More News from the Hunger Frontlines

Recently we posted about a struggle brewing between Chicago Food Not Bombs as well as other community activists and tone-deaf, anti-homeless city administrators in Illinois. Today we’re featuring two more articles about poverty and food scarcity from the viewpoint of Food Not Bombs!

Vice.com Reports On Recycled Food Markets

According to Jarrod Shanahan, a new start-up called the Urban Foods Initiative is cribbing from FNB and others who collect food that can’t be sold from markets..but there’s a twist: they’re selling it! The article also quotes several “veteran dumpster divers,” dispelling some of the stigma around the concept, which is used to provide Food Not Bombs sharings about as much as it isn’t: “A lot of it is aesthetic. Brown marks on zucchini, blemishes that aren’t bothersome to the eater but won’t make that particular item sell. This guy’s plan is actually proof of that.”

Follow the link to read more, but we’ll leave you with this choice quote:

“Mass agricultural goods are themselves the product of this desire to conquer scarcity—the unpredictability of the environment, being unsure if we will be able to find food to survive.” said Dumpster diver Mary LeMont, “Capitalism, through austerity measures, is trying to recreate this sense of scarcity, but only at the bottom: finding new ways of sustaining the working poor with even less.”

Student Journalist Reports on Cities’ Anti-Homeless Campaigning

Andres David Lopez features Fort Lauderdale FNB as well as policies nationwide that are effecting homeless and poor peoples’ access to food aid and basic services: “Every city in Florida is really dependent on tourism dollars and city officials are under a lot of pressure to keep up that revenue…They all seem to think they can do that by getting rid of homeless people.”

Besides focusing on bleak and depressing Florida, there’s also some focus on those who are trying a little harder, including a member of California’s state assembly, who supports a homeless rights bill introduced to the legislature in December: “I can’t understand why sitting on a sidewalk is illegal…We need to defend the right to exist for people that do not have a home.”

Follow the link to read more…everywhere government fails to provide for the welfare of its people, it’s quite possible Food Not Bombs will be there to teach people that another society is possible.