Anarchistcook’s Weblog

I helped start Food Not Bombs in 1980 in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts with seven other young anti-nuclear activists. I helped cook the produce that I was throwing away at work. For the first eight years, we shared meals at Harvard Square, on the Boston Commons and at protests all across New England. In 1988 I helped start a second Food Not Bombs group in San Francisco. On August 15, 1988, the San Francisco Police arrested nine of us for sharing meals without a permit.

People started to ask us how they could get arrested for sharing vegetarian meals so we made a flyer called Seven Steps to Starting a Local Food Not Bombs chapter. Soon groups were sharing vegetarian food in Long Beach, California, Washington D.C., New York City and Vancouver, British Columbia. A worldwide movement was born. I was arrested nearly 100 times for haring vegan meals, beaten at least 13 times and tortured three times. I faced 25 years to life in prison and spent over 500 days in jail according to the district attorney of San Francisco.  Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Commission called for my freedom. I settled the cases in 1995 and toured the world helping start new Food Not Bombs chapters.

The city of Orlando Florida passed a Large Group Feeding Law which was blocked by the Federal District Courts until a higher court ruled that the city could limit the sharing of free meals and literature to twice a year per park. The city started to make arrests in June 2011. I spent 19 days at the Orange County jail for sharing food more than twice in twelve months. The cyber protest group Anonymous posted calls to end the arrests on local websites, David Rovics wrote a song about the issue and people all over the world organized actions calling for an end to the law. The mayor ended the arrests after a month and a half.

Today I live in Santa Cruz, California volunteering with my local Food Not Bombs group while supporting the Food Not Bombs movement by helping people start new groups and directing hungry people to their local chapter.

While volunteering with Food Not Bombs I also helped start the October 22nd No Police Brutality Day action, San Francisco Liberation Radio, Indymedia, Homes Not Jails and I have supported many efforts at human liberation, freedom, peace, and social justice.

The FBI, Pentagon and a number of other government agencies list me as a terrorist and have included Food Not Bombs and Indymedia as terrorist groups. I was taken off a flight from Turkey to Chicago by Border and Customs and questioned for an hour. While the officers input the data from the contents of my wallet into their computer they asking me about my connection to what they called “the violent group Food Not Bombs.” Another man joking with me about forest fires in Arizona turned out to be an FBI agent investigating my connection to the Earth First! movement.

I have worked for nonviolent social change for over 50 years. I helped collect and cooked meals at Camp Casey and coordinated the food relief for the survivors of Katrina and Sandy. My current work includes efforts to stop the many U.S. wars while organizing food and logistical support for the people harmed by the new “Really Really Great Depression” and work to block the wave of anti-homeless sweeps and forced relocation of the internally displaced.

I spent nearly every day for three years helping share food, water and survival gear when the indoor soup kitchens were locked down helping those who can not shelter in place.

I am currently organizing against the global wars, increase poverty and the implementation of a dystopian digital panopticon future.

I am also writing my first memoir.

THE ANARCHIST COOKBOOK TOUR

HUNGRY FOR PEACE