The Food Not Bombs Story

Food Not Bombs is one of the fastest-growing movements for social justice in North America today and is gaining momentum all over the world. There are over 175 autonomous chapters sharing vegetarian food with hungry people and protesting war and poverty throughout the Americas, Europe and Australia. Anti-nuclear activists formed the first group in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1980. Food Not Bombs is a volunteer organisation dedicated to non-violence. Food Not Bombs has no formal leaders and strives to include everyone in its decision making process. Each group recovers food that would otherwise be thrown out and makes fresh hot vegetarian meals that are served in public spaces to anyone without restriction. The groups also serve free vegetarian meals at protests and other events.

The San Francisco Chapter has seen its members arrested over 1,000 times in an effort to silence its protest against the Mayor's anti-homeless policies. Amnesty International has considered adopting imprisoned Food Not Bombs volunteers as "Prisoners of Conscience" and working for their unconditional release.

The Food Not Bombs Network

We are a loose knit group of independent collectives, but we do share several unifying principles that define us as Food Not Bombs. These are:

Food Recycling -- Enough food is wasted each day to feed everyone who is hungry. Food Not Bombs recovers healthy nutritious vegetarian food that would have been otherwise discarded and prepares and serves it to people. We collect food from produce warehouses and grocery stores that might be unsalable because it no longer has the necessary appearance.

Non-violence -- Our society is dominated by violence. The threat of crime, domestic and police violence and the ongoing possibility of nuclear war affect our daily lives. The authority and power of our government is based on the threat and use of violence at home and abroad. Food Not Bombs is committed to a vision of society that is motivated by justice and diversity not violence and greed. Poverty is also violence. While our society pursues the massive accumulation of wealth for the few, it relegates millions to hunger and homelessness. The commercial food industry is also predicated on violence. It involves the slaughtering of millions of animals and the poisoning of our planet through the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers. It also allows tons of usable food to go to waste to insure profits. Food Not Bombs serves only vegetarian food and makes every effort to use organic produce. Food Not Bombs challenges the violence of society by the free sharing of food and non-violent actions that highlight the injustices of militarism and poverty.

Consensus Decision Making -- Rather then relying on a system of winner take all, Food Not Bombs believes that every member of the group should have a full opportunity to participate in shaping all the group's decisions. The consensus process insures that the will of the majority doesn't dismiss the values and contributions of everyone else. The consensus process forces us to resolve conflicts through open communication rather than overruling and censoring. We take the time necessary to fully understand various viewpoints within the group. Rather than pushing one's own perspective, it is not perceived as a weakness to change and modify one's opinion after listening to the opinions of others in the group. The result is a decision that the whole group has had a part in formulating and is comfortable with.

Kitchener-Waterloo Food Not Bombs

The local chapter of Food Not Bombs has been active on and off for a number of years as an action group of the Waterloo Public Interest Research Group (WPIRG). WPIRG is a student run organisation at the University of Waterloo with approximately 12,000 undergraduate student members. The organisation contains various action groups including groups that focus on environmental issues, corporate power, indigenous rights, and global social justice.

In February 1999, Food Not Bombs was reactivated as a WPIRG action group. We began to serve free food to hungry people in front of Kitchener City Hall and have been in the same location ever since.

Every week, members of Food Not Bombs contribute by attending meetings, collecting food, cooking, serving, writing literature, etc. The time commitment ranges from 2 hours to 14 hours per week. In addition, many members are also full time students, work and pay taxes, and partake in all those little nuances that are considered important in being "productive members of society".

In recent weeks our meetings have lasted as long as four hours. We have spent a lot of time considering the concerns of Kitchener City Council, Craig McWhinnie (owner of Williams Coffee Pub) and other downtown merchants. In addition to our meetings, Food Not Bombs members take part in servings which involves being present at Kitchener City Hall at around one in the afternoon and staying until around three or four. Cooking is an even greater time commitment which starts around 10 a.m., and ends when we begin our servings at 1 p.m. Some of the most active members also give of their time to collect the food from our food donors.

Meeting the Police

While many members of the community have responded very positively to our servings, others have demonstrated strong opposition to our presence at City Hall. Food Not Bombs has shown that we are a peaceful group engaged in civil acts of protest and good will. Thus, we were surprised at the level of opposition that confronted us. As well, it is our understanding that we do not need to ask permission in order to engage in our positive and helpful activity on public space.

The first serious example of this opposition occurred on Saturday, May 15th, when City Hall security asked us to leave, and when we refused, three Waterloo regional police officers arrived and told us that we were trespassing. When we asked on what grounds we were being asked to leave, one police officer insisted that we were breaking Ontario Statutes. This police officer then proceeded through force, to prevent members of Food Not Bombs from serving food and members of the public from serving themselves. Eventually we compromised by acting on the suggestion of the police to move our table three feet forward onto the sidewalk and the police then disappeared when a television camera from CKCO showed up. The Waterloo Regional Police have not confronted us since.

