After a series of crackdowns by Middletown officials against Middletown Food Not Bombs, the food activists are going on the offensive. Today, FNB filed a federal injunction that would halt a cease and desist order which bars the group from meal-sharing activities unless food is prepared in a Health Department registered kitchen. The target of the injunction is both the city of Middletown and the state of Connecticut. According to the FNB press release, the cease and desist order also applies to “political” activities as well. And, in a lawsuit filed on Friday, FNB argues that attempts to stop FNB’s public meals infringe on the group’s constitutional rights and has a chilling effect on such activities elsewhere. Food Not Bombs is a loosely organized, all volunteer non-hierarchical organization which serves food in public places, not as charity, but as a political statement against war, poverty, excess and inequality. The nearly 30 year old movement follows the slogan “food is a right, not a privilege.” Every Sunday afternoon Middletown FNB serves free vegetarian meals to anyone who wants to eat. Other community members bring food to share as well.
Community resident, turned FNB activist, Fred Carroll had this to say about the ongoing clash:
“Food Not Bombs has been sharing vegetarian meals and groceries in Middletown for at least ten years. For the last two or three years I’ve participated in the meal sharing on Main Street. I am not homeless, but I have not had a steady income during this time, and the political discussions and healthy and nutritious Sunday meals became an important part of my week. I recently became a more active volunteer with the organization. Sharing food with people is our way of saying that food is a human right, that there is enough of everything to go around if communities were more empowered, and that everyone should be treated as equals.”
Carroll went on to liken FNB’s Sunday routine to a picnic. The injunction maintains that FNB does not distribute food in the same way as a soup kitchen or restaurant and therefore should not be subject to the same Health Department regulations. Said Carroll, “What’s next? The Health Department will come in and regulate people’s picnics in the park?”
The Middletown chapter of FNB has been operating for more than ten years without incident or clashes with municipal or state officials, until earlier this year. In addition to the cease and desist order, FNB activities have been subjected to two citations and one misdemeanor charge, and Middletown health officials confiscated and threw away food, literally right from the hands of hungry residents.
In addition to actions by the city of Middletown, Hartford IMC has also learned from inside sources that there may be a statewide crackdown in the works against all Food Not Bombs collectives active in the state. In response, individual activists from Hartford Food Not Bombs have offered support to Middletown FNB.
HIMC will continue to cover this story as developments unfold.
I find this story really interesting, thanks for following so closely, Kevin & HIMC.
I’ve expressed my views previously on this site, in what I consider to be healthy debate. Primarily, I wonder if this kind of confrontation in court (which, afterall, leaves FNB’s fate in the hands of a government official) could have been avoided if both sides had sat down in good faith to resolve the issues. I haven’t seen evidence that either side attempted to do that. And, I obviously find it crazy that anyone would take food from someone’s hand and throw it away.
Kevin, do you know if FNB has legal representation, and if so, who?
I must whole-heartedly disagree that by challenging the cease & desist order in court, FNB is somehow leaving it’s fate in the hands of the government. The injunction is just one of many tools that is being utilized to continue doing what FNB has always done…share food without government intrusion or restriction.
Regardless of the outcome of the case, I think its safe to say that FNB will continue to do just that.
As far as what should have happened prior to the suit being filed; city (and possibly state) officials had already made up their mind and were not interested in hearing FNB’s side (hence the cease and desist order, citations, arrest, and confiscation of food). So I’m not sure what you think could have been resolved, but I am glad that you see the insanity of taking food from a hungry person’s hand.
Anyway, the law firm representing FNB is:
Livingston, Adler, Pulda, Meiklejohn, and Kelly
I think Gannon is right that ideally something should/could have probably been worked out civilly and without legal action. But for some reason the authorities seem hell bent on harassing if not shutting FNB down. I have to wonder if this was a church group or non-political social group serving food, would the response be the same?
challenging the cease and desist order is excellent. food not bombs should only be careful of creating “negative precedent.” negative precedent would be a decision by the court against food not bombs that could be used against other fnb’s in the future. since as dave points out, it doesn’t matter what the government does since fnb exists outside regulation (re: people helping people) and will continue to serve food no matter what. still fnb’s legal representation should inform its client about all possible outcomes.
