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Food Not Bombs Prague
- Solidarity in Praxis
For me it´s rather informal activity
based on several principles
among them vegetarianism and veganism
voluntarity, altruism maybe as well
and as I already said informality
the fact that it isn´t tied by formal rules
and the main body of this activity
is giving the food to those in social need.
Mainly the effort to show
that thanks to capitalist distribution of food
there is a lot of wasting
and the effort to restrict this wasting
I mean there is food that is being wasted
on the other hand there are people
that have nothing to eat
the logical step is to take the wasted food
cook it and give it to the people that are hungry.
First I was attracted to it
around six years ago, maybe even more
mainly because I used to be
very commited anarchist
and I wanted not only to speak and write
but also to actually do something
to project what I lived that time
into praxis
and this principles
seemed to me like fullfiling this will.
For me cooking with Food Not Bombs
is solidarity in praxis
it means that you are doing something
by cooking a meal
and you are trying...
...well, you are doing something
it is not merely talking, but acting
I wasn´t involved since the begining but
as far as I know
this activity works since
the first half of nineties
A lot of people changed
places were changing as well
first the meal was handed away
on Strelecky island (Prague city center)
then the second group was formed
that handed out in Holesovice railway station
and this group continue till today
It´s too hot according to me...
For me it´s just about fresh...
Fresh?
Should I give some water in it?
We should have given the soy inside later...
Wouldn´t we waste it with spinach?
I don´t think so if we put it in in the end
Maybe we don´t have to put everything into it
But what to do with it?
I think it dissapear in it...
It dissapear..
It was just a start
It would absolutelly dissapear
It was protest against nuclear plant in 80´
in USA
and when the founder of it was there
or rather the guy who was the most involved
the main activist
they didn´t have compact scheme
they were just trying to do the blockade of that plant
and this was secondary thing
like a form of a protest
they took homeless people off the streets
and tried to show that while
government is putting money into arms
there are a lot of people that...
Have nothing to eat
Have nothing to eat, right
and that is back to the question
if the FNB is charity or political action
The main thought was about...
...as we were squatting so we thought:
well, there are a lot of empty houses
and there are people
that have nowhere to stay
so let´s try to stimulate
an aspiration for emancipation
in those people
in connection with solution of
their current social situation
and that would mean that
we, from the house, from Milada squat
could give some background,
know-how and technical background
and maybe help to find the house
and offer it to them as a space
where they could live and
could control it themselves.
Unfortunatelly we are not able
to move beyond handing out food
once a week
Than you realize how much
time and energy
is required for one Saturday a month
and that is enough.
Or cooking for gigs and stuff...
We should have some leaflets at least....
To have it a banner over there
or hand out leaflets...
Did you bring cereals?
No...
We don´t have any...
So there wouldn´t be cereals in it, ok...
Some people came that they would
hand out old A-kontra [anarchist magazine]
That they would do some...
Let´s say education...
Well, education, allright...
But it is...
But yes, they did it...
Have you open it already?
So open it...
And everything is inside
they would be happy
It is almost full now
But we have to put 8 kilos of potatoes into it
I´m cooking because
we are meeting here...
it´s half to half split
to help them
plus we meet here, having chat
and that´s how the original FNB
on Strelecky island worked as well
it was on Sunday
besides homeless people
a group of friends came
so it was.. Unofficial...
You mean it wasn´t just about
handing out food
but also about meeting and having
really nice Sunday - with food
That´s right
Not only social reasons, but...
This work seemed to me like
a good fullfilment of Saturday afternoon
Sort of pleasant recreation
Exactly.. You cook meal, have a chat
Have a tea or a beer
Have a tea or a beer, right
You go recycling before
For me it is important
that it is from container
because I don´t pay for it
and because other people live of it
I mean that we do it for people
that doesn´t have a possibility
to cook it themselves
so they eat it warm
For me it´s important that
I could cook it for them
and I could take it from containers
so I don´t pay for it to anybody
Mainly it is important that this food
as it is taken out of container
is food that would be throw away
and wouldn´t be used for anything
so we take it and use it
For our group it is like that:
the only person who actualy did recycling
was ***
but it wasn´t of major importance for us
at least in my opinion
If there was this option
of course we used it
but I, for example, have very little time
so I didn´t do it
That´s why I wasn´t against buying stuff.
Recycling
is one of the principles
that I forgot to mention at the begining
it is also connected with an effort
to draw the attention to
bad distribution of food
in society when there are over-supplies
that could be used
for those in social need for example.
And I think that
out of that principle
people do dumpster-diving of freeganism.
They have tomatoes in a box
one tomatoe is rotten
and they throw away the whole box
even though the rest of it is OK
they just throw away ten others
because it is already pre-packed
Ah, here we go!
