Millions of people in the world are starving at the same time as they are spending enormous amounts on military equipment. The purpose of the Food Not Bombs events is to draw attention to this fact by criticizing the arms race and distributing free vegan food prepared of donated, unsold products of grocery shops and the food industry.
Food served in events is vegan because the meat industry contributes to the world food problem and the Third World's hunger when resources are wasted on livestock farming. The themes of the campaign are also relevant in today's Finland: Years of economic growth did not bring prosperity to all, and to the most vulnerable people, who relied wholly or partly on income transfers, living conditions were in fact worsened by weakened social benefits and tighter controls. Instead, there has been enough money to accelerate military preparation.
Finland's Food Not Bombs is part of the international Food Not Bombs (FNB) movement, which was born in Boston, USA in 1980. Currently it has activists in more than 100 cities in North America and Europe under its name. So far, Food Not Bombs events have been organized in Helsinki, Imatra, Hämeenlinna, Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Rovaniemi, Savonlinna, Seinäjoki, Tampere, Tornio and Turku.
Contact
Currently, there are active Food Not Bombs groups at least in Helsinki and Tampere.
International Food Not Bombs Camp
The Food Not Bombs group of Helsinki organizes an international Food Not Bombs Work Camp in Helsinki every year in cooperation with The Finnish Union of Conscientious Objectors AKL and Kansainvälinen Vapaaehtoistyö - Service Civil Finland.