Food Not Bombs the Issue

Food Not Bombs

The issue of hunger is considered to be one of the most stringent problems facing the world today. Despite the fact that we live in a globalised world, there are areas of the globe where hunger is the everyday life situation. At the same time, wars are constantly financed by the most important countries in the world, without paying attention to the human damage that is left behind or the costs such devastating operations mean in terms of food resources in particular.

Despite this grim situation, the international community tries to point out these aspects and intervene through every means possible. In this sense, the work and activity of transnational organization and in general of international forums has increased, particularly in the area of hunger prevention and protests against war. One such initiative is the Food not Bombs movement (FNB). According to their own description, FNB is not a charity movement in the sense that "for over 25 years the movement has worked to end hunger and has supported actions to stop the globalization of the economy, restrictions to the movements of people, end exploitation and the destruction of the earth" (Food not Bombs, 2008).

The activities of the FNB movement include volunteers on a large scale. Unlike charity movements who tend to raise mostly money, FNB works on a system that aims at also raising the awareness on the global changes that take place every day. In this sense, they collect food for those in need; they offer vegetarian meals without discrimination. This comes to point out the fact that their range of activity expands beyond helping those unable to provide food for themselves; it is also a movement which aims to draw the attention on the need to helping to protect the environment from wars, ecological disasters, and in general the destruction of the planet.

It is important however to consider the fact that the activities of the FNB movement are transnational because they include a large number of international activities. In this sense, they worked in Asia as well to help with the relief effort in Indonesia. This technique is important because it offers a wider perspective on the aspects that need to be covered and because the actions must be local as well (Huey, 2005)

2.The events from 9/11 have had an impact on the entire world. Most importantly however, it must be pointed out that the help received by the workers on the site was largely provided by organizations such as the FNB movement. In turn, the events impact their activity as well. More precisely, the volunteers were among the first to give assistance to work aids but at the same time, following the 9/11 events, a large number of FNB volunteers were suspected of terrorism.

The main effect of the 9/11 attacks is that nowadays the police tend to be more vigilant and more suspicious of movements such as FNB. The action of the FNB especially after 9/11 included a larger number of protests against the war and in general against the inequality that is facing today's society. (Crass, 2000)This is why the actions of the FNB became increasingly obvious in particular after the terrorist attacks especially in the media and the public attention.

The 9/11 attacks also offered the FNB movement a new dimension for their approach. In this sense, they tried to deal more with the need to raise awareness on the inequality of life because one of the main reasons for terrorism is the great poverty that is present in many parts of the world. This leads to discontent and to an imminent rejection of the traditional democratic values. This is why the FNB initiatives also focused on spreading information related to better possibilities of life and a reaction to the global domination of the industries which use resources without control (Food not Bombs, 2008). Still, nowadays a lot of the members of the FNB movement are under the scrutiny of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Common Dreams.org, 2006)

3.The social movements of the 70s and 80s were largely characterized by a strong militarism against the war and especially those in which the United States was engaged. In this sense, these often were violent and radical in the sense that a lot of people suffered as a result of such protests. One of the most important movements and one which still exists today is the Punk movement (Clark, 2004). Although it is most famous for its image of the different music this movement adopted, its initiatives are considered to be wider in range and scope. In this sense, they tend to rebel mostly against the capitalist nature of the economies, the pressures third world countries have to endure as a result of globalization, but most importantly they tend to be anarchists. In general, it can be said that the 70s and the 80s saw an increase in the anarchist pressures manifested in protest movements because it was considered that in fact the state was the one creating inequality. This is why, the Punk movement also rejected unequal treatment of women and a differentiation based on gender. Even so, they are seen as being radical especially taking into account that they reject any order from the state and the society they refuse to accept (Clark, 2004)

Unlike the Punk movement, the FNB movement works in close connection with the state, whose authority is recognized. More importantly, they consider that collaborating with the local politicians and the media is crucial for spreading their message. At the same time, it is important to take into account that they work with local authorities out of the belief that any action must be taken locally in order to have the wanted effect. Finally, unlike many militant groups, they are not extremists in their action, a reason for which they have a good cooperation policy with Amnesty International.