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The Food Not Bombs literature table is one of the most effective ways to change society. Food Not Bombs without literature and a banner is just another charity supporting the current system of exploitation. With the global economic, political and environmental crisis growing more urgent it has never been more important to be as effective as possible at inspiring change. Food Not Bombs can be one of the most effective ways to encourage public support for peace, social justice and the protection of the environment because we are often the only activists visible to our communities. Display your banner and set out literature at every meal. Your group can set up literature tables at concerts and in public locations between your regular meals. Your Food Not Bombs group can be effective at inspiring social change if your volunteers make a point of engaging the public in conversation about subjects like diverting resources from the military toward necessities like nutritious food, educations and healthcare. While several volunteers are sharing meals and distributing groceries another volunteer can staff the literature table. They can let pedestrians know that Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment and add the notion that with over a billion people going hungry each day how can we spend another dollar on war? Your group will increase the number of people volunteering and you will get more food donations. Add your local chapters contact information on your flyers. Your chapter can also collect stacks of flyers about many issues by contacting other activist groups. They will be happy that you are helping them reach the public. Print or collect at least 100 copies and use a number 19 rubber band to hold them together. Your chapter can have a water proof box and pack it with the largest flyers on the bottom and topped off with your Food Not Bombs banner. Take the box out to every meal, hang the banner and set out the literature in neat rows. Censorship in the United States and other repressive countries has left many people ignorant of government and corporate abuses and the possible solutions to these issues. Food Not Bombs literature tables are a great way to get around this censorship. Food Not Bombs started as a street theater group interested in talking to public about issues ignored by corporate media. Food Not Bombs has always believed it was important to reach the public with our ideas and to stop preaching to the choir. The literature table can create a safe place for people learn about a wide number of issues and inspire debate. Its a great way to reach out to people who otherwise would not be aware of the communites efforts for animal liberation, the environment peace, and human rights. The U.S. government has a nationwide campaign against our bringing literature and a banner to our meals because they know it is one of the most effective ways for Food Not Bombs to encourage resistance to their policies. Food Not Bombs is not a charity. It is organizing to change society. Meals without a message is just charity and supports the system of exploitation. Our banner, literature and conversation with the public is as important as the food. You can direct visitors to a featured piece of literature, talk to them about a current example of misdirected policies or projects that are contributing to positive social change. We are less likely to interest the public in joining our effort to end war, poverty and the destruction of the environment if we stand silently passing our meals. Our tables can also include music, theater, poetry, dance, art and other cultural expressions encouraging positive social change. Our goal is to end the need to feed the hungry by inspiring the public to take the action nessesary for society to redirect our resources from the military towards real security where everyone has what they need to flourish. Besides providing literature at your regular meals you can table without food. If you look around your community you will find a good location where there are many pedestrians. Figure out the times and days when the most people would walk by. See if there are trees, utility poles or a wall where you can hang your Food Not Bombs banner. You can also make a banner that can drape over the front of your table. Plan to show up for several hours each week. Set up your literature for a couple hours and invite passers by to find out about the work of Food Not Bombs. Place some cookies on a plate and talke with your community. You are sure to encourage people to volunteer and participate in your regular meals. You can also set up a literature table at concerts and other events. The more we speak with the public the more we will build interest in changing the world. After all one reason there are somany Food Not Bombs groups is because people learned of our work by talking with us at our literature tables. The Food Not Bombs literature table can have announcements of future protests, factual literature about why we share vegan meals, global warming and the environment, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, the globalization of the economy and threats to human rights. You might have a petition for people to sign. Talk with people who walk pass your table inviting them to check out your information or asking them to sign your petition. One on one conversations make a more lasting impression than mass media. You can add cookies or ice tea to the table and see for yourself how effective the Food Not Bombs literature table can be. You will see new faces at your protests. You will find new volunteers and with a regular table you will make lasting connections with people you might otherwise have never met. Always provide literature at your regular meal. Put your food on half the table and literature on the other half. You can even organize two days. One that is your regular meal and another one that is less work where you just provide snacks. Its simple yet very
effective. |
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| The U.S.
government has a nationwide campaign against our bringing literature and
a banner to our meals because they know it is one of the most effective
ways for Food Not Bombs to encourage resistance. Food Not Bombs is not a
charity. It is organizing to change society. The government arrests Food
Not Bombs to silence our message because they know we are effective when
we share literature and vegan meals under the banner of Food Not Bombs.
Meals without a message is just charity and supports the system of
exploitation. The government and military contractors feel that our
literature tables are effective so they have been known to take our
flyers, banners and arrested our volunteers. The authorities are so
concerned about our literature tables that they have been telling groups
that they can share food as long as they don't hand out flyers and
post banners. Police informants have been suggesting that the literature
and banner are not important and that it is "only about the
food." Police infiltrators have been volunteering to bring the
literature and end up discarding the flyers on the way to our meals.
One of the San Francisco chapters arrives with food but never brings literature or banner. While Food Not Bombs is sharing meals a christian group hands out bible literature. For years our office has been getting calls from people who went to the meal wanting to help Food Not Bombs but discovered that a church group was feeding the hungry and left. If that group had brought a banner and literature they would have had many more volunteers and donations of food. One person who witnessed this group published a book Nine Gallons describing the chapter as being nothing more then nine gallons of soup with out a message. If that group started to bring literature and a banner it might be one of our most effective chapters. As it is now they have no need to fear being arrested. The government never arrests church groups. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals agreed with the government that handing out literature and
vegan meals under the banner Food Not Bombs is a threat and can be
stopped by the government. Your group is encouraged to defy the courts,
military contractors and government by always bring a Food Not Bombs
banner and literature to your vegan meals. Read the July
6, 2010 Ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Atlanta. Food Not Bombs is not a charity. It is an effort to
end the social causes of hunger and poverty. Check out these site to
find information for your table. |
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Print these outs and place a stack on your table. |
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One way to involve more people in your local Food Not Bombs group is to host a presentation. Contact your local college or university and see if any student groups would be interested in a presentation. |
| You can visit these sites and use the information you find her to make flyers about current events.
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PO Box 424, Arroyo Seco, NM 87514 USA
1-800-884-1136
Start a Food Not Bombs group
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