Cooking Up a Revolution: Food Not Bombs, Homes Not Jails, and Resistance to Gentrification

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During the late 1980s and early 1990s the city of San Francisco waged a war against the homeless. This book treats the conflict between the city and activists as a unique opportunity to examine the contested nature of homelessness and public space while developing an anarchist alternative to liberal urban politics that is rooted in mutual aid, solidarity and anti-capitalism. -- .

Reviews

'Cooking up a revolution is an inspiring David and Goliath story that details the significance of remaining true to your values when standing up to overwhelming state violence. Parsons well researched book should be read by anyone interested in seeking lasting social change. This book taught me a great deal and I was there.'
Keith McHenry, Co-founder of Food Not Bombs

'Sean Parson mines the history of San Francisco Food Not Bombs to theorize a politics of the city. He kicks over the table of orthodox urbanism and proposes one rooted in solidarity, equity and mutual aid. Thoroughly researched and precisely argued, this book belongs on the same shelf as the works of David Harvey, Saskia Sassen and Neil Smith.'
James Tracy, Author of Dispatches Against Displacement: Field Notes from the San Francisco Housing Wars

What does one do in a country where its illegal to dumpster dive for discarded food but perfectly legal to throw out food while millions go hungry, or where its illegal to live in parks or abandoned buildings while gentrification pushes more people to the brink of homelessness Using applied political theory and exploring the radical politics of the historically dubbed lumpen proletariat, Parson (Northern Arizona Univ.) outlines the anarchist politics of Food Not Bombs and Homes Not Jails in San Francisco from 1988 to 1995. For FNB and HNJ, a combination of state policies and dehumanizing capitalism, not mental illness, caused homelessness. Through direct action working with homeless populations in mutual aid and solidarity rather than charity, activists confronted the citys neoliberal politics in a time of growing homelessness and rapid gentrification of the Bay Area. By engaging with the homeless by providing free food, squatting, and demonstrating, FNB and HNJ politicized these victims of neoliberalism to create temporary autonomous zones where we are able to foreshadow the world we want to see. Parsons sympathetic account is a welcome critique of neoliberal America, when issues like gentrification again are making cities more unlivable for marginalized people.
K. R. Shaffer, Penn State University, Berks College, Choice Vol. 56, No. 12 (August 2019)

Author Bio

Sean Parsons is Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Northern Arizona University