Fringe organization works to decentralize and build grassroots response | 05.07.2007 | 08:56:08 | Views: 5609 | ID: May 7 '07: In New York City, a grassroots-level, fringe organization called Aftershock Action Alliance is working to establish and build community-level, decentralized response networks with an anarchist slant. According to the organization's website, the main goal is to create an effectual community preparedness level to balance out what it sees as an inadequate federal machine. The New York City Independent Media Center reported that Aftershock is working to promote a "sustainable, decentralized and self-organizing [model] ... for dealing with disasters that leave local communities empowered while challenging state power." On the Aftershock website, one best practice given was the example of the Food not Bombs network, based in Seattle which is working to provide food to people in disaster-torn areas such as the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Louisiana. "In the weeks following [Hurricane Katrina] ... more than a hundred Food not Bombs and related volunteers served thousands of meals to those in need. They had their own shelter, communications and supplies. The local communities did not need to waste limited energy and resources on these volunteers," the Aftershock Alliance said on its website.
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