Feeding the Hungry is a Crime

[marmar]

from In These Times:



Feeding the Hungry is a Crime
City councils are cracking down on charity groups that feed the homeless without a permit
By Megan Tady


The stake-out was almost comical in its absurdity: On April 4, 2007, undercover police counted how many times Eric Montanez, a 22-year-old volunteer with Food Not Bombs, dipped a serving ladle into a pot and handed stew to hungry people.

Once Montanez had dished up 30 bowls, the police moved in, collecting a vial of the stew for evidence as they arrested him for violating an Orlando, Fla., city ordinance: feeding a large group. Two days into his trial yesterday, Montanez was acquitted by a jury of the misdemeanor charge, but was cautioned to obey the law.

As activists celebrate the verdict, the Orlando Police Department has said it will continue to ordinance, making the fight for the free flow of food in the city far from over.

“He is on trial for the crime of feeding the homeless—literally,” says George Crossley, a member of the Stop the Ordinance Partnership (S.T.O.P.), an alliance of 19 advocacy groups, including Orlando branches of Code Pink, the NAACP, and the National Organization for Women.

What Crossley and others are trying to stop is a “large group feeding” ordinance passed in July 2006 by the Orlando City Council that essentially bans groups from providing food to more than 25 people in downtown parks without a permit.

Under the ordinance, groups can only obtain two permits a year per park for the purpose of sharing food with a large group. Although the ordinance does not explicitly target the homeless, the guillotine falls on their heads, as they are largely the benefactors of churches, charities and activist groups serving free food in easily accessible parks.

“Eric’s arrest shows both the heartlessness of Orlando towards the destitute and those who aid them,” the Orlando Food Not Bombs (FNB) chapter said in a statement in April. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3358/feeding_the_hungry_is_a_crime/

[zbdent]

1. Obviouly, this has everything to do with the message suggested

by the group that hands out the stew ... they were targeted because they were an organization for Peace ...

[fasttense]

2. This is the natural outcome of "free market" mentality.

You can't be feeding the starving poor because then you disrupt the natural balance of an unhindered economy. You know the old saying if you give a man a fish you feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, you have just lost your market base.

The latest "free market" theories provide for no conscious, no identification of guilt and responsibility. They see economics as a thing of nature. If it is left alone and not disturbed by artificial pesticides like government regulations and charity, it will find a perfect balance.

But the truth is that unregulated capitalism is TOO much like the wild, where the weak and suffering are the first victims of hungry predators. Both systems lack any conscious. The lion doesn't care if he kills the struggling fawn, the corporation doesn't care if it cons the last dollar from a starving populace. As long as the lion eats and the corporation makes a profit then the system is balanced.

But we can forgive the lion for killing the easy prey in order to just barely survive. The corporation on the other hand is doing more than just surviving. They are making excessive profits off the weak and suffering. They take more than what is necessary for survival, usually from the most vulnerable.

An economy cannot be left to find its natural balance because that natural balance is at the expense of the majority of the population. An economy must be given a conscious through regulation, control and charity. Feeding the hungry is an economy's conscious talking, and the City Council of Orlando, Florida just can't bear to hear that nagging voice.

[Uncle Joe]

3. It's a "small world after all" n/t

[marmar]

4. Teehee.....

:)

[Ellen Forradalom]

5. Despicable. Simply despicable.