It is not very often that a group involved in self help and community mutual aid, that has been harassed, intimidate told by the city council that what they are doing is illegal and threatened with court action, finds itself in court and after a seven year battle wins and receives damages from the city council. Fort Lauderdale council, done its best to stop Food Not Bombs, by all manner of threats and intimidation from handing out food to those in need. Congratulations to Food Not Bombs for their persistent and courageous fight against the power of the state and gaining a tremendous victory. Hope this is an inspiration to all those other groups and individual intent in facing down the state and trying to make this world a better place for all. The vindictive inhumanity and cruelty of the state knows no bounds, and it is encouraging to see its crass inhumanity get a kick up the backside.
The following from Anarchist News:
It took seven years, but FTL FNB’s federal civil liberties lawsuit against Fort Lauderdale for banning food sharings is finally concluding. After we won our 2nd appeal in August 2021, the City has accepted a settlement that admits they were wrong to enforce the Park Rule against us and will pay us a small amount of damages. They will also have to pay our lawyers a great deal more!
These results are on top of the victories this lawsuit already accomplished in years’ prior, including the 2018 appeals ruling that ruled that the original sharing ban law was unconstitutional – and creating a strongly worded precedent about sharing food as protected free speech.
So anyways we would like to say: FUCK YEAH! We had to bite our tongues a lot over the years to see how this would play out, but no more. We out-lived and out-maneuvered the old Mayor, City Manager, and City Attorney, who were all intent on policing us and the homeless out of existence. Fuck them! Let’s not forget multiple FLPD Chiefs and Captains who sent their goons to stalk and arrest us, all gone now! Nuts to all the narrow-minded fools who wanted to be rid of us.
And while we struggled to keep FNB going, we did so much more along the way – actions, workshops, fundraisers and so on. We’re honored to have an impact in the courts and the streets over the years.
One downside to running such a long campaign was our friends that didn’t live to see the end. Presente our dear friend and volunteer David Bambi Hitchcock, and Gonzalo Vizcardo, also a volunteer from a long time ago, and our supporters Sylvie, Bob Bender, Jack Lieberman, and Daniel.
We deeply appreciate the contributions of all our volunteers and allies over the years.
All thanks to our lawyers – Mara Shlackman, perhaps the only person who could’ve ever made any of this possible, and Kirsten Anderson, Andrea Costello, and Jodi Siegel of Southern Legal Counsel.
For the other Food Not Bombses out there – y’all are going to accomplish great things! Don’t give up!
Finally we’d like to say – Let’s fuck shit up in 2022 – ‘cuz everything’s scary and nothing’s gonna change unless we make it! The people are hungry!
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