Meanwhile, Food Not Bombs volunteers were arrested every day for sharing information and food. Often, during the arrests, the police beat the volunteers and in a few cases, tortured them. Although Food Not Bombs co-founder C.T. Butler did not live in San Francisco, he was regularly attacked by the police every time he visited the city. Because of the frequency of these attacks, there is video footage of him being tortured in Civic Center Plaza by the police using "pain compliance techniques" (a nice euphuism for torture) while being ordered to stand up even though police officers were kneeling on his back and legs. Volunteers hauled off to jail were treated no better; they often suffered beatings and torture techniques used by the Special Operations Unit of the San Francisco Police. Sometimes, activists were sent to the psychiatric ward, tied down to a bed and drugged.

Things had gotten so bad, Amnesty International, in an unprecedented decision, declared Food Not Bombs volunteers Prisoners of Conscience in advance if they were ever sentenced to jail. The United Nations Human Rights Commission started an investigation into human rights violations against the group. Robert Norse Kahn, a Food Not Bombs volunteer, was the only one of over 1,000 people arrested for sharing food that was ever convicted. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail but was released after only two weeks because of a massive outpouring of support. The protests outside the jailhouse were interfering with business as usual at the jail and the warden thought it was ridiculous that, with the jail overcrowded, he had to hold someone who had simply given a bagel to a homeless woman.

Once freed from his Three Strikes case (the city failed to get a single conviction on any of the felony charges), Keith McHenry toured North America and Europe helping promote Food Not Bombs. In 1995, the "Rent Is Theft Tour" introduced people in 50 cities to a vegan cooking demonstration, set-up and broadcast the program on a low-powered FM radio station, and helped organize local Food Not Bombs and Homes Not Jails chapters.

In June of 1995, San Francisco hosted the 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of the United Nations. A second Food Not Bombs international gathering was held and as many as 700 people participated. Every day, Food Not Bombs volunteers were arrested serving food at UN Plaza, under the shadow of the obelisk honoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads, in part: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services."Food Not Bombs activists were arrested for building a shantytown on UN Plaza to show that there are homeless people even in the wealthiest nation on earth. Still others were arrested on felony arson charges for a nighttime march with torches against the death penalty and in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal. During the ten-day gathering, Food Not Bombs activists from all over the world cooked together, protested together and were jailed together. They attended workshops on consensus decisionmaking, banner painting, bio-diesel (lard-cars), building micro-FM radio transmitters, sexism and racism, and cooking.

In 1997, three activists from Spain, Sara, Manolo, Salva, joined Keith and Seth, a musician from southern California, on the ³UnFree Trade Tour.² They talked about organizing against the globalization of the economy and the need to protest North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization. They visited 59 cities in the United States and Canada and encouraged people to shut down the WTO whenever it meets in North America. A 300 page book about the tour, Viaje Al Corazón de La Bestia was published in Spanish. When it was announced that the WTO would meet in Seattle in November of 1999, Food Not Bombs chapters around the country mobilized. Thousands came to Seattle to "shut it down," resulting in the now famous "Battle of Seattle."

By 2000, Food Not Bombs was worldwide and growing fast. Food Not Bombs activists were cooking for big anti-globalization actions in Europe and the Americas. Food Not Bombs in Australia helped free refugees from a detention center. German chapters helped with "Border Camps" and "Castor Nuclear Waste Blockades." Chapters started in Argentina in response to the collapse of their economy. Food Not Bombs chapters joined in "Anti-McDonalds Day" protests sharing vegetarian food on October 16th outside McDonalds all over the world. Many Food Not Bombs groups served free food on the annual "Buy Nothing Day."

In the months before the attack on Afghanistan, Food Not Bombs chapters fed peace activists at protests all over the world. Unfortunately, before long, Food Not Bombs was again feeding people at the huge protests against the invasion of Iraq. Zagreb Food Not Bombs served 1,000 meals outside the U.S. Embassy Hundreds of protesters were served hot meals by Food Not Bombs in Budapest, Belgrade, Warsaw, Poznan, Amsterdam, Kula Lumpur, Sidney, Washington, DC, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Tucson and dozens of other cities. Along with feeding protesters, Food Not Bombs also shares free vegetarian meals with the homeless every week in hundreds of cities all over the world.

In 2004, documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Tadic followed Keith McHenry on a tour of North America, Europe and the Middle East to see how the movement was evolving. They learned about Copenhagen Food Not Bombs winning the Danish Peace Award and discovered six cities in Croatian had Food Not Bombs chapters. Slovakian National TV and Radio covered their visit to Bratislava where they learned that Food Not Bombs had started animal rescue shelters in 20 cities. In Israel, brave Food Not Bombs volunteers joined Anarchists Against the Wall in cutting through a gate in the "Iron Curtain" between Palestine and Israel while being shot at (with live ammunition) by the Israeli Defense Forces. One of their friends was shot twice and was rushed to the hospital. Food Not Bombs chapters from towns all over Ireland brought food to Shannon Airbase to protest the war. Chapters in Mexico served food at anti-globalization protests in Cancun and Guadalajara. Eleven Food Not Bombs volunteers were arrested and brutally beaten at the Guadalajara protest which generated worldwide protest and calls for their freedom. They also discovered that many benefit Food Not Bombs CD's and videos have been created and sold to support the various chapters' actions. A group of Dutch and German Food Not Bombs activists visited four Food Not Bombs chapters in Poland and made a great video about their trip.

Now, the Food Not Bombs movement is turning its vision towards the next 25 years. Times are even more difficult than when the movement started in Boston 25 years ago. Will Food Not Bombs continue to give birth to a host of other types of non-violent direct action? Will Food Not Bombs be feeding a movement that is successfully transforming society? The Bush administration¹s policies have destroyed the safety net for the poorest in our country, casting hundreds of thousands of people into the streets. Increasing numbers of Iraqi war veterans are found eating with Food Not Bombs. Resistance to the wars will likely grow in America as more and more people learn of their government¹s atrocities first hand from returning soldiers. The institution of the draft or an invasion of Iran will inspire still larger protests and creative non-violent direct actions. There is plenty of work still to do.

In June 2005, in the days before the BIODEMOCRACY 2005: Reclaim the Commons! protest, Food Not Bombs activists from all over the world will meet in Philadelphia to talk about the future of the movement. How can Food Not Bombs help change the world for the better? As a hub of social activism, Food Not Bombs volunteers will likely start micro-banks, community gardens, info shops, bike repair collectives, wind generation centers and community health centers. They will encourage the creation of neighborhood affinity groups and spokes council meetings, making decisions by consensus. They will organize the community to make sure that everyone has a right to food, clothing, housing, healthcare, education and a good job. Food Not Bombs groups in Eastern Europe are already finding themselves at the epicenter of building democratic, peaceful communities of hope. Food Not Bombs will feed people protesting the Bio-Tech Conference, where the bio-tech industry will display and promote biological weapons, environmentally destructive genetically modified agriculture and other dangerous products.

While society collapses and the American Empire crumbles, Food Not Bombs is busy building the kind of society we all want to have. Because of the grassroots and non-hierarchical nature of each chapter, they have deep connections within their local community. Together, Food Not Bombs volunteers are becoming experienced in cooperative action and collective decisionmaking. They are generating the spirit and vision needed to create a new world. This simple movement, which started in 1980 with a vision and no money or leaders, is creating a society based on peace, participatory democracy and guaranteeing the basic human rights of every person. Food Not Bombs activists invite you to consider starting or joining a Food Not Bombs chapter. Choose to live in a world free from domination, coercion and violence. Show the world that food is a right, not a privilege. Food, not bombs.