Keith McHenry to Speak at Oberlin : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

Keith McHenry will be speaking at Oberlin College on the history of Food Not Bombs, anarchism, and his life.

*Thursday, April 21st, 7:30pm in King Building, Room 106
*He will also be conducting two workshops on Friday, April 22nd at 4pm and 7pm - location and topics TBA

Keith has been a peace activist for over 30 years. He has volunteered with the Coalition for Direct Action at Seabrook, Mobilization for Survival, The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, Boston Alliance Against the Draft, Iraqi Pledge of Resistance and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.

He is a co-founder Food Not Bombs which shares free vegetarian food in hundreds of communities. It is one of the worlds largest all volunteer international movements taking direct action for peace and justice. He helped start the first chapter in Boston in 1980. He designed the movement's logo and co-wrote with C.T. Butler, the book, Food Not Bombs, How to Feed the Hungry and Build Community. Food Not Bombs has no formal leaders and each chapter is autonomous yet the movement is united around the principles of nonviolence, that decisions are made by consensus, that the food is free to anyone who wants it and that the food is vegetarian or vegan. Food Not Bombs has inspired several generations of dedicated peace activists.

He was arrested over 100 times for "making a political statement": by sharing free food in San Francisco. He has spent over 500 nights in jail for his peaceful protest against militarism. The San Francisco Police beat him 13 times and he was framed under the California Three Strikes law and was one of the first white people to face a 25 to life sentence. Amnesty International wrote letters and campaigned for Keith's unconditional release and his case was taken up by the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland. He has been featured in numerous books including A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn,No Trespassing by Anders Corr, Interviews With Icons by Lisa Law, Rising Up by Richard Edmondson, and his character has appeared in such books as Walking to Mercury by Starhawk and Homes Not Jails by Michael Stienburg to name a few.

Keith helped start and promote the micro-powered radio movement in North America, a national campaign to end police violence and the anti-globalization movement.

Keith was the keynote speaker at many events including at the National Convention of the Campus Outreach Opportunity League in Cleveland, Ohio and at the founding of Americorp at Treasure Island in San Francisco. He has also spoke in over 50 communities on the Unfair Trade Tour and 60 cities on The Rent is Theft Tour, 40 cities in Europe and the Middleast on the Drop Bush Not Bombs Tour as well as to large groups and at universities throught Europe.

Cleveland Indy Media Center