Bolivarian Food Revolution

I know I am not alone when I express my extreme sadness over the death of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. I have been reading about his illness for a while and was hopeful that he could pull through. 

I know that the revolution is never one person – it is the people. So I know that, unless outside influences try to destroy it, the Bolivarian revolution he started will continue.

I had the honor to hear President Chavez speak when I went to Caracas. I was there to speak at the 2006 World Social Forum. This is actually where the concept of Food Empowerment Project first came to me.

Chavez spoke with great passion about what was happening to Mother Earth and urged us to protect her. He talked about how humans treated her and her creatures with such disregard and how we must act.

I sat in awe of a president of a country who would take time to meet and speak with a group of activists – not donors, not even potential voters – about our shared dreams and hopes for a better world.

I was lucky to see some of the changes he was beginning to institute. I was able to tour an area that was once an oil refinery and see what they had turned it into: one cooperative that made t-shirts and another that made shoes, a free clinic (equipped with a dentist office and other health services), and an organic garden.

The organic garden was maintained by senior citizens. The food was grown to feed the workers and anything left over was sold to a local market. This is similar to what Food Empowerment Project would love to see – people growing their own food and feeding their own community. 

We were able to look down at the ramshackle homes and see the small green roof tops that indicated where Cuban doctors lived, who work for free under the oil-for-doctors program. The doctors live upstairs and their clinics are downstairs. We saw many green roofs because they wanted to make sure there were enough doctors for each neighborhood.

In another area of Caracas, space was created for a garden at the crossroads between two highways. Maybe not the most ideal situation from a toxic perspective, but you can see the creative ideas being generated. The area was previously full of trash and it took about 14 truckloads to remove the garbage. 

The government transformed that space into a garden maintained by homeless people.

I know that no leader is perfect, so I write this to share what I saw and heard.

Venezuela, like other Latin American countries, uses food as a tool for positive change – to empower the people.

And yet, I can’t help but feel many times in the US that food is treated like a weapon. From Monsanto to Coca-cola to the lack of access to healthy foods in communities of color and low-income communities, food is a battleground and a marker of privilege rather than a right.

Instead of handing out ideas, tools, and land to make our communities healthy, we seem to prioritize corporate claims to own our water, our seeds.

When we act here against those who seek to put profit over people, greed over healthy communities, we must never forget we are acting in solidarity with people around the globe who also want a better life. We’re bound together in this struggle and desperately need creative models to feed ourselves, empower the people, and end the exploitation of the most vulnerable.

Photo of organic garden in Caracas, Venezuela 2006.

Healthy food as self – defense

“We thought if we gave the people food, they might want clothing. If we gave them clothing, they might want housing. If we gave them housing, they might want land, and if they had land, they might want some abstract thing called freedom.” —Elaine Brown, 1992

Last year, my husband and I attended an event with some of the leading food justice advocates in the Bay Area, including one of the founding members of the Black Panther Party (BPP), David Hilliard. The event took place in Vallejo and encouraged people to get involved with food justice in the community. 

After the event, I contacted David as I wanted to share with him the work Food Empowerment Project had done on access issues in Santa Clara County, and I was interested in learning more about the food programs organized by the BPP in the 1960s and ‘70s.

During this meeting, David asked if we would work with him and the Intercommunal Institute for Research and Social Change (IIRSC - a project of the Huey P. Newton Foundation, which he is the director of) on access issues in Vallejo.

Since then we have been busy doing research on Vallejo and updating our tools with the volunteer help of our intern from Stanford, Emily Alsentzer, and sociologist Dr. Carol Glasser.

David and I have also had some enriching conversations about activism and what the BPP stood for, and so much of it is truly relevant today.

But what has also come out of this is a better understanding of the BPP and Huey P. Newton. I have been incredibly lucky to sit with David and watch old TV interviews of Huey as well as listen to interviews of him.  His integrity was something I feel so many leaders lack today. In one of the interviews he is asked his opinion of someone (whom the interviewer knew he was not fond of), and Huey stated that he was not going to say anything publically against this person as he had not said anything publically against him.

And for those of you who know me and how I feel about similar issues in the animals rights movement, I particularly liked this statement by him: “Too many so-called leaders of the movement have been made into celebrities and their revolutionary fervor destroyed by the mass media… The task is to transform society; only the people can do that – not heroes, not celebrities, not stars.”