After this incident, WPIRG received a phone call from City Hall asking if Food Not Bombs would meet with representatives of the City. At this meeting it was made clear to us that in fact we were not breaking any laws or by-laws and that legally we were fully within our rights to be serving free food at City Hall.

Don't Ban Free Food! - Policy I-314 and City Council

Foremost of those who have opposed us has been Craig McWhinnie, the owner of Williams Coffee Pub. His restaurant is also located at City Hall, immediately behind the location where we have chosen to serve food. When it became clear that the City could not legally remove us, on June 25, 1999, the Kitchener City Hall's Department of Corporate Services and the City Clerk recommended to the members of the Finance and Administration Committee that "food distribution, except with permission from Council, be added as a prohibited activity under Policy I-314." According to background information supplied in the recommendation, the proposed changes to Policy I-314 came about after "Council directed staff to respond to a complaint from Craig McWhinnie."

Thus, distribution of free food without permission was to be added to the prohibited activities list and put into the same category as undesirable activities such as molesting and fighting. The Finance and Administration Committee passed this recommendation despite the opposition of Food Not Bombs, by a vote of 8 to 1. Mark Yantzi was the only councillor who did not endorse the recommendation.

On Monday July 5th, this recommendation went before Kitchener City Council for final ratification. More than 10 delegations made presentations to City Council including members of Food Not Bombs, the K-W Youth Collective, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, Reaching Our Outdoor Friends (ROOF), and independent members of the public. None of the delegations spoke in favour of the proposed recommendation. In response to the concerns of the delegations, City Council backed down and did not support the recommendation choosing instead to pass the following resolution:

This resolution is very unsatisfactory to Food Not Bombs because the resolution suggests that our servings should stop immediately after a complaint. Thus, when a complaint is made, guilt is assumed and allegations do not need to be proven until we are brought before City Council. Furthermore, the resolution suggests that our servings should stop immediately regardless of whether the complaint is accurate, trivial or true. Given the history of untrue or exaggerated complaints made against us, this is not acceptable. False complaints could disrupt our servings and prevent us from maintaining our services on a consistent basis. Finally, the process outlined in the resolution allows for Kitchener City Council to be the judge in the case of complaints. From our perspective, City Hall is hardly an unbiased judge and will likely decide in favour of business interests in the downtown rather than the interest of activists and the people we are trying to help. As well, if a complaint is made by Williams, Kitchener City Hall faces a conflict of interest. Being that Williams is a tenant at City Hall and the City has obvious financial interests in satisfying its tenants, Kitchener City Council is not in a position to make unbiased decisions regarding our servings.

Food Not Bombs and the K-W Youth Collective

Since we began our servings, members of the K-W Youth Collective have been supporting us. There is no formal connection between the groups; the Youth Collective simply helps us do the good work that we do. While the clear majority of the work for our servings is done by members of Food Not Bombs, K-W Youth Collective members sometimes attend our meetings or help us cook and are always present at our servings to help distribute food and literature.

Through the media and through City Hall, there has been pressure brought on us to sever our connection with the K-W Youth Collective. For example, Councillor Karen Taylor-Harrison has stated that she could not support Food Not Bombs as long as we continued to work with the Youth Collective. Furthermore, much of the negative press we received in the K-W Record focused on the Youth Collective. In a June 14th article, Rose Simone wrote that Craig McWhinnie is "mainly upset because at least one member of the K-W Youth Collective, who is associated with Food Not Bombs, has been harassing his customers and telling them not eat [sic] at Williams." When a member of the Youth Collective called Rose Simone at the Record, she believed that Craig was referring to one incident where two women had come into Williams and said that a person in the Youth Collective had told them that they should not shop at Williams.

Whether these allegations are true or not, certainly it is an exaggeration to suggest that this behaviour is harassment. Food Not Bombs and the Youth Collective have never engaged in any campaign or planned activities to deter customers from going to Williams Coffee Pub. We have, however, been very upset with the level of opposition expressed by Craig McWhinnie to our free food servings and we reserve the right to comment on these activities. Criticism is a democratic right - particularly on City Hall property - and does not constitute harassment by any definition, legal or otherwise.

We have maintained our relationship with the Youth Collective because they have helped us and it is one of our main goals to work with other anti-poverty groups. We look forward to working with the Youth Collective and other anti-poverty groups in the future.

Mediation

At the July 5th City of Kitchener Council Meeting, Food Not Bombs suggested mediation as an option to be explored. Our reasoning was that perhaps the mediation process would allow Food Not Bombs, the K-W Youth Collective, Williams and other downtown businesses to explore the issues in a more productive manner. We did not feel that the suggested policy change in front of council was appropriate, and were hopeful that a collaborative resolution could be found.

