Food Not Bombs

[erupt]

Food Not Bombs, an US anarchist organization, has been mentioned by a few people in my area who are somewhat apolitical, and I've never heard of it.

Any opinions or knowledge not found in a Google search?

Are they experiencing an upsurge in membership, volunteerism, etc.?

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Food Not Bombs is complicated in that its political character, membership, relationship to communities and struggles, etc. varies wildly from city to city.

So, on one hand, you have some of the self declared "founders" of Food Not Bombs traveling to Nigeria to be condescending white pacifist missionary scumbags ("Don't join MEND - eat vegan slop instead!"), on the other hand, there are Food Not Bombs chapters that are primarily working class radicals engaged in real solidarity activity, building links with local farmers, and sharing food on the basis of solidarity, not "vegan soup kitchen in the park" type charity.

All I can really say is that investigating Food Not Bombs in your area will yield answers about that chapter in particular, and say very little about others, since (inter)national coordination is nonexistent, and a variety of groups use the name without any real political or practical affinity beyond generally that they give away free food.

Like, literally, I've seen kick-boxing classes at an FNB serving. On the other hand, I've also met pacifist hippies who think telling a cop to "Fuck off" is violence. I've seen Food Not Bombs serving meat, and I've met diehard vegans who would have probably quit in anger if it had happened in their city.

Also, LOL, my hometown. (http://foodnotbombs.h-a-z.org/?action=page&url=about)

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

I agree with what has already been said, its different from city to city. I don't know if there is still one in my city or not but when I checked it out once a few years ago and it seemed to be run by whatever subculture people who ride fixed gear bikes are in and didn't feel very welcoming to political discussions or new people at all really. This was not the case for a different fnb group I ran into down in Florida, who were all super cool and open, and very political. I would check yours out and if it's weird don't feel bad about just leaving.

A lot of cities in the US have been passing laws against serving food to people on the street, effectively making fnb an illegal operation in some places. This could either drive militancy and maybe lead to an increase of people taking part in it or it could just make it all disappear, I'm not sure which of these is proving to be the case.

[erupt]

A lot of cities in the US have been passing laws against serving food to people on the street, effectively making fnb an illegal operation in some places. This could either drive militancy and maybe lead to an increase of people taking part in it or it could just make it all disappear, I'm not sure which of these is proving to be the case.

I'm pretty sure Pittsburgh (which would be my local chapter) passed the same legislation you're speaking about. Whether Food Not Bombs, or other hipster-type organizations, are "stuck-up", (I know no-one said anything along those lines) it's unbelievable that there's mainstream political opposition against it. Like you said, it becoming virtually illegal might increase militancy, which would not benefit the bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeoisie in any manner.

If hungry people who rely on what I'd consider charity suddenly lose the opportunity to get some assistance, what will their reaction be?

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

I don't think the opposition is directed at fnb specifically, they just got caught by the consequences. Those laws started to pop up during the height of the last crisis as more and more homeless people began to show up on the streets of big cities. The idea is that if they can't get anything from pedestrians, they'll move along and become some other city's problem. Then occupy came along and city councils found that these laws were useful against that style of protest as well, along with new laws barring the use of "camping gear" in urban areas. The unfortunate result of occupy is that it's harder to be homeless in a big city than it was 4 or 5 years ago.

[Redistribute the Rep]

How about food bombs?

[Creative Destruction]

the two FNB chapters i've had contact with (never volunteered because, well, it's just hard to do it unless you already know someone who is involved (which isn't very many people and they seemed to have their own little cliques), have their number on hand, and they have some odd rule about only using bicycles to transport things, etc.) were vegan based by choice and strictly adhered to that. nice group of folks and they usually brought out a good mix of people. the food wasn't bad. i've tried a couple of recipes from the cookbook they have, of course scaled down for two people, and it wasn't bad.