North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?
US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty
Anti-Empire >>
A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb
The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?
What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are
Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of
The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by
The Saker >>
Meet the NGOs Funding the Human Rights Lawyers Wed Jan 15, 2025 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
How do all these illegal immigrants and asylum seekers afford an endless stream of lawyers to confound Government efforts to deport them? Charlotte Gill digs into the murky world of woke NGOs and trust funds.
The post Meet the NGOs Funding the Human Rights Lawyers appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Wed Jan 15, 2025 01:13 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Sweden Celebrates Migrant Crackdown Success as Asylum Seeker Numbers Hit 40-Year Low Tue Jan 14, 2025 19:00 | Will Jones
The number of migrants granted asylum in?Sweden?dropped to the lowest level in 40 years in 2024 after a years-long crackdown on immigration under a succession of Governments. If Sweden can do it, why can't the U.K.?
The post Sweden Celebrates Migrant Crackdown Success as Asylum Seeker Numbers Hit 40-Year Low appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
In Latest Effort to Deny Reality, Leftist German Word Police Announce that a Standard Colloquialism ... Tue Jan 14, 2025 17:00 | Eugyppius
In the latest effort to deny reality, the Leftist German word police have announced that a standard term for ethnic German is "racist and antidemocratic". Can we no longer even acknowledge our existence, asks Eugyppius.
The post In Latest Effort to Deny Reality, Leftist German Word Police Announce that a Standard Colloquialism for Ethnic German is Racist, Exclusionary and Antidemocratic appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
2024 Registrations Of New Electric Cars Plummet 27.5% in Germany Tue Jan 14, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
The share of electric cars in new registrations in Germany plummeted 27.5% in 2024 compared to the previous year, as the future "remains bleak for e-mobility".
The post 2024 Registrations Of New Electric Cars Plummet 27.5% in Germany appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Trump and Musk, Canada, Panama and Greenland, an old story, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jan 14, 2025 07:03 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?114-115 Fri Jan 10, 2025 14:04 | en
End of Russian gas transit via Ukraine to the EU Fri Jan 10, 2025 13:45 | en
After Iraq, Libya, Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, the Pentagon attacks Yemen, by Thier... Tue Jan 07, 2025 06:58 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en
Voltaire Network >>
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7This guy was great down at Shannon the last time ... wearing his chefs hat and pushing the food trolley around
does anyone know where you can get a good high resolution copy of the fnb logo, ye know the one with the raised fist holding a carrot, its cool and I want to do up some banners and t-shirts to start an fnb in my area at some point
The .com email address listed by PC is incorrect it should be .org, email foodnotbombs-subscribe@thisbetterworld.org to become a member of the FNB mailing list. email foodnotbombs@thisbetterworld.org to send to the list (due to SPAM only members can post)
In many cities in the United States, anarchists have organized "Food Not
Bombs" feeds. The organizers of these projects will explain that food
should be free, that no one should ever have to go hungry. Certainly a fine
sentiment...and one to which the anarchists respond in much the same way as
christians, hippies or left liberals -- by starting a charity.
We will be told, however, that "Food Not Bombs" is different. The decision-
making process used by the organizers is nonheirarchical. They recieve no
government or corporate grants. In many cities, they serve their meals as
an act of civil disobedience, risking arrest. Obviously, "Food Not Bombs"
is not a large-scale charitable bureaucracy; in fact, it is often a very
slip-shod effort...but it is a charity -- and that is never questioned by
its anarchist organizers.
Charities are a necessary part of any economic social system. The scarcity
imposed by the economy creates a situation in which some people are unable
to meet their most basic needs through the normal channels. Even in nations
with highly developed social welfare programs, there are those who fall
through the cracks in the system. Charities take up the slack where the
state's welfare programs can't or won't help. Groups like "Food Not Bombs"
are, thus a voluntary workforce helping to preserve the social order by
reinforcing the dependence of the poor upon programs not of their own
creation.