Brocoli!
I shouldn´t have ripped the plastic bags
that´s take and go system
This pepper is nice
it is broken overhere, look
that´s why they thew it away
Tomatoes are hit sometimes
but if you are cooking from it it´s ok
They burn the whole set of rolls just a bit
and they throw away everything
There is a lot of bread here
I love that sound when mixing it...
You have to put it inside carefully
and mixing it a lot
You think I should have put flour
directly into it?
No, rather you should used more water
Less water?
More!
More, right?
It doesn´t matter, in case they would
have gnocchi inside...
Right, that´s only in a name
you have to call it gnocchi, not gobbet.
It´s only about what you think it is
We really have gnocchi here
The fact that you meet those people in person
for you destroy cliché
like that they are drunken and silly and useless
but it´s not true at all!
You read this somewhere
then you read it´s not true
that they could be people thrown away
from their house because they got divorced
and then lost their ID
and then started to drink as
they were in troubles and on the street
You could read this, too...
But that is just theory
or written information
but the personal experience
personal interaction
is advancing your insight a lot
and it is important for your personal understanding
When we did food for Christmas
we decided to have a tea
and a bottle of rum
so who wants could drop a bit into their tea
In my opinion about 70% refused.
Of course there were about 10%
who wanted to drink the whole bottle up...
But majority just refused
Thanks to the fact we are meeting at food
we could say to them:
it´s not like you are
powerless
that if you are living on street
you are useless
That´s not like that!
Just try to find self-confidence
within yourself
And try to do something
don´t be passive
Don´t take
living on the street like the end
quite opposite
it´s a nice begining
because
you are able to look on society
differently than a person
who goes to work every day and watch TV
How they are asking sometimes:
Who you are? Hell? That´s you?
Hell?
Hell?
We have haybox from hell!
["Peklo" = hell in english; written on haybox]
I´m curious about how it ends
if it brim over
Could anybody complete stuff like
ladle, pans...
For me it doesn´t mean going to feed somebody
I go there to chat with them
I like to see them again
I´m meeting them for quite a long time already
in the same time
everyone of us is living in closed social circuit
in some kind of submarine
for me it is really important
to get of this framework
and learn about how others are living
especially those who were downed by capitalism
and send to street; at least that´s how I see it.
You are right, I cook because
it is not charity for me
it is social interaction with homeless people
well, we give them food
and meet there
but it is just sort of a pretext
for social interaction.
If it would be at about noon, that would be great
as we are starting to cook at one
so what we would take
the fresh vegetables
we could straight cook and bring here at four
That would be fantastic.
I´m trying to say to everybody
if you know places
containers with vegetales, bring it
My name is ***
I´m Robert.
Hubert or Robert?
Robert.
But Hubert is better...
Do you have pen and paper?
Hi
For example on Chistmas
they have hundreds of options
everyone is here out of nowhere
to give them food
but they come to us anyway
and when we ask them how it looked like
in Salvation army
they say there was some VIP
played noels
giving out food
and was waiting for feedback
to be showed they are happy that he´d came
that it was embarrassing
The difference between the FNB and charity
is at least in that
we are not taking them as clients
but as people equal to us
I could easily imagine
that it is not that hard to be in their situation.
Where do you spend winter
if I could ask?
We sleep in squats
Squats you say?
It is not possible in charity?
It probably would be possible
but we do not have any ID, no nothing
But daily centers are open for everyone?
I know, but just for 3 days...
Well...
Do you have bread already?
Yes
Do you have a pot, please?
Could I say something to you?
I got this, pasta, rice
but have no place to cook it
Thanks, we would use it next time
and bring it.
What do we cook?
Usually vegan "eintopf"
[food from one pot; German word]
that means..
especially if it is
food from containers
from over-supplies from super-markets
so it is based on what it is found
One is depended on what he founds
each time he found different stuff
and he doesn´t know what beforehand
We haven´t cooked the same food twice
Exactly
Everytime it depends on what one finds
But it looks the same each time?
Everytime it has some rice in it
as we have a plenty of it
People goes shopping
we do hunting.
For example our group do always the same food
with proud!
Really? What is it, then?
Our famous spinach soup!
Right, spinach soup!
You cut some onion
roast it, put some soy into it
then put frozen spinach in
and hot water
And then sit and smoke..
Right, the rest of the time
that´s 2 and a half of hour
you just sit.
Thanks, bye!
Thank you, bye!
Bye bye! Thanks!
Food Not Bombs Prague members
talked into movie.
Made by Jan Hanus.
Done in winter 2008/09.
Published under Creative Commons licence.