So, Dave, who is it that runs & funds the court system? Who employs the judge that will eventually rule?
Again, I have no idea whether it would have been possible to work something out. All I said was that I haven’t seen any evidence that either side tried.
The Middletown Public Health Dept., in one of the articles, did say that they had attempted to reach out to FNB for several months – I have no sense of how true that is, or how genuine the offer was. Based on what Dave has said here however, it seems that FNB was not interested in that dialog. Which is FNB’s choice. And so here we are.
And, a shout out to Livingston, Adler, Pulda, Meiklejohn, and Kelly – a great group of people & legal minds.
I’m not sure what you’re getting at with your questions about who funds and runs the court system and employs it’s judges.
Anyway, I kind of feel like I’m repeating myself here.
The Middletown Health dept. spent several months investigating MtFNB to try and build up some sort of case against them and nothing more. Aside from that, they never came down to Main St to talk with anyone in FNB, and when they finally did after 7-8 months, they came bearing a cease and desist order, and later to arrest and ticket FNB members. I guess you could consider that “reaching out”.
*There was a brief moment that both sides almost reached a deal without compromising FNB’s principles, but that fell through because the Health Dept. tried pulling a fast one.
There is not much dialog to have with bureaucrats and authoritarians who think they are right and you are wrong.
It’s kind of like getting pulled over for speeding (even though you absolutely were not), and then trying to tell the cop your side of the story…they don’t care.
Go FNB! Glad to see this getting fought rather than allowing the state to continue to manage something as simple as feeding hungry people.
Dave, I take your point that FNB’s fate is not solely in the hands of a judge (which is what I meant by “government official). There are other methods to continue the core mission of FNB. But certainly, challenging an issue in court, which is a government run institution, gives the government – in this case, a judge, who is a government official – influence over next steps in this dispute. That’s what I was alluding to in my comments.
Just so I’m being clear, I admire FNB for filing the injunction. I guess I (perhaps like Middletown) was surprised to hear about it, considering that what I can glean from your comments and from reading FNB’s handbook, there is an anti-government philosophy behind the movement. So, FNB appealing to a different branch of government for resolution was a surprising development, at least to me.
Gannon,
Thanks for your interest in this. The fact is, people involved with Food Not Bombs in Middletown have been forced to be involved with the authorities. They have been arrested and fined, with food they cooked being taken from the hands of people eating and discarded. Trust me, they do not want to be involved with this.
But the city is disrupting their activities to such an extent that they cannot function as Food Not Bombs anymore.
They are filing the injunction because continuing to get food thrown away, pots and pans taken, and people harassed, arrested and fined – this is terribly disruptive and will not stop. This would keep happening week after week and nothing will progress.
In the beginning of this whole thing, months ago, the City of Middletown did not seek to learn more about FNB but instead drew conclusions about what the group was from national websites and unfounded hypotheses. For example, FNB in Middletown does not serve food they took from dumpsters. The City did not believe them when they told them that. Only after it became evident that the City did not want to deal with FNB in a diplomatic way did FNB decide to ignore the cease and desist order issued. They continued to serve for many weeks. And what happened? People were arrested and the food was chucked.
It was to the point where something needed to be stepped up a notch. The limited and seemingly one-sided dialogue the authorities wanted to engage in didn’t work. And ignoring the cease and desist order did not work. I’m not sure what other route they could take. Just to make this clear, FNB may be an anarchist collective, and some people may have in mind some stereotypes of anarchists, but as one of its main principles, FNB is nonviolent (hence the vegan food and the “not bombs” part of the name). So they’re not about to physically fight the people snatching the food – and that’s pointless because the cops are just enforcing this stupid policy. How else to get this to stop? The logical way to fight this crackdown from where it actually comes from was through the courts.
So, speaking for myself, I think that part of the message of Food Not Bombs is that it is utter insanity for a picnic and a community meal to be prohibited by law. If you do research, FNB chapters across the country have fought and won the right to be left alone.
This is my personal understanding of the situation and doesn’t represent Middletown FNB. But I hope this answers your question.