Food Not Bombs volunteers work for nonviolent
social change and this is our statement.
The name Food Not Bombs states our most fundamental principle: That our
society needs things that give life not things that give death. Our
society is dominated by violence and the threat of violence. This
affects us both in our daily lives through the constant threat of crime
and police abuse and less directly but just as seriously through the
threat of total annihilation from nuclear war. The authority and power
of our government are predicated on the threat and use of violence. They
continue to spend more time and resources developing, using, and
threatening to use weapons of massive human and planetary destruction
than on nurturing and celebrating life. Food Not Bombs has chosen to
take a stand against violence. As a group of individuals we are
committed to non-violent social change through the celebration and
nurturing of life by giving out free vegetarian food.
Poverty
is violence. By spending money on bombs instead of addressing human
needs, our government perpetuates and exacerbates the violence of
poverty in our society. One of the most direct physical expressions of
the violence of poverty is hunger. Millions of Americans go hungry every
day and childhood malnutrition contributes heavily to infant mortality
rates, which are higher in parts of the U.S. than in some Third World
nations. Inadequate or non-existant health care, police brutality, and
class discrimination are also forms of systemic violence against poor
people. Poverty is also a key factor in the level of interpersonal
violence. It can drive down people's self-esteem, causing people to lash
out in the form of domestic violence and violent street crime. The
violence of poverty also becomes internalized which can result in
addictive behaviour and suicide.
Food Not Bombs responds to the
problems of poverty and self-esteem in two ways. First, we provide food
to whomever wants it in an open respectful way. We don't make people
jump through any bureaucratic hoops that are designed to control and
often punish people for being poor. Secondly, we invite people who eat
with us to be involved in providing the food themselves. This helps
people to regain a feeling of their own power and their ability to
change their situation.
The food we serve also expresses our
commitment to non-violence. Mainstream food production is an inherently
violent process involving the slaughtering of millions of animals, the
death of an estimated 10,000 field workers annually, and the poisoning
of the air, water, soil, and our bodies with chemical fertilizers and
pesticides.
Food Not Bombs is providing a service to people
that attempts to address some very serious problems at no cost to the
government. For some reason, sone cities have chosen to use violence to
try and stop us. In these cities police are routinely used in large
numbers to take our food and equipment; arrest, threaten, and/or beat-up
our members. In this way they reinforce the violence of the State in the
face of ever growing human needs. It is extremely important that we
respond to these attacks in a non-violent manner which is consistent
with our views of human value. It is never in our interest to use
violence against the state, or other humans. In practical terms the
state is capable of mustering significantly more violent force than we
are so we risk our own safety from further, more intense police
violence. More philosophically, we don't want to be in the position of
recreating the power of the state in our own efforts for social change.
We want to create a society based on human rights and human needs; not
on the threat and use of violence.
Food Not Bombs works hard to
prevent violence within our own community by ensuring that food is never
used as a weapon against anyone. At demonstrations and our daily
servings we concentrate on serving food in a peaceful and respectful
manner, thereby creating a safe environment for people to eat in. The
food we serve embodies our commitment to non-violence in so many ways.
It is a humane response to poverty, a means of empowering people and is
ecologically safe.
Contact our office to schedule a Nonviolence Training. 1-800-884-1136 or menu@foodnotbombs.net
198 Methods of Nonviolent Action.
Learn more about nonviolent social
change.
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Founding Statement on Nonviolence
Food
Not Bombs
P.O. Box 424, Arroyo Seco, NM 87514 USA
575-770-3377
1-800-884-1136
menu@foodnotbombs.net
www.foodnotbombs.net
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