The Amnesty International chapter at OSU held its third annual dinner Friday night to help raise awareness about world hunger. The dinner simulated meals for various income levels around the world, a low income being the most common. Participants drew a high-, middle- or low-income meal from a bag. Most people at the event ate rice with their fingers.
Hunger is about power, said an officer of OSU’s chapter of Amnesty International at the organization’s third annual dinner Friday night.
Vice President Tahni Osterman said: “Our rich and bountiful planet produces enough food to feed every woman, man and child on the earth. Today, you join the fight against hunger and poverty.”
More than 40 percent of the world’s population lives in low-income countries, she said.
Osterman said even though the U.S. is one of the richest countries in the world, 36 million Americans live at or below the poverty line. In Oklahoma, there are about 4,000 sheltered and 1,000 non-sheltered homeless people.
About 15 people attended this year’s event, down from about 40 people at the 2007 banquet, because the group was not able to chalk for it because of the week’s heavy rain, Osterman said.
Attendees drew a slip of paper from a bag to determine which meal they would get to eat: a low-, middle- or high-income meal. Low-income represented about 60 percent of the world’s population, mid-income represented about 25 percent and high income 15 percent, Osterman said.
Only one student received a high-income meal, where he was able to sit at a table, eat salad and spaghetti and drink iced tea. Five people received middle-income sack lunch meals with cans of soda, and nine sat on the floor and consumed rice with no utensils and drank water to represent low-income people.
Amnesty International will hold its annual Hootenanny Prom on April 25 to raise money for the Oxfam International charitable organization. Cost for admission is $5 and is scheduled for 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. Attendees are encouraged to wear farm-style clothing, prom clothing or both, English senior Jillian Holzbauer said.
Local music group the Flatland Grass Band is providing musical entertainment, she said.
A speaker from Stillwater’s Food Not Bombs group spoke to the group about Food Not Bombs’ origins, purpose and past actions.
Kevin Jobe said one of the group’s primary purposes is to share food and it embraces a form of nonviolent social change through direct action.
“Direct action is simply an alternative method of political action that’s not involved in the representative process,” Jobe said. “We’re not involved in normal channels of political action.”
He gave examples such as serving community meals and lobbying for food safety rules or anti-nuclear policy.
Jobe said the organization is against resorting to violence to solve the world’s problems.
Some of the actions the Food Not Bombs organization takes is met with dissension, Jobe said, citing a law in Las Vegas that makes it a misdemeanor to hand out food in public.
“That’s probably the most draconian (cruel) of them,” he said. “That’s kind of crazy that there would be a law like that.”
Holzbauer said Amnesty International works on both a local and a global level.
“It’s a human rights organization so we try to focus on human rights worldwide, but we also want to help people in our community,” she said. “That’s why we work with groups like Food Not Bombs to help feed homeless and needy people in our community.”
She said the group’s main campaign this year is called “The Maze of Injustice.”
“It’s a report that the head Amnesty International based out of London released that details violence against Native American women and the measures that need to be taken to prevent (it),” she said. “It’s an issue that’s receiving international attention, but it’s an issue of special importance to us because it really hits close to home.”
Amnesty International meets Tuesdays at 5 p.m. in Student Union, Room 419. Those wanting to know more about the group may visit http://www.myspace.com/amnestyokstate.
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