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Is Food Not Bombs violent? Credit: Steve Willis
In our story on the Freegans, there was an organization known as Food Not Bombs that provides free meals to the homeless from rescued food discarded by restaurants and grocery stores. In the course of researching the story, the Underground ran across a claim that the organization had been listed as a terrorist organization, and there appears to be some truth to that. In comments, FNB’s founder, Keith McHenry, elucidated some more:
Keith McHenry: I was taken off a flight from London to Chicago by Homeland Security and questioned about my "role with the violent group Food Not Bombs." The FBI raided three of our cook houses a day before the Republican National Convention arresting and charging eight Food Not Bombs volunteers under the Patriot Act on conspiracy. While it seems odd to be considered a terrorist group for feeding the hungry I believe Americans should be concerned. The FBI has infiltrated Food Not Bombs and disrupted our effort to redirect taxes to human needs away from the military. Had the FBI not directed years and millions of dollars trying to stop our work it is possible that the American people would have been able to stop the war in Iraq or stopped the global economic crash two issues we have been trying to organize against. Visit www.foodnotbombs.net/spy.html to read wiretap memos and see some of the high lights of the government's campaign against the all volunteer global movement Food Not Bombs.
We had more trouble backing up another claim McHenry made about making the State Department’s list of “100 Most Dangerous Americans”. We finally sent Mr. McHenry an email asking him the basis for this claim. This is his response:
Christian Parenti and three other reporters told me they had read that I
was listed as "one of America's 100 most dangerous Americans" in the New
York Times in an item provided by the U.S. State Department. I was
participating in the WTO protests in Cancun, Mexico. They were surprised to
see me at the action after reading I was listed. Christian's father
Michael Parenti was also listed. The other reporters interviewed me during
the action because were were providing the meals. When I returned to the
United States I called the New York Times and googled my name and many
other possible words including the date but couldn't find it. I returned to
the states weeks later when I searched for the news report so as they were
very sure my name was listed and each one had the same information I relied
on the conversations of the four reporters for the posting. Thanks so much.
Keith
So, we contacted Christian Parenti and asked him if he recalled any of this. Here is what he said:
Yes I recall food not bombs being listed as some sort of a threat in some article maybe in the SF chron it was around the seattle protests, and I remember joking with Keith about it. And that he asked for the reference and that afterwords I couldn't find it.
What I think is was -- where he his name was listed as was my fathers -- was in the lists of the Roy Bullock, Tom Gerard, ADL scandal. Lots of people were listed by those freelance spies who sold their info to the gov.
below is a story to follow up and more are at:
http://www.webshells.com/adlwatch/
Sorry I can't recall more but I am suspect it was in relation to Bullock /ADL thing.
CP
The ADL thing is quite a fascinating scandal in and of itself, involving journalists and the Anti Defamation League in a spy ring that compiled files on thousands of Americans and “extremist” organizations:
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has won a longstanding public reputation as an opponent of anti-Semitism, defender of minority rights, and promoter of racial justice. In January 1993, a less benign dimension of ADL surfaced. San Francisco newspapers broke the story of 24-year police officer Tom Gerard, who kept computerized files on thousands of Arab-Americans, 36 Arab organizations, 33 anti-apartheid organizations, 412 "pinko" organizations, 349 right-wing organizations, and 35 skinhead groups.Gerard worked closely with Roy Bullock, a full-time salaried undercover investigator for ADL for the past 32 years. Bullock's records were even more extensive than Gerard's, with files on 77 Arab organizations, 647 "pinko" and anti-apartheid organizations, 612 right-wing organizations and 27 skinhead groups.
Some of the files appear to have been illegally obtained from police databases, and many of the groups actually turned out to be rather mainstream for possible terrorist organizations, including the “American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), National Lawyers Guild, NAACP, Rainbow Coalition, Greenpeace, Mother Jones, Jews for Jesus, Americans for Peace Now, Irish Northern Aid, Asian Law Caucus, ACT UP, United Auto Workers, the board of directors of public television station KQED, the Department of Black Studies at San Francisco State University, Los Angeles Times South Africa correspondent Scott Kraft, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.), House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Cal.), and former Representative Pete McCloskey. [2]”
So, it’s not surprising that Keith McHenry’s organization, Food Not Bombs, also makes the list. So, as far as we’ve been able to ascertain, it’s more his organization listed among thousands by the ADL rather than the “100 Most Dangerous People” according to the State Department.
More information at FNB, and here’s the report from the Labor Committee on the Middle East.
You know how to dig in the Underground.
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