Audioslave’s Tom Morello and System of a Down’s Serj Tankian – who have formed the 'Axis Of Justice' to raise awareness of various political and social issues across the world – have staged a press conference in Santa Monica to speak out against a city ruling which says homeless charities must obey the same rules as restaurants if they hand out food, something that campaigners reckon will prevent charities from distributing food to the needy in the local area.
Speaking to MTV Morello says: "When Axis of Justice first heard of this law, we said the first day it goes into effect, lunch is on us. We'll continue to do it in defiance of the law. I'm not worried police are going to show up and arrest us, I'm worried homeless people are going to be hungry tonight. This is a tremendously cruel law that criminalises compassion. In a city as wealthy as Santa Monica, there's no reason everybody shouldn't have a home and enough to eat, along with the appropriate job training or mental heath services or drug or alcohol rehabilitation, whatever they need to get back on their feet. Those are the things the city council should be focusing on, not trying to deny hungry people food."
Tankian added: "I don't understand. The homeless have never been a problem. Businesses want the homeless out of the way because it doesn't look good. This is Los Angeles — it has to look good. In reality, it's not stopping business. Their sales are at record highs. It doesn't matter. The truth of the matter is it's going to leave these people starving."
After the conference Morello and Tankian distributed food to the homeless population and then marched through the local streets in protest.