And as incredible as it is to hear the interviews and be blown away by this articulate, holistic and humble man’s insights, it is tough to realize that, in some ways, very little has changed. 

What the BPP is mostly known for today is arming themselves for self-protection.

And yet, rarely discussed is their full Ten Point Program approach to self defense “in terms of political empowerment, encompassing protection against joblessness and the circumstances that excluded blacks from equal employment opportunities, against predatory business practices intended to exploit the needs of the poor; against homelessness and inferior housing conditions; against educational systems that denigrate and miscast the histories of oppressed peoples; against a prejudiced judiciary that convicts African Americans and other people of color by all-white juries; and finally, against the lawlessness of law enforcement agencies that harass, abuse and murder black with impunity.”

I would argue (if I even needed to) that all of the issues listed above are still, unfortunately, real concerns facing communities of color in the US.

In his introduction to The Huey P. Newton Reader, David goes on to say, “Still, it was the police patrols and not our work on behalf of jobs and housing that won the Black Panthers immediate notoriety.”

And yet, some of the lasting impact of the Black Panther Party is their work on food issues.

In January 1969, the Panthers would cook and serve breakfast to poor inner city youth in the area – it started in Oakland and they were eventually set up in cities across the country.  The program fed thousands of kids across the US.

According to the Panthers, "Children cannot reach their full academic potential if they have empty stomachs."

Hmm….it seems they knew a long time ago what researchers are still working out: students perform better when they are well-nourished.
 

This and their free grocery giveaways were part of their Survival Programs.

Food Empowerment Project, which in comparison is a very young organization, is honored to continue our work on food justice with members of the IRRC, who have been pioneers in looking out for the people.

Looking in their eyes

To commemorate my 25th year of being a vegan, I have decided to share some stories from various investigations I have done of factory farms, auctions and slaughterhouses. Though these investigations were conducted with the organization I started and ran, Viva!USA, they are a powerful part of my life and hopefully will help many understand why veganism is a key part to Food Empowerment Project’s goal of a more just food system.

The first animal rights video I ever saw was The Animals Film in 1987. That was the first time I saw the “debeaking process” of chicks – it has been seared into my mind ever since. In case you are not familiar with the film, it actually goes through the many different ways in which animals are killed, exploited and abused.  

I was in high school at the time, but I remember thinking, “I could never take footage like that.” But as all activists know, many times we do things that we never thought we could. Somehow, we find the strength through our convictions to do what we never thought possible.

My first investigations brought me to look for farms in California, where baby male calves are raised for the “veal” industry.

And I found one.  When I first walked through the door, I saw dozens of stalls (maybe 50). If you have ever seen footage of calves raised for the “veal” industry, you know what the stalls look like: dark, small and with chains nearby. But these stalls were empty. Half relief and half disappointment came over me. I was glad there were no animals there, but I was also disappointed, as we were trying to prove the industry was still alive in California.

As I was leaving, I walked by half a dozen stalls. Housed in some were the most adorable jersey cows – the cows with those big, beautiful brown eyes and long eyelashes. They were covered in flies. Now these stalls were outside and bigger than the ones I had seen in the shed – but don’t get me wrong, they were small. 

I imagine it was this farmer’s idea of a more “humane” method.  These sheds were still so small that the calves could not take free steps and there were no food or water troughs for them, either.

But this is where some of the real pain of doing these investigations happens. After taking the video footage I left – physically; however, my mind stayed with those calves, looking into their eyes – wondering how I could have left them. My mind went over having to accept that I was indeed a speciesist. I knew that if those had been human animals, I would not have left their side. I would have called the police and stayed with them until justice had been served.  

However, I left. I left those babies, with the only satisfaction that I could get, which is that I could share their story with others. I could help people to understand that dairy consumption is the reason calves like these are confined in tiny stalls.

Not too far from where I videotaped these calves is an auction house. The auction house is open one day a week, and it auctions off a variety of animals. The place is filthy, smells awful and, well, has a restaurant on site.  Yes, a restaurant. Ugh…I guess it shows you the mentality of these folks.

This is where I realized another intense difficultly for me doing these types of investigations. It is horrible videotaping animals suffering and in typical farming conditions; however, once humans begin abusing the animals, I have a hard time not intervening.

During the auctions they would prod the animals in and out of the ring and to turn around. The calves would sell for mere dollars.  I will never forget the most beautiful Black Angus calf who, while entering the auction house, slipped. My heart wrenches remembering it now. This magnificent creature full of strength and grace (under normal circumstances) left at the mercy of a merciless system.

