Birmingham Food Not Bombs

The Birmingham Social Centre squatters are back! Here’s a short documentary on some of the stuff they’ve done in the past

Better to squat than let homes rot – The Birmingham Social Centre from Smash TV on Vimeo.

We now have a working donations link! The number of homeless people that we feed on Sundays has gone up dramatically in the last few weeks. All the money for new pots, tableware, bulk foods (grains, beans, spices, coffee, tea) and transport comes from our own pockets. All donations will be greatly appreciated and go to good use.

Read more about us:

https://network23.org/brumfnb/about/

https://network23.org/brumfnb/donate/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce4DJh-L7Ys&ytsession=j2VLtA4fOyz3AodOrVMQRJ0DW0lXR1McUAKq09jAJqOAItl-ejWETHKrmMqXWsgoygvALYxF1GWTUKj_iaiFekcp2b_xczfMxm4igiuO2I250H3EM2n2bYBrThaErrUwbFN-LeJjxyPiX7o600WpvklS_yEoahvOS3r0b3GrUUB49IrxCUGk8Lf1XeHg8EeR2XmspDW5SLFTqW0_hBDsRb2wGX2D5adkddsylwZe-mhHRdeYVOUFshRrU-dRKoDgwb2q9SW7SgvUPUDDYy-mXT71_PzO5PZ9Ze8WA7EwpBruC_zcE3SZ6DLqTvRWro_tk550A95Jngh6onhhY1fuqb9cBN4IPXpw1VrPOqYlTXM0nJUVLOWh1DidUt-5JViqfod3jMeICEo7-ITlSoc3z9fzqPWZT7uWtOxLDcOm12CWdRpXmCglWHT3udjfOFLBgg_-bg1_i5DyAuiCRfVp5ZlOa_Ps4mPIx2E9l3u3GcdVm9abqmfJb4J6K8D3z8Pwz10iXbmLPWgV-pQBrw5u38M1vd9bPBbTOEFaEeFHfESfCDfCsG2V_ZB6EfLcKZqgGiqKjdsNJNafJyffwRNVrbQtLPwF9bYTq4qpwPBPzM99cjRq0hfvdduNwgJqzsfp_062PVIJjeuClrM7lvoXQQiuP1-SYEM_By-iBr7MU4Q5r3cuQHwdMrwEnFNV2BxKtZVrRzlTFpE

[vimeo width=”600″ height=”500″]http://vimeo.com/60706327[/vimeo]

Last Tuesday, 26th February, over 100 concerned citizens blockaded the entrances to Birmingham City Council House to in order to prevent councillors from entering the building to vote through over £100m worth of cuts. They took this action to try to save the city’s vital services from being brutally and undemocratically cut.  Undemocratic because the council ignored its own consultations where the vast majority of people who attended rejected the cuts. We need to see more actions like this taking place in Birmingham and around the country to fight back against the cuts.

More info here

[vimeo width=”600″ height=”400″]http://vimeo.com/55231456[/vimeo]

Saturday 8^th December was a national day of action against Workfare, in Birmingham protesters from Boycott Workfare, Birmingham Against the Cuts, Disabled People Against the Cuts, Anonymous Birmingham and Birmingham Food not Bombs gathered outside Poundland a local company using Workfare. The groups we’re also joined by protesters coming from the nearby UK Uncut Starbucks action were Starbucks were targeted for not paying tax. After handing out leaflets for a while the group decided to occupy Argos, conveniently just round the corner. There have been reports of a case in Birmingham where someone applied for a temp job at Argos, but didn’t get it and then subsequently found themselves sent to the same Argos store but unpaid on workfare. During the occupation over a thousand leaflets were handed out to shoppers and by the end of the occupation the once busy queues had all but disappeared. After this success the group moved on to Superdrug who although not using workfare in Birmingham, in Brighton, have said they will not be taking any paid christmas temps on this year whilst they continue to get free workfare labour straight from the job centre. The demonstration finished at McDonalds who made £10m from the government work scheme without creating a single job. At McDonalds Food not Bombs began to hand out free vegan burgers along with the leaflets taking potential customers away from McDonalds.

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Good article written by the Institute of Race Relations last month exposing the racist agenda of the Daily Express towards EU migrants, with a mention of Brum Food not Bombs

We’ll be doing the food at this weekends Movement Support Gathering in Birmingham.

Are you active in grassroots, social justice, anti-capitalist, labour or environmental movement(s) for social and ecological change? Or are you part of a group that supports these movements?
Then this gathering is for you!

The aim of the gathering is for existing support groups to network and skillshare with each other, as well as coming up with ways to improve how we can work together.

More details can be found here

This is some of the food we managed to rescue from being thrown out and wasted the other week. It’s a small proportion of the 300,000 tonnes wasted every year by supermarkets. All of it was edible and in good condition and the reasons for it being thrown out are unknown.

We cooked it up into a vegetable soup which we then used to feed the hungry and homeless.

Food not Bombs benefit gig @ Ort Cafe, Basall Heath

Saturday, 1 September, 19:00 until 23:00

Entry: Suggested donation £2.00

Featuring the following live acts: –

Johnny Noblet (of Johnny Kowalski and the Sexy Weirdo’s) Acoustic set
Phat Belly
Joe Williamson
Alfie Drewry

There will be music, raffles, curry, fun, dancing and laughter Continue reading →