In the past few months it has become clear that we face world changing crisis droughts, climate change, food speculation, high cost genetically modified crops, and rising oil prices have caused world food prices to jump 70 percent. At the same time urgent reports of a possible U.S. attack on Iran could drive up the cost of oil and food even higher, forcing many millions of additional people to go hungry.
" The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the world's most prestigious financial body, has warned that years of loose monetary policy has fuelled a dangerous credit bubble, leaving the global economy more vulnerable to another 1930s-style slump than generally understood." The BIS warns of Great Depression deeper and more painful than that of 1930s. This could be the most urgent crisis in human history. When Katrina hit the American Red Cross and FEMA failed to provide help and the survivors had to rely on Food Not Bombs. Americans will need to turn to us again as the global economy fails. Daily meals, gardening and more advanced efforts at community organizing will be needed. The public will be turning to us for help. Please start to prepare now.
As the crisis grows our office is getting an increase in calls and emails asking Food Not Bombs for support as the economy fails. Food riots are growing in a number of countries and many community leaders are contacting Food Not Bombs requesting help in organizing kitchens, gardens and food distribution programs. When the American Red Cross and FEMA failed to respond to Katrina Americans called our office seeking help. Again Americans are looking to Food Not Bombs to provide logistical guidence as society slides into chaos.
Please start a Food Not Bombs group in your community. We will provide you support. The use of the process of Formal Consensus, our dedicated to nonviolence and our focus on recovering food to make into vegan meals that are shared for free has been effective at responding to past crisis including Katrina, the earthquakes in California and the political meltdown in the Ukraine.
We are supporting the creation of local "Food Not Lawn " groups with the idea that the more food we grow the more we can feed our communities. The founders of Food Not Bombs made sure they did not become public personalities knowing that the movement would remain strong and more effective if it was organized locally. When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast the decentralized autonomous structure of Food Not Bombs made it possible for us to become the primary movement providing food to the survivors. Because of our reputation it is very possible that the public will turn to Food Not Bombs for solutions to the current "Really Really Great Depression".
The global economy is crashing displacing tens of thousands or even millions of people. In April food prices jumped over 70 percent. Exxon Moble takes the largest profits in world history. American law enforcement agencies spent the first week of May practicing civil desterbence drills in hundreds of communities. The Director of the C.I.A. spoke on Meet The Press claiming that blond blue eyed people are being trained to carry out another 9/11 attack on the U.S . CIA Director Michael V. Hayden also said it was "hard for me to explain " the conclusions reached in the 2003 National Intelligence Estimate on Iran 's nuclear weapons program. Admiral William Fallon, the US military commander in the Middle East resigned in protest to the planned U.S. bombing of Iran. A month later Bush fired the leadership of the airforce making way for what could be a war causing death across the world. This attack would send oil and food prices higher and plunge the world economy into what some say will be a "Really Really Great Depression". During the first week of May 2008 the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security staged a national drill that included the arrest of motorists and other mass detentions. Was this practice for the institution of martial law? The public has also been contacting our office to find out what they should do in the event that the U.S. Constitution is suspended and the Bush Administration increases its efforts to suppress resistance. War with Iran and the resulting chaos could give Bush the excuse he needs.
Food Not Bombs volunteers attending the National Gathering talked about a number of solutions including starting a program of community gardening with "Food Not Lawns" and working with local city councils to pass laws to make it illegal to destroy food in dumpsters or lock up discarded food. We have also proposed organizing meals every day in each community. Another idea is to have a Food Not Bombs collective house responsible for each day of the week in each town and city. Most groups see an increase in need and are finding discarded food sources growing tight. Another project proposed is to reach out to local farmers to help grow more food, glean their fields, help them harvest and deliver the food they could not sell. Please contact 575-776-3880 to find out how you can help your community in this time of crisis. We are facing the most dire crisis in possible and need your help. Please consider making a contribution.
Donate A Dollar For Peace.If you can donate
even more than a dollar please help. We have a great deal on our plate.
THANKS!
Food Not Bombs
volunteers have participated in a number of successful tent city
actions. In 1989 San Francisco Food Not Bombs provided meals 24 hours a
day at a 27 day tent city protest for the rights of the homeless. The
city government opened a shelter, a hotel and reduced the use of police
to attempt to drive homeless people out of sight. Food Not Bombs
volunteers provided meals to protesters at the tent city protest outside
the Ukrainian Parliament during the Orange Revolution. The tent city
caused the Prime Minister to step down. Food Not Bombs shared meals
with activists at 300 day tent city action at a protest to support
farmers at Bosnia and Herzegovina Square in Sarajevo. For thirty days
Food Not Bombs volunteers organized the kitchen, collected food and
cooked meals for the protesters a Cindy Sheehan's Camp Casey
outside Bush's Ranch in Crawford, Texas. Many local Food Not Bombs
chapters are talking with other activists to start planning this
summer's tent city. We can start living in the world we know is
possible by living together in peaceful, democratically organized tent
city communities. To report on your plans please sign up for our global
action list serv < at fnb-network@lists.riseup.net >
At no time
have we faced such an urgent crisis. Bush is talking of a World War
against Iran using nuclear weapons, the global economy is failing for
most, climate change continues to grow and the U.S. empire is using
every measure possible to protect its power. Please visit these site to
learn more about why we need to participate in the tent city protest.