Throughout this dispute there has been an obvious power imbalance. Members of Food Not Bombs feel that we have been portrayed as "just trouble causing youth", and all downtown business owners as respectable and hardworking. This power has influenced everything, from the manner in which any dialogue has occurred, to the fact that Council accepts everything that is said by Mr. McWhinnie as absolutely true.

It was our hope that coming to the mediation table would give us an opportunity to be heard and understood as equals. Unfortunately much of the power imbalance remained throughout the mediation. Our perception was that we were being lectured to yet once again. While we tried to come up with ways to address the concerns brought up the businesses, they did not make any effort to address our concerns until we actually pointed this out. In the end, when it appeared that we had found some solutions to all the concerns they initially voiced, our suggested changes were not enough, and Williams would not be satisfied until we moved.

Concerns of Downtown Businesses and Our Suggestions

Through the mediation process, the following concerns were brought to the attention of Food Not Bombs, regarding our weekly servings of free food at Civic Square. We are quite certain that we have included all of the major concerns brought to our attention, and apologise if we have neglected to acknowledge any minor concerns.

1) The presence of Food Not Bombs is intimidating community members:

The Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective servings of free food is located close to the sidewalk along the East side of King Street. One or more members of Food Not Bombs or the Youth collective is generally located on the sidewalk in order to give out pamphlets, or on occasion, to hold signs. It was brought to our attention that the presence of Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective members is intimidating to some members of the public, particularly senior citizens and potential Williams Coffee Pub patrons. It was also brought to our attention that our methods of distributing literature is too aggressive as the designated literature distributor has on occasion given pamphlets to people who had purposefully refrained from making eye contact in order to avoid being given a pamphlet.

Our Suggestions:

2) Free food servings at City Hall will negatively affect the perception of downtown Kitchener:

There is currently an effort underway to revitalise downtown Kitchener. It is felt that the Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective serving of free food at the Civic Square creates an undesirable atmosphere in the downtown. The atmosphere created by Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective servings of free food does not fit in with the ideal atmosphere of a revitalised downtown core and therefore has the potential to hinder the revitalisation process.

Our Suggestions:

We feel that our servings of free food are a wonderful addition to downtown Kitchener. Our feeling is that a friendly, happy serving should not hinder, and instead, should promote the revitalisation of Kitchener's downtown core. We envision our servings as a type of community event, drawing families, old people, young people all sorts of people.

3) People think we are protesting Williams:

There is the possibility of pedestrians or Williams Coffee Pub patrons may perceive Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective servings of free food to be part of a protest against Williams Coffee Pub. This potential association could create a negative image for Williams Coffee Pub.

Our Suggestions

This could be said about any protest or demonstration at City Hall. Some people may think we are protesting Williams because there has been a considerable amount of press concerning the opposition to our servings by Craig McWhinnie and others at Williams. This opposition was not a decision made by us. We would like to improve our relationship with Williams so that it becomes obvious that we are not protesting Williams.

4) Our food is unsanitary.

Our Suggestions

Our servings of free food, as well as the kitchens in which we cooked food have been approved by Region of Waterloo Health Inspectors. Currently we are looking for a new kitchen and are making every effort to maintain health standards.

5) Food Not Bombs should not serve free food in front of a restaurant.

The location of the weekly two-hour serving of free food by Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective in front of a restaurant selling food is unjust. Even after the above concerns are dealt with, the location of Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective servings of free food is not acceptable.

Suggestions by Downtown Businesses

During the mediation process, representatives of Williams and other downtown businesses made several suggestions concerning the location of Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective Saturday servings of free food. It was suggested that Food Not Bombs and the K-W Youth Collective:

Serve food in a different area of Kitchener each Saturday: Food Not Bombs and the K-W Youth Collective should serve free food in various neighbourhoods where there is a high percentage of people living in poverty.

Serve food in front of or behind the Fountain at Civic Square: Williams offered to donate an umbrella and table that would enable Food Not Bombs and the K-W Youth Collective to serve free food without the need for the larger structures or shelter existing in front of Williams Coffee Pub and (the clothing business) located on the opposite side of Civic Square. During days of heavy rainfall, or other inclement weather, it was suggested that we could move back in front of Williams.

Free food in front of Williams Coffee Pub during alternate weeks only: The location of Food Not Bombs/K-W Youth Collective servings could alternate between the shelter in front of Williams Coffee Pub and the shelter in front of the (the clothing store).
Our Response to these Suggestions:

Food Not Bombs and members of K-W Youth Collective deliberated for many hours regarding whether or not to accept any or all of these suggestions. In the end, we decided not to accept any of them.

