving times and locations has been a goal for awhile. To do this we need more volunteers, a few more kitchens and more food. Currently we get food donations from Community Market and the Redwood Empire Food Bank, occasionally a few industrious dumpster divers will share their finds with us. We need someone skilled at schmoozing grocery store produce managers to secure new donations for us. Every day grocery stores throw out perfectly good food because it’s ugly or reached it’s sell by date. We would like to recover and serve all of it. We meet twice a month at the Free Mind Media Infospace, 546 Pacific Ave, call Ben at 707-544-3266 for dates and times, or come by any serving and introduce yourself.
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2 comments:
in mumbai in muslim neighborhoods there'll be a few dozen ragged men and boys sitting in the doorways of little storefronts, a few places like this per block. i found out that they're waiting for food, that you can go up and give the owner of the place, a restaurant, a few bucks and he'll feed the next 3 or 5 or 10 or whatever you've paid for. not totally relevant but i thought that it was an interesting solution - like FNB more direct than cash donations to agencies, but not as questionably helpful as giving cash directly to the hungry or homeless person themself. i kinda toyed with the idea of trying to set up a soup cart in winter that'd station near where everyone begs down here and also takes cash from passing cars but turns it directly into the next bowls of chow or tea or whatnot for whoever wants it. a food not crack answer to giving. laws are a bit stickier here than india, though, and social problems, too. oh well.
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