THE FOOD NOT BOMBS MOVEMENT

STATEMENT OF NONVIOLENCE
All Food Not Bombs volunteers work for nonviolent socill change and this Is our statement
The name Food Not Bombs states our most fundamental principle: That our society needs things that give life not
things that give death. Our society is dominated by violence and the threat of violence. This affects us both in our
daily Uves through the constant threat of aime and police abu~ and less dit"eddy but jll$t cw seriously through the
threat of total annihilation from nuclear war. The authority and power of our government are predicated on the
threat and use of violence. They continue to spend more time and resources developing, using, and threatening to
use weapons of massive human and planetary destruction than on nurturing and celebrating life. Food Not Bombs
has chosen to take a stand against violence. As a group of individuals we are committed to non-violent social
change through the celebration and nurturing of life by giving out free vegetarian food .
Poverty is violence. By spending money on bombs instead of addressing human needs, our government
perpetuates and exaced:Jates the violence of poverty in our society. One of the most direct physical expressions of
the violence of poverty is hunger. Millions of Americans go hungry every day and childhood malnutrition
contributes hea\jly to infant mortality rates, which are higher in parts of the U.S. than in some Third World nations.
Inadequate or non-existent health care, police brutality, and class disai:mination are also forms of systemic violence
against poor people. Poverty is also a key factor in the level of interpersonal violence. It can drive down people's
self-esteem, causing people to lash out in the form of domestic violence and violent street crime. The violence of
poverty also becomes int~ed which can result in addictive behavior and suicide.
Food Not Bombs responds to the problems of poverty and self-esteem in two ways. First. we provide food to
whomever wants it in an open respectful way. We don't make people jump through any bureaucratic hoops that are
designed to control and often punish people for being poor. Secondly, we invite people who eat with us to be
involved in providing the food them.selves. This helps people to regain a feeling of their own power and their ability
to change their situation.
The food we serve also expresses our commitment to non-violence. Mainstream food production is an inherently
violent process involving the slaughtering of millions of animals, the death of an estimated 10,000 field workers
annually, and the poisoning of the air, wate~; soil, and our bodies with chemical fert:i.l:izers and pesticides.
Food Not Bombs is providing a service to people that attempts to address some very serious problems at no cost to
the government For some reason. sone cities have chosen to use violence to try and stop us. In these cities police
are routinely used in large numbers to take ~food and equipment; arrest, threaten, and/ or beat-up our members.
In this way they reinforce the violence of t.t\e State in the face of ever growing human needs. It is extremely
important that w e respond to these attacks in a non-violent manner which is consistent with our views of human
value. It is never in our interest to use violence against the state, or other humans. In practical terms the state is
capable of mustering significantly more violent force than we are so we risk our own safety from further, more
intense police violence. More philoeophicaDy, we don't want to be in the position of recreating the power of the state
in our own efforts for social change. We want to create a society based on human rights and human needs; not on
the threat and use of violence.
Food Not Bombs worb hard to prevent violence within our own community by ensuring that food ~ never used
as a w eapon against anyone. At demonstrations and our daily servings we concentrate on serving food in a peaceful
and respectful manrfer, thereby creating a safe environment for people to eat in. The food w e serve embodies our
commitment to non-violence in so many ways. It is a humane response to poverty, a means of empowering people
and is ecologicalJy safe.
San Fr~ Food Not Bombs adopted this statement
after months of deliberation in 1993 buildW!g on the
movement's first thirteen years of commitment to
na1violent social change. The statemen' was adopted
by the movement at the 1995 International Food Not
Bombs Ga1her1ng in San Francisco.

FOOD NOT BOMBS

www.foOdnotbombs.net

CORRECTING COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS

ABOUT NONVIOLENT ACTION

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Nonviolent action is a technique of socio-political action for applying power in a conflict without the use of physical violence. Nonviolent acti on may involve ac ts of omission-that is, people
may refuse to perform acts that they usually
perform, are expected by custom to perform, or
are required by law or regulation to perform;
acts of commisslor.-that is. people may perform acta that they do nat usually perform, are
not expected by custom to perform. or are forbidden to preform; or a combination of the two.
As a techniqu e. the~ore. nonviolent action is
not passive. It is not inaction. It is action that is
nonviolent.
These acts comprise a multitude of specific
methods of action or nonviolent weapons.
Nearly two hundred have been identified to date,
and without doubt. scores more already exist or
will emerge in future conflicts. Three broad
classes of nonviolent methods exist; nonviolent
protest and persuasion, noncooperation, and

nonviolent intervention.
Nonviolent action provides a way to wield power
in order to achieve objectives and to sanction
opponents wfthout the use of physical violence.
Overwhelmingly, r:'onviolent action is. group or
mass action. While certain forms of this t ect.nique. especially the symbolic methods. may be
regarded as efforts to persuade by action. the
other forms, especially t hose of noncooperation. m ay, if practiced by large numbers. coerce
opponents.
Whatever the issue and sc ale of the conflict.
nonviolent action is a tw;:hniqua by which people
who rejec~ peaaivity and submission, an4 who
see Struggle aa essential. can wage tfleir conflict without violence. Nonviolent actiOn is not an
attempt to avoid conflict. It is one response to
the problem of how to wield power effectively.

11 J Nonviolent action has nothing to do with

passivity, submissiveness. and cowardice; just
as in violent action, these must first be rejected
and overcome.
2) Nonviolent action is nat to be equated with
verbal or purely psychological persuasion. although it may use action to induce psychological
pressures for attitude change: nonviolent action. instead of words, is a sam:tion and a tect.nique of struggle involving the use of social,
economic. and political power. and the matching
of forces in conflict.

3) Nonviolent action does not depend on the

assumption that people are inherently "good";
the potentialit ies of people for both "gqod" and
"evil" are recognized. including the extremes of
cruelty and inhumanity.

4) People using nonviolent action do nat have to

be pacifists or saints; nonviolent action has been
predominantly and successfully practiced by "ordinary" people.
5) Success with nonviolent action does notrequire (though it may be helped by) shared standards end principles, a high degree of community of interest, or a high degree of psychological
closeness between the contending groups; this
is because when efforts to produce voluntary
change fail. coercive nonviolent measures may
be employed.
6) Nonviolent action is at least ss much of a
Western phenom enon as an Eastern one: indeed. it is probably more Western. if one takes
into account the widespread use of strikes and
boycotts in the labor movement and the noncooperstion struggles of subordinated nationalities.

7) In nonviolent action there is no assumption

that the opponent- will refra in from using violence against nonviolent actionists; the tect.nique is designed to operate against violence
when necessary.
8) There is nothing in nonviolent action to prevent it from being used for both "good" and "bad"
causes. although the social consequences of its
use for a "bad" cause may differ considerably
from the consequences of violence used for the
same cause.
9) N_onviolent action is nat limited to domestic
conflicts within a democratic system; it has bean
widely used against dictatorial regimes, foreign
OCC~Jpstions. and even against totalitarian systems.

1 OJ Nonviolent action does not al ways take

longer to produce victory than via1ent struggle
would. In a variety of cases nonviolent struggle
has won objectives in a very short time- in as
little as a few days. The time taken to achieVe
victory depends on diverse factors - primarily
on the strength of the nonviolent actionists.