MARY HOLSCHER A member of Food Not Bombs serves a bowl of
homemade soup last Friday outside Eurochow at Kinross Avenue and
Westwood Boulevard.
By Afshin Marashi
Daily Bruin Contributor
Westwood resident Tom Rowen comes down to the corner of Kinross
and Westwood Blvd. every Friday evening at around 5 p.m. to share a
bowl of soup with some friends.
With his makeshift sleeping bag hanging out of his backpack,
Rowen and his friends, mostly students, crowd around a big pot of
soup sitting on the sidewalk in front of the Eurochow restaurant in
Westwood Village.
“I like the soup,” said Rowen as he lifted his spoon
from the bowl of warm soup. “They’re good
cooks.”
Those gathered on the sidewalk are not religious zealots or
political ideologues ““ they are Food Not Bombs, a grassroots
political movement founded 20 years ago in Boston which today
claims 175 autonomous chapters scattered around the world including
San Francisco, New York, London, Prague and Sydney.
What unites these groups is their commitment to the politics of
food. By giving away free food in public spaces around the world,
FNB tries to shed light on the problem of hunger and
homelessness.
“We’re trying to make a statement,” said
Kirsten Isaacson, a fourth-year International Development Studies
student and one of the organizers of the weekly event.
“There’s too much money spent building bombs … where
does that money go? Hunger is ignored. It is feasible that all
people get fed.”
To bring this message to the people of Westwood, the UCLA
chapter of FNB was formed in the spring of 2000, said Ravi Jain, a
graduate student in molecular cell and developmental biology and a
member of the UCLA chapter.
“We helped the bigger Los Angeles chapter and decided to
start our own at UCLA,” Jain said.
Since that time the local group has grown steadily, from just a
few organizers to more than a dozen.
The meals the group provided on Friday ““ vegetable soup
and vegan cookies ““ were originally served every other week,
according to Isaacson.
Now there are enough people working in the group to provide
meals every Friday. Other projects are also in the works, including
a blanket drive.
“Maybe we’ll do more than just food … Maybe a
whole day in the park,” Isaacson said.
The enthusiasm of the FNB activists is tempered by the gravity
of the issue.
More than 2 million people in the United States experience
homelessness for some period of time during the course of any given
year, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a
Washington, D.C.- based advocacy group.
In L.A. County, on any given night there are between 50,000 and
85,000 people sleeping on the streets, according to the L.A.
Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, a county-wide nonprofit
organization.
By contrast, the county’s emergency shelter system
provides only 13,500 beds per night.
Inspired by the problem of hunger and homelessness, FNB
activists have selected Westwood as a place to highlight the sharp
contrasts between the wealthy and the disadvantaged.
“In all of this excess there shouldn’t be any
hunger. This shows our misaligned priorities.” said Kevin
Rudiger, a second-year graduate student in the Urban Planning
program, as he pointed to a group of well-dressed pedestrians on
their way to restaurants and movie theaters.
The selection of the sidewalk in front of the Eurochow
restaurant at the corner of Kinross and Westwood as the site for
their food distribution event is also significant, group members
said.
“What does Eurochow stand for? High-end, elitist, glitzy
food. We are the antithesis of Eurochow. I like that
contrast,” Jain said.
Tamara Henry, a first-year comparative literature student, also
observed the stark contrast between what she described as the
commercialism of Westwood mixed with the poverty of those gathered
to be fed.
“When I came here (Westwood) it was shocking. It’s
an entirely secluded world. In an area that’s so affluent,
how can there be homelessness?” Henry said.
FNB groups around the country have frequently been arrested in
connection with their work. By contrast, the UCLA chapter has thus
far not had any run-ins with the police.
Since the late 1980s, members of the San Francisco chapter have
been repeatedly arrested and had their food, literature and banners
confiscated.
The charges most often levied against those arrested are for
violations of health codes and for gathering without a permit.
Closer to home, members of the larger Los Angeles chapter of FNB
were arrested last year at Pershing Square. The American Civil
Liberties Union later won a temporary restraining order against the
Los Angeles Police Department, whom the activists claimed was
violating their First Amendment rights.
“It’s technically not legal to give out free
food,” Rudiger said. Westwood merchants and community
members, however, have been supportive of the UCLA chapter so
far.
Most of the food distributed on Friday nights is donated by
merchants from the Westwood Farmer’s Market, according to
Damon Tougher, a third-year political science student. The
Brentwood Bread Company also gives the group free bread, he
said.
“Once we got a giant bag of beans. We couldn’t use
it all,” said Rachel Evans, a first-year undeclared
student.
The group donates the unused portion of their food to the Santa
Monica homeless shelter.
Pedestrians and community members seem generally supportive of
the group. Throughout the evening curious passers-by came up to the
activists to ask questions and offer their support.
“People come and look around and look a little confused.
But we’ve never had any negative feedback,” said
Natalie Davis, a third-year design student. “The community
recognizes that what we’re doing is good.”