In this post – Digging for victory? 18.5.24 – we issued a pretty strict warning to any elements trying to co-opt our support for localised food growing into a jingoistic ‘dig for victory’ campaign:

A ‘Dig For Victory’ campaign is essentially the state marshalling our labour to fulfil their malevolent war aims. It has absolutely nothing to do with our principles of the decentralisation and localisation of food production which is aimed at lessening and eventually eliminating our dependence on the state and the corporations, neither of which have our interests at heart. We hope that is abundantly clear to all of our supporters and readers and also, any warmongers who may be tempted to co-opt and twist our principles to suit their nefarious aims.

We issued this warning in the face of what feels like an ever accelerating push to get people to accept the idea that a war with Russia at some point in the future is inevitable, and that we need to start adapting to that reality now. We’ve written a few posts about this on our sister blog, Stirrings from below. This is the most recent one we’ve published: Resisting the drumbeats of war 7.6.24.

The bastards can only win if we fall for their psyops and propaganda, and comply with their agenda. We have no obligation to comply to the agendas of these people. We have every obligation to refuse to comply, totally withdraw our consent, and resist with everything we’ve got. While the bastards are beating the drums of war, we need to start lobbing some spanners into the power structures and financial networks that dominate and defile our lives. It’s not too late to start…

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of our passion for de-centralised, localised food growing and production. A passion that was made pretty clear in our previous post: Grassroots food growing – The Directory 1.6.24.

Our promotion and support of community food growing projects, food banks and food co-operatives is not a fluffy, feel good thing. The whole point of At the Grassroots is to support initiatives that bring control over our lives and communities down to the grassroots where we live, and away from government and the corporations they serve. Given how dysfunctional and increasingly dystopian things are getting, getting control at the grassroots is more important than ever.

We’ve written this many times before and doubtless, we’ll write it many times again:

Whoever controls the food supply controls the population

We make no apologies for keeping on repeating this. The title of this post is ‘Digging for OUR victory’. What precisely does this mean? It means that as far as possible, we localise food production. That ranges from having a lot more in the way of community vegetable plots such as this one – Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park. It means an expansion in allotment provision. That’s local, neighbourhood plots as opposed to vast commercial sites in the arse end of nowhere: A few thoughts on allotment provision and guerilla gardening 16.5.24. It can mean guerilla gardening, an activity that not only yields vegetable and fruit but also, challenges the inequity of existing land ownership patterns. It means supporting local, sustainable small scale food growers and producers. Part of that means patronising the local independent food shops and farmers markets they supply and participate in. Basically, it’s about creating a food production system that’s local, sustainable and accountable. Something that’s the complete opposite of the corporate dominated food production and supply network that we have no control over.

We’re not going to pretend that any of this is easy. Any positive change in society demands a degree of graft if it’s going to succeed. As regular volunteers with the Keynsham Community Veg Plot in the Park, we’re only too well aware of the work that has to go into the plot to make it viable! Having said that, we’ve got it into a position where it only needs three to four hours work a week to keep it going. With a community vegetable plot in each neighbourhood and a willing supply of volunteers to spread the workload and make it manageable, it would make a significant contribution to de-centralising and localising food production.

Aside from having a handy source of fresh vegetables and fruit pretty much on your doorstep, there are other benefits that come with a network of local community vegetable plots. There are the obvious ones such as exercise and fresh air. Also, there’s the important one of creating a sense of solidarity and cohesion in your neighbourhood that comes from working on a shared project. In these atomised and increasingly dystopian times, building a sense of community at the grassroots around a shared project is vital. This is what we mean by ‘Digging for OUR victory’.