But luckily we know we don’t have to be a part of this system.   

Just a tip

Although I don’t eat out a lot, when I do, I like to support vegan restaurants. And admittedly, when I can, I like to support vegan desserts. I do it for the cause – you know, so they will continue to have vegan desserts – or that is what I tell myself.

I have always tried to tip the wait staff well – over 15% – and give it to them in cash.

But when I saw a video (not vegan, so heads up) put out last year about some of the workers in the “supply chain” of a restaurant, I was appalled.  And I realized maybe just tipping the wait staff was not enough.

In addition to being paid low wages, many restaurant workers don’t have health insurance or any benefits such as sick leave. Clearly it is not just restaurant workers (we know that the plight of farm workers is dire), as this description fits many who work in the service industry, but since we are about food here at Food Empowerment Project, that is what I want to address in this particular blog.

As with many issues facing our society, it is easy to not see what is right in front of us, especially if we don’t want to. Sometimes it takes a disaster to reveal these everyday realities, as was the case with the most recent large hurricane to hit the US.

Hurricane Sandy’s devastation was not as obvious as Hurricane Katrina in revealing inequities in our systems, but as the powerful Atlantic Monthly article “The Hideous Inequity Exposed by Hurricane Sandy” pointed out, some of it was:

Those with a car could flee. Those with wealth could move into a hotel. Those with steady jobs could decline to come into work. But the city's cooks, doormen, maintenance men, taxi drivers and maids left their loved ones at home.

I am a solutions person, and it grieves me that I cannot create solutions for every injustice I encounter, but I always try.

And this is what I have been doing. In addition to tipping the wait person, I ask if they split their tips with the busser and the dish washers. Thus far, I have been impressed with the honesty of the people I have spoken with. For those who do not split, I have either been able to give tips directly to bussers or I have been able to ask the wait staff to give the tip to the dish washer. At many of the smaller restaurants I eat at, they do split the tips – so I try to give them a larger tip. (For the most part, this reflects vegan and/or vegetarian restaurants in the Bay Area, LA area, and a few other states I have traveled in recently. And while I know it sucks when I find out that some vegan restaurants treat their workers pretty badly, too, that’s a topic for another day.)

At one vegan restaurant, I was excited when I heard the wait person push open the door to the back and say, “Guess what, Antonio, you got a tip!”

Now, is this greatly impacting the wages for those workers? Of course not. But I would like to think that it is indeed planting seeds for the restaurant and those who work there that these issues are important and the workers are not hidden behind the kitchen door.

Update on Clif Bar Campaign – January 2013

Thanks to everyone who has signed our petition to Clif Bar and shared with others how this corporation’s lack of transparency is a stain on their so-called sustainability record.

Food Empowerment Project has contacted more than 100 companies asking that they simply disclose the country of origin for where they source their cacao. And more than 100 companies have responded; even if they do not fall on our recommended list, they have at least disclosed.

With more than 70% of the world’s cacao coming from West Africa, where slavery and some of the worst forms of child labor have been found in the cacao industry, our goal is to help consumers be more informed.

Clearly, Clif Bar is not the only company that has not disclosed, but they are definitely on the top of the list when looking at companies that claim social responsibility.

I met with Clif Bar representatives in late September 2012. They stated once again that the country of origin on the ingredients of their products was proprietary information. I asked them to please share with their board that they should take a different stance on cacao, given the controversy surrounding its procurement. 

They encouraged us to speak with Rainforest Alliance about their cacao suppliers. I explained to them that we have companies on our recommended list (regardless of how we feel about their certification scheme) that use Rainforest Alliance. The responsibility of transparency lies solely with Clif Bar.

We had agreed to meet again in six weeks. 

At the end of December, we spoke on the phone for 15 minutes, and I was told that the company has decided that they can reveal the country of origin for all of their ingredients, but that the country of origin for their cacao is still proprietary.

At this point the conversation has ceased, as they are only interested in connecting us with Rainforest Alliance.  

Given the serious nature of slavery and children working under the worst forms of child labor in the cacao industry, this is not an issue that Clif Bar should claim as propriety and hide behind. We need them to take a strong stand against the abuses in the cacao industry. 

We hope that you will continue to help us to encourage Clif Bar to live up to the company image they continue to offer the public.  

Photo ©Romano

UPDATE: Food Empowerment Project Announces Clif Bar Campaign Victory