The 2008 Food Not Bombs National Gathering was held from March 28 through 30th in Nashville, TN, attracting participants from as far as Worcester, MA and Santa Barbara, CA. While no official count was taken, there were at the very least 50 people who traveled to attend the gathering.

Local organizers arranged the opening date of the gathering to coincide with the monthly Critical Mass bike ride and even built dozens of bicycles for those who couldn't bring their own. Visitors and locals, including Nashville Rat Patrol, made their way from the West side of Nashville to the East side in the rain, going right down Broadway through the heart of the city. Many drivers and pedestrians were surprised by and supportive of the 85 bicyclists—the largest mass ride Nashville has seen (thus far). Police were unsure of how to react to the crowd. When they asked us to not block traffic, many began chanting "We ARE Traffic!" Several riders were detained and questioned, but since that led nowhere quickly, Police decided to help block traffic and escort the bicyclists, who were by then soaking wet. Everyone made their way to the Food Not Bombs house—from then on the de facto convergence space—where they peeled off clothes, ate dinner and got to know each other. Later that evening people made their way down the street to a warehouse space for the "No-pants Dance Party." I'm sure you can imagine the shenanigans that ensued.

Saturday morning got off to a bit of a late start, but there were several dozen workshops throughout the day at various locations, including topics like gardening, screenprinting, vegan recipe swaps various aspects of anarchism, and direct actions in various cities and regions. An Anti-Authoritarian People of Color (APOC) caucus was held, as well as a simultaneous White Allies meeting. Tensions flared a bit outside of the workshops, mostly over the topic of cultural appropriation. Although conversations were quite argumentative I thought they remained what was ultimately a constructive dialogue.

Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs was present at the gathering. He spoke about the history of FNB, its growth and evolution into a worldwide movement, and his actions and activities throughout the years. He talked about past national gatherings, and how the FBI has infiltrated and disrupted the last few. Although it seems quite ridiculous, Food Not Bombs is one of the most highly profiled groups on the US government watch list. He was an inspiration to many that spoke with him, and he was apparently inspired by the young folks and their organization nearly three decades after the birth of FNB.

Saturday evening a large meeting was convened to discuss where Food Not Bombs is as a movement and where it is going. Many things were discussed, but I think I will focus on a few that I find quite important.

One item was to avoid a charity model and focus on community, where instead of "us serving them" we are all sharing together. There was emphasis on using the word "sharing" instead of "serving" and on building community. This is closely related to what I think may have been the most important outcome of the entire event—addressing white privilege point blank.

A simple look around our kitchens, infoshops and direct actions will show that the U.S. Food Not Bombs and autonomous movements are composed largely of young, white radicals from middle class backgrounds. We wonder why—despite our best intentions—people of color and poor or homeless people and communities aren't flocking to our meetings and activities. It has been brought to everyone's attention that oppressed people and communities have their own problems, their own programs and their own solutions. White people, who cannot possibly understand the full nature of oppression felt by these people and communities of color cannot possibly understand their problems and how to best address them. It could be said that white people telling or trying to show people of color how to deal with oppression is a form of oppression in and of itself. Instead, white allies need to reach out to communities of color and ASK what can be done to help. What kinds of programs, groups, organization and infrastructure are already in place? Where, when, how and on what terms can we work together? Some ideas that came of out the White Allies workshop that were presented at the meeting were to send a delegation to groups or meetings in the community, to cook in different kitchens in different communities (if and when possible), and to open up Food Not Bombs to different activities with members of various communities. Some examples were protests and demonstrations, movies/films, performances, presentations and skillshares. This would encourage more diversity, allow for more horizontal ownership of the event and work towards truly building community and camaraderie.

Late Saturday night there was a dumpster scavenger hunt. Six teams were formed and picked routes to go looking for items ranging from onions to underwear, birthday cakes to sex toys. It was a fun, creative way to get everyone to go dumpstering, providing food for the gathering and making more new friends in the process. All the items on the list were found, including some rare finds that weren't listed.

Sunday morning was another late start, but everyone just jumped right into preparing and cooking food for breakfast and a huge lunch, which was shared downtown. Following lunch, there was a fairly spontaneous march through the streets of downtown Nashville. There were drums, brass instruments, ribbons and dancing. A large banner was carried in front, reading "FOOD NOT BOMBS Bring it (A)LL Down! N(A)SHVILLE '08" This was fairly confusing for some of the participants. There was no discussion of this march ahead of time, of carrying a banner representing Food Not Bombs, or what it would read. No consensus- or even input-seeking process was enacted. Several people were asked and some left asking, Why was there no discussion of the march or its intent beforehand? What message were we trying to send? Who were we trying to reach? What exactly does Food Not Bombs want to bring down? Despite the lack of answers to these questions, the march was a fairly successful at reclaiming the streets. Chanting "Food Not Bombs" to a beat and marching past small crowds, it took quite a while for police to arrive. When they did, the crowd marched right past them, turning down a sidestreet and heading back to the starting point. One of the people carrying the banner was arrested, and there was at least one close call as someone avoided being snatched by an officer after blocking their vehicle.

Bike rides in the rain, a dance party, communal meals, late nights, teaching each other, challenging each other and marching together provided bonding experiences for activists from all over the country who believe that food is a right, not a privilege. I think I can safely say that many of the people in Nashville this past weekend—from veterans of the movement, involved for years or even decades, to those that just prepared their first food sharing the week prior to the gathering—felt that they were part of something larger than themselves, finding inspiration to continue building a better world.