Food is a Right, Not a Privilege: Sharing Food with the Hungry is an Unregulated Act of Kindness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 30, 2011

CONTACT:

Keith McHenry
575-770-3377
menu [at] foodnotbombs.net
http://www.foodnotbombs.net/food_is_a_right.html

Kathy Mitro
386-795-9643
kathymitro [at] yahoo.com

FOOD IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE

Sharing food with the hungry is an unregulated act of kindness.
End all efforts to stop people from feeding the hungry.
Rescind all laws restricting compassion.

"I wholeheartedly support the action on April 1, 2012 to protest laws against sharing food!" Dr. Cornel West - author and professor Princeton University

"THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO GIVE OUT FOOD, THERE IS ONLY GIVING OUT ALL THE FOOD YOU CAN"
- Kathy Mitro who posted a petition on line after being threatened with arrest for sharing food in Daytona Beach. Florida in January 2012

We are proposing that people all over the world consider sharing free meals in celebration our right to food and participate in our campaign for an end to laws restricting acts of compassion. Celebrate our right to feed the hungry with music, theater, and the sharing of food.

SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2012


It has been distressing to receive so many reports in the past few weeks of people being threatened with arrest or cities adopting new laws limiting people's right to share free food with the public. People in Belarus, England, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Florida have been contacting the Food Not Bombs global coordination office about having been threatened with arrest for sharing food. Others report that their local governments are considering laws to limit acts of compassion. Food Not Bombs volunteers in Minsk have been arrested for sharing meals an police raided a benefit concert on March 24, 2012 charging 15 volunteers with sentenced to administrative arrests.

This new wave of threats is happening as half of all Americans are struggling to survive. The Department of Agriculture's February report shows that 46,286,294 people relied on food stamps in November of 2011. People have been arriving at Food Not Bombs meals claiming they had not eaten in four days because other food programs had exhausted their resources. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 1 in 7 people or 925 million people world wide went hungry in 2010. We are announcing a global campaign to recognize that sharing food with the hungry is an unregulated activity of compassion and should not be interfered with by the authorities.

Our movement started when the "Diggers" occupied St George's Hill in Surrey, England on April 1, 1649 in a protest for the right of landless people to feed themselves. We are announcing our global campaign for the right of all people to share food with the hungry without regulation on the anniversary of the first act of the peaceful resistance by the "Diggers" of St George's Hill.

The public is encouraged to share meals with their community on Sunday, April 1, 2012 to celebrate our right to share food and end all efforts to restrict acts of compassion. Please email our office so we can post your event on our website.

FOOD IS A RIGHT NOT A PRIVILEGE – End all efforts to stop people from feeding the hungry
http://www.foodnotbombs.net/food_is_a_right.html

FOOD IS A RIGHT NOT A PRIVILEGE – End all efforts to stop people from feeding the hungry on blog.foodnotbombs.net
http://blog.foodnotbombs.net/food-is-a-right-not-a-privilege-end-all-efforts-to-stop-people-from-feeding-the-hungry/

ENDORSED BY

• Barbara Ehrenreich - author of Nickel and Dimed
• Dr. Cornel West - author and professor Princeton University
• Noam Chomsky - author and professor M.I.T.
• Michael Parenti - author and lecturer
• Raj Patel - author of Stuffed and Starved
• Eric Holt-Giménez - Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
• Bill McKibben - author Deep Economy
• David Barsamian - founder and director of Alternative Radio
• David Rovics - Musician, USA
• Kevin Devine - Musician, Brooklyn, NY
• Dorinda Moreno - Fuerza Mundial Collaborative
• Rev. Brian Burch - President, St. Clare's Multifaith Housing Society
• Francisca James Hernández, Ph.D. - Southwest Institute for Research on Women
• Kathy Kelly - Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
• Max Ventura - Musician, Activist, Mom, USA
• Michele Burke - St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
• Rabbi. Auri V. Ish - Musician, Nederland Colorado
• Christina Persaud - Halifax Nova Scotia
• Can Baskent - Practical Anarchy, New York City
• Planting Justice - Oakland, CA
• KT Terry - Founder Homeless Not Hopeless Poets For Change
• Marian Wagner - The North Country Coalition for Justice and Peace, East Ryegate, Vermont
• Tessza Udvarhelyi - The City is for All, Budapest, Hungary
• Tristram Stuart - organized "Feeding the 5000"in London's Trafalgar Square UK
• Kathy Mitro - Daytona Beach, Florida USA
• Agustina Vidal - Myrtle Beach Food Not Bombs
• Birmingham Food Not Bombs - Birmingham, UK
• Keith McHenry - Co-founder of the Food Not Bombs Movement
• Lauren Melodia - Founder & Co-organizer Milk Not Jails USA
• Tom Ferguson - Author, Atlanta, Georgia USA
• Comida, no bombas - Monterrey, Mexico
• Tampa Food Not Bombs - Tampa, Florida USA
• Grand Rapids Food Not Bombs - Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
• The Civil Liberties Defense Center - Eugene, Oregon, USA
• Durango Food Not Bombs - Durango, Colorado, USA
• Houston Food Not Bombs - Houston, Texas, USA
• Budapest Food Not Bombs - Budapest, Hungary
• Randall Amster - Chair of the Master's Program in Humanities at Prescott College, and also serves as the Executive Director of the Peace & Justice Studies Association. USA
• Ellen Murphy - Bellingham, WA, USA
• Cincinnati Food Not Bombs - Cincinnati, OH, USA
• Miakoda (jyll taylor) - founder & director of Fierce Allies
• Washington D.C. Food Not Bombs - Washington D.C. USA
• Christy Prahl, New Communities Program Director - Humboldt Park, Chicago, IL



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PLEASE ENDORSE THIS CAMPAIGN
Please consider endorsing this nonviolent campaign. Email us you name, position and city or if your group is endorsing the name of your organization and city. Seek to overturn all local laws restricting the sharing of food.
Thanks so much.

menu [at] foodnotbombs.net

Feeding The Homeless BANNED In Major Cities All Over America
http://world.hawaiinewsdaily.com/2012/03/feeding-the-homeless-banned-in-major-cities-all-over-america/

‪Philadelphia decides to stop outdoor feeding of homeless‬
http://youtu.be/6X6HDnXufQk

Parker retools, delays homeless feeding plan
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Parker-retools-delays-homeless-feeding-plan-3422252.php

Food not Bombs activists to stand trial after riot police`s raid on charity concert in Minsk
http://naviny.by/rubrics/english/2012/03/25/ic_articles_259_177292

Freedom Day, Arbitrary Detentions and Travel Bans - Belarus Politics Digest
http://belarusdigest.com/story/freedom-day-arbitrary-detentions-and-travel-bans-belarus-politics-digest-8553