Revolutionary Black Panther Party (RBPP)

Dr. Alli Muhammad MD the Chief-General-In-Command of the Revolutionary Black Panther Party (RBPP),  has created of a nationwide, community-controlled nutrition program — Operation SNAP BACK —  as direct action to feed communities affected by politically motivated interruptions to federal nutrition assistance. The paper situates Operation SNAP BACK in the Black Panther survival program tradition, demonstrates that international law forbids using starvation as a method of warfare or political coercion, and explains how recent federal actions to withhold or condition SNAP funding during the 2025 shutdown have been legally challenged. The argument frames these federal actions as alleged violations of international humanitarian, human rights, and criminal law and sets out the RBPP’s revolutionary response.

Dr. Alli Muhammad MD, National Leader of the Revolutionary Black Panther Party (RBPP), launched a nationwide grassroots food-security program so that communities would not have to depend on political actors to survive. This people-run infrastructure is the RBPP’s independent SNAP: Operation SNAP BACK — our own SNAP program (1). Operation SNAP BACK is built on the principle that the people have both the right and capacity to feed themselves without political gatekeeping or federal obstruction (2).

Operation SNAP BACK organizes weekly distribution hubs — providing hot meals, groceries, clothing, and emergency supplies — in cities across the United States as an exercise in mutual aid, survival, and political independence.

The Black Panther Party (BPP). we created the blueprint for modern community survival programs. Our Free Breakfast for Children Program fed thousands of children weekly across dozens of cities and pressured governments to expand public nutrition programs (3). Scholars and policy historians note that federal program expansion responded to the demonstration that community-run feeding programs worked at scale (4; 5). The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and expanded school breakfast initiatives followed in the wake of these grassroots survival efforts (6). Operation SNAP BACK intentionally revives that tradition of community self-help and political education.

Operation SNAP BACK operates in RBPP chapters nationwide, including Chicago, Oakland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Valdosta, Greensboro, and Dallas and other key cities as well and more to come (1).

Example: Chicago Chapter — Sundays, 3:30–6:30 PM (CST) at East 76th Street & South Shore Drive (Rainbow Beach): hot cooked meals, nonperishables, winter clothing, basic supplies, referral help, and political education (1; 2).

Operation SNAP BACK is a direct, community-controlled alternative to state-dependent food access — organized to protect people when government systems fail or are weaponized.

Donald Trump has literally violated international law, by using food starvation of millions, as a political weapon against the people and his political opponents, it is a violation of international law, a crime against humanity, and even a form of genocide and human rights violations to starve people as a method of politics or for war. 

International law clearly prohibits intentionally starving civilians as a method of warfare or to coerce populations for political advantage. This prohibition is embedded in multiple international instruments and customary law:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 25 guarantees a right to an adequate standard of living, including food and housing (14).

• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Article 11 recognizes the right to be free from hunger and obliges states to take measures to ensure food access (15).

• Geneva Conventions — Additional Protocol I, Article 54 expressly provides: “Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited” (16).

• ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law, Rule 53 restates that starvation cannot be used to control or coerce civilian populations (17).

• Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court treats deliberate starvation and inhumane acts causing great suffering as internationally prosecutable offenses when they meet the elements of crimes against humanity or war crimes (18).

In plain language: intentionally denying or withholding food to a civilian population to force political concessions is illegal under international humanitarian and human-rights law (15; 16; 17).

During the 2025 federal government shutdown, several federal courts ordered that contingency funds be used to pay SNAP benefits for November, recognizing the severe impact on approximately 42 million Americans (10; 11).

The administration appealed those orders and delayed payment. President Trump posted on Truth Social that SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before,” tying food access to partisan political compliance (9; 12).

Courts issued mixed rulings; appeals courts and the Supreme Court temporarily intervened, causing delays that affected states and recipients (10; 13).

These developments forced states, nonprofits, food banks, and community programs to step into the breach. Operation SNAP BACK is an example of such community response (7; 8; 11).

Because international law forbids starvation as a tool of warfare or coercion, conditioning or withholding essential food aid for political leverage raises serious legal concerns. Such conduct could constitute persecution or inhumane acts under the Rome Statute or violations of treaty obligations under the ICESCR and UDHR (15; 18).

• Practically: weekly meal distributions, grocery parcels, clothing drives, and essential supplies (1).
• Politically: documentation, advocacy, and refusal to submit to political deprivation as a condition of survival (2).

Feeding the people is framed as an act of resistance and self-defense.

Resistance must include:

1. Feeding the people through mutual aid (1)
    
2. Organizing across race, class, and nationality
    
3. Documenting abuses for international human-rights bodies (e.g., UN, ICC)
    
4. Rejecting silence and complicity
    

The historical record is clear: the Panthers fed the people first. When federal systems weaponize hunger, communities answer by feeding each other. Operation SNAP BACK stands as a legal, moral, and political response.

The time is now.
The people united can never be defeated.

1. Revolutionary Black Panther Party. (2025). Operation SNAP BACK and State-Induced Hunger Analysis. RBPP National Archive.
    
2. Muhammad, A. (2025). Low-End Collectivism and High-End Collectivism: Framework for Revolutionary Community Survival. RBPP Press.
    
3. Hilliard, D. (2008). The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs. University of New Mexico Press.
    
4. Heyman, A. (2009). The Black Panther Party and the reshaping of social welfare. Journal of African American History, 94(2), 145–166.
    
5. Williams, J. (2013). Community power and the welfare policy legacy of the Black Panthers. Social Movement Review.
    
6. Oliveira, V., & Frazao, E. (2015). The WIC Program: Background, trends, and issues. U.S. Department of Agriculture.
    
7. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2024). SNAP vulnerability reports.
    
8. Food Research & Action Center. (2024). Political impacts on nutrition programs.
    
9. Politico. (2025, Nov.). Trump threatens to withhold SNAP funding until shutdown ends.
    
10. Associated Press. (2025, Nov.). Federal judge orders Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits in November.
     
11. Reuters. (2025, Nov.). US food aid benefits for 42 million hang on legal battles, shutdown.
     
12. CBS News. (2025, Nov.). Truth Social post tying SNAP to political demands.
     
13. The Washington Post. (2025, Nov.). Appeals-court rulings on SNAP funding litigation.
     
14. United Nations. (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25.
     
15. United Nations. (1966). International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 11.
     
16. International Humanitarian Law. (1977). Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocol I, Article 54.
     
17. International Committee of the Red Cross. (2005). Customary IHL, Rule 53.
     
18. International Criminal Court. (1998). Rome Statute, Articles 7 & 8.

"The Revolution means taking care of the people" - Chief Alli