It would not be practical or possible for Food Not Bombs and the K-W Youth Collective to serve free food at a different location each Saturday. Firstly, it is very important that hungry people in the community of Kitchener are aware of our servings: they need to know the time of day we serve, the day of the week, and the location of our servings. It would not be possible to ensure awareness of our servings if the location was changing weekly. Many of the people who frequent our servings do not have access to newspapers, radios or televisions, and therefore can not be reached by traditional means of advertising. To limit awareness of our servings is to limit their success. We do however, acknowledge that our Saturday servings of free food at Civic Square are not accessible to all residents in Kitchener who are living in poverty. We have been discussing for some time the possibility of conducting a second serving of free food in another neighbourhood in the K-W area. We are limited, however, by time and energy. We hope that when new students arrive at the universities in September, our membership will increase and we will be able to start serving in a second location.

Locating our servings of free food behind or in front of the fountain was also not a sustainable option. Even with the donation of an umbrella and table, the location front of or behind the fountain is undesirable because of the lack of shelter. Only one or two people can fit under an umbrella. These two people would likely be delegated the task of serving food. The rest of the members of Food Not Bombs and the K-W Youth Collective, as well as those being served free food, would be without shelter. There is very little weather that does not warrant a need for full shelter. Sun, rain, snow, sleet, hail, heavy winds are the types of weather occurrences that warrant shelter: there are few days where one of more of these types of weather occurrences are not present.

Another problem with serving in front of or behind the fountain is that people do not gather in these locations. Originally, we chose our current location because the central gathering space at City Hall is in front of Williams Coffee Pub. Even if the actual serving of our free food could occur in front of or behind the fountain, the eating of our free food would remain in its present location. One of our goals in conducting these servings of free food is to create ties within the community, whether it be with businesses who support us, within the University community and within the community of people who attend our servings. If Food Not Bombs and K-W Youth Collective members serve free food in front or behind the fountain, yet those eating food sit under the shelter in front of Williams coffee Pub, interaction, dialogue, and communication would be reduced. It would likely occur, then, that Food Not Bombs and the K-W Youth Collective members who were not actively serving free food would also congregate in front of Williams Coffee Pub. Essentially, the servings of free food would continue in that location, which leads us to question why we would not simply continue to serve free food in this location in the first place?

Furthermore, serving behind the fountain would decrease our visibility. Thus, our goal of increasing awareness of poverty, food distribution, and military spending issues would be hampered. As well, our presence behind the fountain may block entrances to City Hall. Finally, it is unclear whether or not we would have support or opposition from City Hall officials for serving free food behind the fountain.

Conclusion

In the end - we have chosen to stay! The present location of our servings is the best possible location because it offers heavy foot traffic, high visibility, shelter and a comfortable environment.

In addition there are several compelling reasons for staying.

Firstly, City Hall is the political centre of our community and the traditional place for people to gather, dialogue and express alternative views. Any group that seeks to engage in public service and education should have full rights to do so at City Hall. Business interests take precedence over many other interests in other locations, but this should not be the case at City Hall. At City Hall, community groups engaging in political and social activities should be given priority.

We feel that the City should, by all means, protect the rights of community members to engage in peaceful political activity on City Hall property. If political discourse becomes a lower priority than business interests at City Hall, our fundamental political rights including free expression and free assembly are at risk. If the City is not prepared to uphold the rights of community members then Food Not Bombs will protest this decision through peaceful political action.

Secondly, Food Not Bombs feels that we are being asked to move partly because downtown businesses and Kitchener City Council are trying to "revitalise" the downtown core. Food Not Bombs is not against a healthy and vibrant downtown; however the City's current definition of revitalision lacks substantial components, in particular diversity in people and ideas. Youth and the poor in the downtown are constantly told to move, are talked down to, and their opinions, ideas, and needs ignored. By remaining in a visible downtown location, Food Not Bombs is asserting that youth and the poor have equal rights to utilise downtown spaces, and to be integrated in any plans for the downtown. Being young or poor is not a crime.

Finally, Food Not Bombs believes that the issues of poverty in the downtown are not being adequately addressed by Kitchener City Council. Instead of creating conditions to better the situation of the poor, City Hall is trying to hide or drive away these "undesirables". Food Not Bombs believes that until poverty is alleviated it must be kept visible so that citizens are kept aware of the reality of poverty and reminded to take personal responsibility to address this systemic problem.

Because food is a right not a privilege. Because scarcity is a patriarchal lie. Because a woman should not have to use her body to get a meal, or to have a place to sleep. Because when we are hungry we have the right to get what we need. Because poverty is a form of violence not necessary or natural. Because capitalism makes food a source of profit not a source of nutrition. Because food does grow on trees. Because we need community not control. Because we need homes not jails. Because we need FOOD NOT BOMBS!!