People are dancing, playing drums and rhyming into the mic about Black liberation and self-determination. The event is the annual food distribution of the Victory Gardens Project, an organizing collaboration between inner city and rural community groups. The Victory Gardens Project was inspired equally by the survival programs of the Black Panther Party, of which the NY 3 were a part of, and the nature-based philosophy of the radical ecology and anarchist movements. In 1994, Carol and Michael started to support the MOVE organization in Philadelphia by bringing them fresh, organic food from their garden in Maine. At the suggestion of Herman Bell, the Victory Gardens Project was expanded to include bringing food to inner city community groups, as well as bringing volunteers up from these urban communities, such as Uhuru members from East Orange, to work on the garden.
Volunteers are the backbone of the project.
They come up to Athens, Maine and experience a world far different from urban life. The homestead is two miles down a rocky dirt road on thickly wooded land, over the hill from a deep blue pond. Over 5 miles from the closest power line, electricity is generated by solar power, water is pumped from a well and meals are cooked from food grown on-site or bought in bulk. The project is structured collectively and without a hierarchy so that everyone can participate, contribute and resolve conflicts easier. This is especially important since VGP is attempting to bridge the class and race gaps in radical politics.