Food Not Bombs is a radical anarchist mutual aid movement for community self-reliance, which primarily demonstrates its cause through collecting and sharing free vegan meals with the hungry. We also organize events such as community education, other resources, and demonstrating against government overreach and oppression. We are not a charity, nonprofit, or government entity - in fact, we are anti-government!
Food Not Bombs operates on the anarchist belief that we must work to build alternative institutions now, at the grassroots level, to help create the just society we would like to live in. This is why Food Not Bombs is collectively run, non-hierarchical, and anti-authoritarian. All decisions, within each autonomous chapter, are made by consensus. All hungry people are accepted, and all volunteers are welcome!
The United States is an occupying imperial government, one which stole land from indigenous people, enslaved African people, and which now keeps us all on a very tight financial leash to maintain control. Almost everyone in our communities struggles to access food and housing while our government’s budget instead funds genocides overseas. The goal of our distributions is not just to bring public awareness to that, but to demonstrate that our community can thrive on its own. We provide free food to our community as a rejection of the imperial US government, and as proof of our community’s strength and resilience to rely on itself.
The Lehigh Valley Food Not Bombs chapter resides on occupied Lenape land - a tribe that is currently not federally recognized - in a primarily Latino and Arab community that is especially threatened by inhumane deportations, and a US-funded genocide overseas. We recognize that in order to create a self-reliant community, we must work with and restore the self-reliant indigenous community that our government colonizes and oppresses and demand their land back. We also recognize that there will never be a free Lehigh Valley until there is a Free Palestine; and that a Lehigh Valley free of tyranny requires no police, no prisons, and no borders. These are not just statements - this is the center of our advocacy, and our reason for fighting.
Most importantly, everyone deserves food!
Links and Useful Information
Support Muslim Youth of Lehigh Valley
Lenape Tribe calls to action”
Support Queer Trans Lehigh Valley
Support Eastern PA Trans Equity Project