Food Not Bombs A Year On: What Can Student-Led Collectives Teach Us About Social Action?
Protests can take on many forms, whether that’s through demonstrations or direct institutional pressure. Student-led collectives are increasingly at the forefront of political action, advocating for social justice. Recent geopolitical events have onset a series of shocks that directly impact communities, inflicting economic and political instability - even in towns like St Andrews, despite its well-heeled reputation. This instability can often manifest as state neglect, signified by rising poverty rates. In response, a unique approach to protests emerged in the St Andrews community with Food Not Bombs (FNB), a student-led collective, opting to serve meals as a means of protest against militarism and poverty.
Almost a year ago, Lucia Assadi, a third-year Geography student, founded the St Andrews chapter of Food Not Bombs, using food-sharing as a form of mutual aid and protest against economic inequality. When this chapter was first established, I interviewed Lucia about her motivations for founding Food Not Bombs St Andrews and how serving food can be a form of critique against systemic injustice.
Food Not Bombs started in the early 1980s as a result of protests against the Nuclear Power Plant in Boston, Massachusetts. As activists were protesting, they came up with an idea of sharing food as a form of resistance. What started as a local initiative quickly grew into a loose-knit collective of different chapters across the globe. Food Not Bombs adopts a non-hierarchical structure, with an absence of leadership and committees.This allows each chapter to function independently and autonomously while united by principles of shared responsibility towards equality.
I interviewed Assadi again a year on, to look at the chapter’s development, its achievements, and hopes for the future.
Q: When you first started the chapter in St Andrews, what were you most worried about? How did those concerns shape how you approached setting up the chapter?
A: Our biggest worries when we were setting up were mostly down to transport and locations: we have many pieces of equipment (some heavy) that take a lot of time to move, and finding a consistent and accessible place to cook our meals proved to be an initial challenge. It truly motivated us to consider how we build the right spaces and mechanisms for organising sustainable meal shares in the long term, and ultimately, time and practice were the crucial pieces to this puzzle.
Another worry was whether we could find people who would want to get involved with our planning? It can be difficult in a small town to know if there are people out there, and as students with busy schedules - at absolutely no fault of their own - it can be even harder to fit in the time to help out! But the more opportunities we’ve had to do meal shares, engage with people on the street, and collaborate with a number of groups directly, those worries are completely gone. People genuinely care, and we’ve built up a great number of such passionate folks who helped to make FNB truly what it is. We wouldn’t be where we are without them.
Q: What do you consider to be Food Not Bombs St Andrews’ biggest accomplishment so far, and how does this illustrate what student-led collectives can achieve?
A: That’s super difficult to pin down! The Palestine demonstrations last year were a massive highlight; the sense of collectivity that we got the chance to be a part of and create was so enlightening and important. But beyond that, every meal share we do keeps getting better; we’ve increased the amount of food we serve, started distributing zines, and recruited new volunteers who make up the soul of FNB. Every meal share feels exciting and different in its own way, and getting to see the impact and connections we’ve made after one year astounds me.
Student-led collectives can achieve so much more than we think [when given] autonomy. FNB doesn’t adhere to any hierarchy or external structure dictating our ability to share [how they distribute food and protest], and that’s what makes it easy to adapt on a whim, accommodate different needs, and know we can shift things in the right direction to help anyone who interacts with us and tells us something [new community needs or feedback].
Any group that shares an idea or goal to connect and nourish community is essential, and we think it’s important to share the work other collectives are doing, because so many people deserve to know about them (shoutout @localgroup.sta!).
Local Group St Andrews is an open creative community chapter of Socratica, hosting weekly sessions where students, designers, and developers can cooperate on personal passion projects, share ideas, and network with other like-minded innovators.
Q: Beyond providing food, what do you hope FNB contributes to the wider St Andrews community?
A: We hope FNB can be a sincerely radical space inclusive of anyone; after one year of establishing ourselves and figuring it all out on the ‘Food’ side, we want to bring more focus to the ‘Not Bombs’ part of our collective too by encouraging more political education via our zines, rooted in principles of veganism, mutual aid and anti-hierarchical politics. Even in a small, fairly isolated place, we want to connect the world of radicalism to St Andrews and disrupt the homogeneity that dominates what people think is only capable through grand acts of change. The granular, everyday small actions people take are profound forms of resisting and sharing those principles between us all is what we need.
We also hope more people can get to know who we are and what we do! I’ve talked to people who stop by our stalls to say they recognize us, and that alone boggles my mind knowing that our outward visibility has left some mark on them. Beyond it all and at our core, we genuinely want to help anyone, regardless of their situation whether they are struggling, facing hunger, or none of the above, because food is intrinsic and fundamental to who we are as people that should be a given.
Systemic inequality is a persistent issue in St Andrews, as recently spotlighted by the accusations of classism against the University. The St Andrews’ FNB chapter clearly exemplifies how student-led collectives can translate shared ideals into real grassroots action.
Since launching last year, FNB St Andrews has served over 600 meals, aiming to address food insecurity within the local community. Overcoming its early hurdles, this chapter has used political education surrounding ecological sustainability and community meal-sharing to establish itself as a space for aid and collective resistance against state neglect. They ensure support is accessible to all, regardless of one’s background, and show that even the smallest of contributions are enough to drive meaningful change within the community.
If you’re interested in learning more, I urge you to explore the incredible work Food Not Bombs does and visit its stall by the Student Union. If you would like to get involved either by helping out with cooking or contributing to the political education work, message FNB St Andrews on their Instagram (@foodnotbombsstandrews) to find out more.
Comments