Issued July 5, 2007

Orlando Food Not Bombs denounces the arrests of our friends and comrades–Jonathan Giralt, Ryan Hutchinson, Bryan Jones, Brett Mason, Eric Montanez, and Will Vertlieb–during a protest against Mayor Buddy Dyer on Wed., June 27. Our protest criticized the Mayor's policies toward the homeless, which are punitive, discriminatory, inhumane and inadequate to address the problems of homelessness in our community, and his support for the "large group feedings" ordinance that attempts to ban groups such as Orlando Food Not Bombs from sharing food in downtown parks.

Despite attempts to portray us as unruly and uncouth, our actions–holding signs and banners, chanting and drumming–were fully in keeping with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows citizens to peacefully assemble and use their free speech rights in a multitude of ways to express opposition to government policies and public officials. Protests such as ours have a long historical pedigree in America and have been used to advocate such issues as civil rights for African Americans, equal rights for gays and lesbians, ending apartheid in South Africa, voting rights and equality for women, and ending senseless wars.

Despite the arrests, we feel our protest was a success. We succeeded in conveying our message in the ways that we wanted to convey it and we put Mayor Dyer and his supporters on notice that we will hold them accountable for oppressive and unjust public policies.

Mayor Dyer held his event in a restaurant, Graze, located at the bottom of one of the condominium towers that have sprouted in Thornton Park in recent years, as part of the trend of gentrification and redevelopment in that neighborhood. By hosting his fundraiser, the restaurant allowed itself to be transformed into a political forum for Dyer. Neither its owner, nor the Mayor, the restaurant's patrons and the condominium residents should have been surprised or disturbed that those who oppose the Dyer administration's policies would use their right to engage in political speech, using written and oral language and playing musical instruments, to passionately express our point of view.

Our protest was what debate, dissent and democracy are supposed to look like. Free speech does not have to be meek, mild and submissive; indeed it often needs to be bold and assertive, even provocative and offensive, especially when it is hammering away at authoritarian measures formulated by the powerful for the benefit of the affluent.

It is interesting to note that the Orlando police did not measure the decibel level of our drummers. They arbitrarily decided that they were too loud and disturbing and arrested them. Nor, despite police claims to the contrary, did any of the drummers receive any warning directly from the police to cease drumming before their arrests. In fact, all the drummers had quit drumming of their own accord at least 10 minutes before being arrested, and, of the six individuals arrested, only one actually was holding a drum at the time of his arrest.

We also categorically deny that any of our chants contained profanity, another false claim by the Orlando police. For the record. here are the chants that we were using on June 27: "No Justice - No Peace - When People Cannot Eat - FOR FREE!"; "Serve Rice - Not the Rich"; "Whose Buddy? - NOT OURS!"; "Food Is a Right - Not a Privilege"; and "Muddy Dyer-rhea - What's the Idea?"

These arrests for allegedly violating a City noise ordinance were politically motivated revenge –selective law enforcement instigated by Mayor Dyer to advance his agenda, which includes trying to shut down Orlando Food Not Bombs in every way possible. We know that Mayor Dyer takes our continued resistance to his heartless policies on homelessness and his support for the anti-homeless food sharing ordinance as a personal affront and that he was angered by the successful protest that we held at his May 16 Thornton Park fundraiser. That action, which received considerable media coverage, helped to bring the issues of homelessness and constitutional rights to the forefront of social and political awareness in Central Florida. It also made the Mayor a greater enemy to us than he had been previously, since our actions interfered with his desire to sail through the re-election process with little or no criticism, fuss, embarassment or negative publicity.

If Mayor Dyer, Commissioner Patty Sheehan (one of the strongest proponents of the food-sharing ordinance) and other public officials think that these arrests will cause Orlando Food Not Bombs to quit resisting their policies and will deter us from exercising our First Amendment rights, they are dead wrong.

Between now and Election Day (Jan. 29, 2008), we will be a non-violent but boisterous presence at any campaign event organized by Dyer, Sheehan and any other Orlando official or candidate who supports the "large group feedings" ordinance and other measures that criminalize homelessness. We, along with our allies from the community, will continue to share food every Wednesday inside the Lake Eola Park picnic area, as we have done for the last two years.

We will not abdicate our civil liberties, our autonomy and our need to act according to the dictates of our consciences in order to advance the agendas of venal politicians such as Dyer and the special interests, such as developers and businesses, that they represent. Nor will we acquiesce to policies that deny human rights and dignity to low-income and homeless people and that institute discrimination against them based upon their socio-economic status. We will dare to struggle and we will dare to win.

To contact Orlando Food Not Bombs: orlandofnb@orlandofoodnotbombs.org

To donate to Orlando Food Not Bombs:
make the check payable to Carrot and Fist Collective, Inc.
P.O. Box 540957
Orlando, FL 32854-0957