Taunton Community Feed disrupted by police
Taunton Anti-Authoritarians | 23.12.2008 14:53 | Social Struggles
On Thursday 18th December a group of Taunton anti-capitalists gathered in the town centre for a community feed. Soup, curry and biscuits where pre-prepared and at 5pm we headed off to hand out all that we had to the hungry people of Taunton.
The response from the public was incredibly positive. We shared food with over 100 people from all backgrounds and classes. We talked to people and shared our thoughts. We handed out flyers with your ideas printed on them (Excerpt bellow)
“Taking care of our diet is just one step we can take towards gaining independence and taking control of our lives. Feeding each other with healthy and cruelty free food makes us feel good both physically and mentally. This provides a good starting point for reclaiming other aspect of our lives as well as helping to build stronger communities with the ability to look after each other.”
“We aim to counteract capitalism in a non-reactionary way. It is our goal to build communities based on sharing resources, caring for one another and improving the collective lives of all.”
Unfortunately, after about an hour and a half of receiving nothing but smiles and gratitude the party was ruined. Two local “community support” officers approached our stall and straight away took an aggressive tone, shouting at us that we did not have a permit to be serving food and that we where breaking health and safety laws because “our table was wobbly”. We put up an argument telling them that a permit was not necessary as we where not selling anything. Tensions rose and we spent half an hour standing our ground. People watched on as the officers tried to move us, threatening to call a “unit” to have our possessions confiscated and that we risked a fine. One member of the public even came to our aid telling them to stop bothering us as we were doing a good thing. In the end we realised that our efforts where frivolous and we packed up.
Despite this, we view our action as a great success. Rest assured we will be back.
Love and Rage
“Taking care of our diet is just one step we can take towards gaining independence and taking control of our lives. Feeding each other with healthy and cruelty free food makes us feel good both physically and mentally. This provides a good starting point for reclaiming other aspect of our lives as well as helping to build stronger communities with the ability to look after each other.”
“We aim to counteract capitalism in a non-reactionary way. It is our goal to build communities based on sharing resources, caring for one another and improving the collective lives of all.”
Unfortunately, after about an hour and a half of receiving nothing but smiles and gratitude the party was ruined. Two local “community support” officers approached our stall and straight away took an aggressive tone, shouting at us that we did not have a permit to be serving food and that we where breaking health and safety laws because “our table was wobbly”. We put up an argument telling them that a permit was not necessary as we where not selling anything. Tensions rose and we spent half an hour standing our ground. People watched on as the officers tried to move us, threatening to call a “unit” to have our possessions confiscated and that we risked a fine. One member of the public even came to our aid telling them to stop bothering us as we were doing a good thing. In the end we realised that our efforts where frivolous and we packed up.
Despite this, we view our action as a great success. Rest assured we will be back.
Love and Rage
Taunton Anti-Authoritarians
Homepage:
http://lasthourssw@mail.com
Additions
You might want to look at this
24.12.2008 09:53
Activists in Liverpool have been getting the same kind of aggravation from the police, for more than a year, and we've set up a discussion forum for activists to share information on how to defend their rights to campaign. It would be good if you joined. It's at http//:uk.groups.yahoo.com/freedomofexpressionliverpool
Or just click on yahoo groups on their home page and type "freedomofexpressionliverpool" in the search field.
Carol
Or just click on yahoo groups on their home page and type "freedomofexpressionliverpool" in the search field.
Carol
Toxteth86
e-mail:
toxteth86@yahoo.co.uk
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