Anita Petche speaks

Well, it seems that Ms Petche is disputing the accuracy of this article, which states that she compared Food Not Bombs to al-Qaeda. She has responded with a new piece in the Record:

The recent firestorm of controversy including numerous angry letters to the editor in response to The Record's report is most unfortunate, and has reached a point where I must defend both my personal and business reputations.

At no time did I use the word "terrorist" in my presentation, although others did in the course of the evening.

I did not make a direct link between Food Not Bombs and al-Qaeda, nor did I at any time "foolishly," or otherwise, compare one to the other.

I did not suggest that the other organizations named in my reference to the website www.discoverthenetworks.org A Guide to the Political Left had terrorist affiliations of any kind.

My only intention was to demonstrate that the groups I had mentioned are all included within the full spectrum of the 800-plus political left-wing organizations listed on www.discoverthenetworks.org.

The website creates the "link," if any, and is there for anyone to see and review. My goal was to enlighten the public by enabling members of the community to develop a greater understanding of the political nature of the organization Food Not Bombs and the issues at hand, so that they could ultimately draw their own conclusions.

I'm not sure what to think about this, but since the claim in Saturday's post is in dispute, it's only fair to include her side of the story. It is indeed true that discoverthenetworks.org includes this summary of the organization. Not having been at the contentious city council meeting, I can't say what the truth is.

Food Not Bombs activists charged under anti-terrorism law

The more I read about that country, the more freaked out I get:

In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the federal USAPATRIOT Act, Ramsey County prosecutors have formally charged eight alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism.

Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Max Spector, face up to 7½ years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50 percent increase in the maximum penalty.

Affidavits released by law enforcement, which were filed in support of the search warrants used in raids over the weekend and used to support probable cause for the arrest warrants, are based on paid, confidential informants who infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. Evidence released to date does not corroborate these allegations with physical evidence or provide any other evidence for these allegations than the claims of the informants.

“These charges are an effort to equate publicly stated plans to blockade traffic and disrupt the RNC as being the same as acts of terrorism. This both trivializes real violence and attempts to place the stated political views of the defendants on trial,” said Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. “The charges represent an abuse of the criminal justice system and seek to intimidate any person organizing large scale public demonstrations potentially involving civil disobedience,” he said.

From here. If indeed there's no evidence, they may well be quietly released, but this is a great way to put a chill on protests, don't you think?

Incidentally, Food Not Bombs have run into troubles in a lot of places, including the city I called home for several years:

The volunteer group that hands out free food and meals every Saturday in front of City Hall is not the problem and should not have to move, a spokesperson for Food Not Bombs told council last night.

"First we were asked by the City of Kitchener to stop serving, now we have been asked to move away from downtown businesses. We, however, are not the problem, and stopping us and hiding us will not solve anything," Laura Hamilton said.

More than 180 supporters of Food Not Bombs packed council chambers last night to protest the city's attempt to move the organization away from the location it has been using for nine years at King and Young streets.

"I have been volunteering with Food Not Bombs for five years and I can assure you there have not been any violent incidents or panhandling, aggressive or otherwise, at our servings," Hamilton said.

Source. Pretty typical stuff really; in Kitchener they particularly like to keep the poor out of sight (much of the public housing, for instance, is on the outskirts of town where the bus service is terrible, so as to keep the "problem" contained). It doesn't work, of course. But the real zinger in that story is this:

Anita Petsche of Petsche's Shoes linked Food Not Bombs to the terrorist group al-Qaida, a remark that drew jeers and boos from the group's supporters.

Hard to know what to say to someone like that, except maybe "fuck you and everyone who looks like you".