Join us in participating in the creation of the cooperative future we
know is possible.
In Indiana alone, I-69 will
destroy thousands of acres of farmland, wetlands, and forest. It will
displace 400 families, leave twice as many with an interstate in their
yards, and divide many communities in half. According to economists at
the University of Illinois, rural jobs created by the interstate will
cost $1.56 million each, as opposed to best practices rural development
plans, which cost an average of 1,000 to 5,000 dollars per job. This
road has been fought fiercely by the residents of Southwestern Indiana
for almost two decades, and is now being pushed through with the States
disdain of democratic processes and independent journalism. Now, they
have bought the first two miles north of Interstate 64 and plan on
constructing two miles of I-69 in the spring of 2008. But we will never
let them build this road. Stop I
69
Barack Obama delivered a speech on Wednesday, June 4, before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee restating he is willing to attack Iran if he is elected. Barack Obama delivered a speech on Wednesday, June 4, before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee claiming he will bomb Iran but said nothing about the domestic economic crisis. He also calls Israel's security non-negotiable and compares his policies toward Israel with those of Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain. "That starts with ensuring Israel's qualitative military advantage. I will ensure that Israel can defend itself from any threat from Gaza to Tehran. Defense cooperation between the United States and Israel is a model of success, and must be deepened. As president, I will implement a Memorandum of Understanding that provides $30 billion in assistance to Israel over the next decade investments to Israel's security that will not be tied to any other nation. First, we must approve the foreign aid request for 2009. Going forward, we can enhance our cooperation on missile defense. We should export military equipment to our ally Israel under the same guidelines as NATO. And I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself in the United Nations and around the world. Finally, let there be no doubt: I will always keep the threat of military action on the table to defend our security and our ally Israel." The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is an extream right-wing group aggressively calling for total war against Iran even using nuclear weapons. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee also promoted war on Iraq.
R-68 agrees with the proposition, POTESTAS IN POPULO, all power comes from the people. What stands between the people and power are the party machines. The parties were devised as a means to represent the people. Today they represent nobody, not even party members, but only party bureaucracy. The people have been left without appropriate institutions for their representation. We intend to create those institutes!
Join us in the streets of Denver as we resist a two-party system that allows imperialism and racism to continue unrestrained. The group Re-create 68 a reference to the troubled 1968 Democratic National Convention seeks to serve the same umbrella function as the RNC Welcoming Committee in Minnesota, by supporting other protesters.
www.recreate68.org
To join us in supporting this action please contact Denver Food
Not Bombs at 1065 Lipan Street in Denver Colorado or call them at
303-573-3896 or 303.629.8557
To learn what the Democratic Party
is planning visit their site at their
2008 Democratic National
Convention Information Source
 THE FOOD NOT BOMBS STARTUP KITEverything you need to start a local Food Not Bombs group in your community. A full color banner, on copy of the 126 page Food Not Bombs handbook, a DVD, flyers you can reprint and buttons. Everything you need to start a group. |
THE FOOD NOT BOMBS
HANDBOOK This 126 page book shows you how to cook for 100 people, has detailed information about starting a Food Not Bombs group. |
| FLYERS AND IMAGES TO MAKE
FLYERS Flyers, graphics, logos, and photos you can use to help you start your Food Not Bombs group. Please use any of these images on posters, flyers or on your new website. |
POST THIS FLYER ALL OVER
TOWN You can start a Food Not Bombs group in you community buy making copies of this flyer, add your phone number and post it all over town in cafes, bookstores, schools, and store windows. |
| FOOD NOT BOMBS
MATERIALS It can be helpful to raise money and awareness to have Food Not Bombs buttons, stickers and other materials on your table at events and concerts. Our office provides these materials at half price to Food Not Bombs chapters. You will attract more volunteers and support in your community when people see the Food Not Bombs image all over town. |
CONTACT A FOOD NOT BOMBS
GROUP NEAR YOUBefore you start a group see if one is already active
in your community. If you do find a group in your town try work with
them. Sometimes the contact information is old and the group has
stopped so if you find this has happened then let us know and start a
new chapter. You can also invite a Food Not Bombs group near your
community to help you get started. When you get your group going
please email us the correct contact information and the times, days and
locatons of where you share food. |
|
FOOD NOT BOMBS PRESENTATION One great way to help start a Food Not Bombs group is to invite the co-founder Keith McHenry to speak to your community. Student activity centers at colleges and universities will provide funding for a presentation by Keith, helping with airfare and an honorarium. You can learn more about Keith and listen to his presentations here |
YOUR LITERATURE AND FOOD
TABLEYour Food Not Bombs group can have real impact when you include
literature and a banner at every meal. If you set up your table at a
location that is busy with a diversity of people at a time when lots of
pedestrians walk by you will be able to attract more volunteers and
discover new food sourses. You can also meet people who would have never
known about the issues we are working on. Many Food Not Bombs tables are
considered the place to visit for iinfromation, community as well as
great food. This page shows you how you can have a more effective Food
Not Bombs table. |
