Jun 29, 2011-2011
United States of America
Feeding the Hungry = Terrorism
Share
ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP
Food Not Bombs
TARGET
Government of Orlando; Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer
WIDELY HELD BELIEF
People have rights to feed hungry and homeless populations in large numbers. Any law preventing that is against human rights, cruel, and should be banned.
CASE NARRATIVE
Issue and Opponent: The “Large Group Feeding” ordinance, is an Orlando City law, which requires groups to obtain a permit to serve food, even for free, to groups of 25 or more. Such permits are granted to any group only twice per year. Orlando Food Not Bombs used both of its allowed permits during the year. Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer called the Food Not Bombs activists “food terrorists” when they decided to continue holding their events to feed people in need, despite having already used their assigned permissions. Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty, and the destruction of the environment. Dilemma Action: In 2011, after using both of their allowed permits for the year, the Orlando-based NGO Food Not Bombs broke with the ordinance against feeding the homeless, opting instead to share food with poor and hungry people in the community to meet their needs. Because the group of homeless and hungry fed numbered more than 25, the permitted per occasion, those giving the food were arrested due to the new ordinance. Outcome: At least 21 people were arrested during the event. Legal proceedings were initiated against the city for implementing a law that goes against human rights. The Florida Civil Rights Association has requested a public apology from Mayor Dyer for his designation of the Food Not Bombs group as terrorists. The core message of Food Not Bombs is that the government should redirect funding to meet vital human needs instead of spending it on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL
NONVIOLENT TACTICS USED
DA TACTICS USED
Civil disobedience of “illegitimate” laws
CASE NARRATIVE WRITER
SUCCESS METRICS
9 / 12
(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements
(MC) Media Coverage
(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists
(OR) Opponent response
(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public
(PUN) Punishment favored the activists
(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent
(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists
(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public
PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN
1 / 3
Activist group continued working together after the action
RESOURCES
Project documentation
Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook
Case study documentation
Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset
SOURCES
Goodman, Amy. 2011. “Free Florida’s ‘food terrorists,'” The Guardian. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/29/florida-poverty).
Stoner, Eric. 2011. “Feeding the hungry equals terrorism?” Waging Nonviolence. Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://wagingnonviolence.org/2011/07/feeding-the-homeless-equals-terrorism/).
Karmic Restitution. 2011. “Karmic Restitution Award – June 2011 – Orlando Food Not Bombs,” Retrieved July 23, 2023. (https://karmicrestitutiondotcom.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/karmic-restitution-award-june-2011-orlando-food-not-bombs/).
Related cases
Apr 1, 2001-2001
United States of America
Led by the Progressive Student Labor Movement(PSLM) in the fall of 1998, a movement to ensure hourly employees earned a living wage of 10 dollars an hour began. The co...
/
Nov 6, 2008-2009
Taiwan
On November 3, 2008, Chen Yunlin arrived from China on a visit to Taiwan to meet with President Ma Ying Jiao to discuss Taiwan’s future. His visit was met with p...
/
Oct 1, 2011-2011
Syria
Issue and Opponents: Russia and China had just vetoed the UN Security Council resolution that was intended to force the Syrian government to stop the violence against ...
/
Subscribe to our newsletters to get full access to all materials on our website.