No matter how non-heirarchal the decision-making process used by the
relationship is always authoritarian. The beneficiaries of a charity are at
the mercy of the organizers of the program and so are not free to act on
their own terms in this relationship. This can be seen in the humiliating
way in which one must recieve charity. Charity feeds like "Food Not Bombs"
require the beneficiaries to arrive at a time not of their choosing in
order to stand in line to recieve food not of their choosing (and usually
poorly made) in quantities doled out by some volunteer who wants to make
sure that everyone gets a fair share. Of course, it's better than going
hungry, but the humiliaton is at least as great as that of waiting in line
at the grocery store to pay for food one actually wants and can eat when
one wants it. The numbness we develop to such humiliation -- the numbness
which is made evident by the case with which certain anarchists will opt to
eat at charity feeds every day in order to avoid paying for food, as though
there were no other options -- shows the extent to which our society is
permeated with such humiliating interactions. Still, one would think that
anarchists would refuse such interactions as far as it lies within their
power to do so and would seek to create interactions of a different sort in
order to destroy the humiliation imposed by society. Instead, many create
programs that reinforce this humiliation.
But what of the empathy one may feel for another who is suffering from a
poverty one knows all too well; what of the desire to share food with
others? Programs like "Food Not Bombs" do not express empathy, they express
pity. Doling out food is not sharing; it is an impersonal, hierarchical
relationship between social role "donor" and social role "beneficiary".
Lack of imagination has led anarchists to deal with the question of hunger
(which is an abstract question for most of them) in much the same way as
christians and liberals, creating institutions which parallel those which
already exist. As is to be expected when anarchists attempt to do an
inherently authoritarian task, they do a piss-poor job...Why not leave
charity work to those who have no illusions about it? Anarchists would do
better to find ways of sharing individually if they are so moved, ways
which encourage self-determination rather than dependence and affinity
rather than pity.
There is nothing anarchist about "Food Not Bombs". Even the name is a
demand being made to the authorities. This is why its organizers so
frequently use civil disobedience -- it is an attempt to appeal to the
consciences of those in power, to get them to feed and house the poor.
There is nothing in this program that encourages self-determination. There
is nothing that would encourage the beneficiaries to refuse that role and
begin to take what they want and need without following the rules. "Food
Not Bombs", like every other charity, encourages its beneficiaries to
remain passive recipients rather than becoming active creators of their own
lives. Charity must be recognized for what it is: another aspect of the
institutionalized humiliation inherent in our economized existence which
must be destroyed so we can fully live.
go to the website and you find a eps version of the carot try that if not mail me at honkdub@yahoo.com and ill find the right thing for ya at home
you don't seem to know much about fnb as one of founding principals was to be not charity and directly involve those it shares food with
This is my personal experience with FnB. I admit this is not from reading 'the founding principals', as pc commented, 'direct involvement'. This is from my own, personal interaction with FnB:
Feral writes: "it is a charity - and that is never questioned by it's anarchist organizers".
Feral, you've done interviews with every FnB all over the world, and never once have found an incorrectness with your description of FnB?
Words like 'never' and 'always' in writings raise red flags for me. I become suspect.
FnB where I've worked, has frequently been open to people coming to contribute their time. The line can be quite blurry between who does the work and who recieves the benefit, with many people being on both sides. Frequently, when I've been in the kitchen preparing, people have walked up to the house, and offered to help - and they have. These people had previously recieved the benefit of FnB. People at food distro sites pitch in carrying boxes or massaging the throngs of people into somewhat saner configurations.
In the ordinary charity, Feral seems to be at pains to compare FnB with, again from my own experience, the following scenario:
Unwashed 'street types' (myself included) recieving a set amount of barely digestible food from a nicely-dressed church lady across the table. There is no clear way to contribute; cash donations by people recieving food are usually declined.
(I think it's nice to learn how to recieve.)
'"Food Not Bombs", like every other charity, encourages its beneficiaries to remain passive recipients rather than becoming active creators of their own lives.' I have not see this happen. FnB due to it's autonomous nature, may have people in some cities operating it as a normal charity, although I have not seen this happen. If people 'on the street' are offering help, and barred from doing so, as a contributor to FnB I would strongly question my ethos for doing so. As well, if I was unaware of my behaviour, I appreciate it when someone who notices, comes to me and makes it clear what is incorrect, without creating unnecessary drama.
Feral's comments: "Pity" and "Doling out food". In my memory, perhaps inaccurate, I have not felt 'pity' when working with FnB. Food, in experiences, is placed on park benches in 5-gallon buckets. People come up and serve themselves, in part because of health-code regulations. People are inspired. It is unusual for anyone to stand and dole out food.
I think a helpful way is for readers who are not involved in FnB, to go to the local FnB kitchen, help where they can. For readers who are involved, to help by engaging in discussion on how better FnB can be done. Expansion, food sources, creation of new ideas. Or making it smaller, while a re-organization takes place, or while crowds shrink. Fliers, etc., increased participation. FnB is an event, a gathering.
Have fun!