3 minute read
Street Kitchens and Socialism
Words by Bob Briton
Every Sunday in Whitmore Square, you will see volunteers from the Community Union Defence League (CUDL) working at their street kitchen for people experiencing homelessness and other hardship. Some days, the weather has been foul and the political climate surrounding the project has not always been favourable, either. In fact, there has been a long struggle with council and state government authorities to maintain the street kitchen, which has now been operating continuously for two and a half years without missing a single Sunday. Determination on the part of volunteers has ensured this continuity. They serve at the trestle tables stacked with food and drinks and, from time to time, clothes, books, hygiene packs and other essentials, despite the difficulties thrown up by the COVID pandemic. With solidarity from community organisations, like the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), the Anti-Poverty Network, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and progressive residents, the street kitchen has overcome a number of threats to close down its operations. The Adelaide City Council contacted CUDL organisers last year to demand that the organisation obtain a permit to conduct their “food vending business” on Council property. They insisted that a permit for Whitmore Square (for which they had other plans in line with a gentrified vision for the city) would never be granted. This diktat ignored the fact that CUDL distributes all its goods for free and that Whitmore Square has been a gathering point for people suffering homelessness for decades. A very senior bureaucrat from the Department of Human Services visited the street kitchen to back up the Council demand. She added that a task force she headed believed our service promoted dependence among “itinerant Aboriginal populations” who come to Adelaide and engage in “anti-social behaviour”. This 19th century attitude to the dispossessed and disadvantaged was rejected by CUDL. The media reported that the official had a major conflict of interest on the issue. She is part owner of a boutique hotel on Whitmore Square and lives in a luxury home nearby. In the midst of the furore, the Council contacted CUDL and its pro-bono lawyers for a meeting where they revealed that a permit would be granted for the street kitchen in Whitmore Square and that they would help with any potential obstacles in the application process. They also informed us that a “hub” for services for people experiencing homelessness was to be established on South Terrace and that it would run for about six weeks.
CUDL was now free to carry on its much needed and appreciated work without the threat of confrontation and arrests. Partners from Back to Fitrah, a Muslim women’s organisation, continue to bring high quality clothes and other supplies. The atmosphere at the kitchen is friendly, cheerful and free from any hint of the spirit of “charity”. CUDL conducts street kitchen services in Sydney, Melbourne and Coffs Harbour, as well. It is worth considering the background to these expanding projects, what gave rise to these projects and what inspires the commitment and loyalty of its volunteers. The original Sydney kitchen was a continuation of the occupation of Martin Place by people suffering homelessness and their supporters in 2017. The original Adelaide Branch of CUDL came together to raise funds for local CFMEU official Jimmy O’Connor, who was fined $14,000 by the Australian Building and Construction Commission for accessing and organising union members in the construction industry in 2016. Members of CUDL are driven by the need to defend and unite communities to act in their own interests. The organisation is guided by the Australian Communist Party, whose ideology is MarxismLeninism. That is crucial because CUDL not only wants to help the most disadvantaged among us or those under the harshest form of attack - it looks forward to and works towards a society without exploitation and oppression, and for a state where the agenda of the working class rules. Volunteers at CUDL get great satisfaction in making their project better and of greater service (CUDL’s slogan is “Serve the People”) but its ultimate aim is to do itself out of a job through revolutionary change towards socialism.
CUDL is always looking for volunteers. We need cooks to prepare food in their own homes and people to drive supplies to where they are needed. We need people to prepare food in a community kitchen on Sunday morning and to serve at the street kitchen between 11:30am and 1:30pm every Sunday.
