ACORN Peru continued their hard work advocating for children’s rights, as well as continued work on the new rural community project.

ACORN Canada had a busy month, with over 100 ACORN Ontario members organizing critical next steps for full rent control in the face of imminent early elections. Ottawa ACORN amassed over 70 ACORN members and tenants from across the city in front of city hall to show city council how important and urgent an anti-renoviction bylaw is to the tenants in this city! When we fight together, we win!

 Big leap forward for ACORN and organizing, if I could be so bold as to say so, as organizers and allies came together in two great meetings in Heerlen.

The first was in a surprising venue, as the ACORN Organizing School took its show on the road in the Netherlands.   We were meeting in the actual circle where the Heerlen city council – all 37 members with name plates that signified their party affiliation – meets to do its regular business.  In classic ACORN style, we might accurately call this a sit-in, but it was by invitation, which never happens.

Ron Mayer, our longtime comrade and friend in Heerlen, who had arranged the venue for the training, briefed me earlier on the historic architecture that informed the space.  When it was built originally, Holland was 90% Catholic.  The ceiling above the desks was a giant circular glasswork.  The message of the design was that when the city directors opened the doors to come in, even without turning on the lights, God was watching from above.

So be it, more than 40 organizers, leaders, and activists from around the Netherlands as well as from Sicily, Belgium, India, and Malta, as well as Canada and the United States, went through an introduction to community organizing.  There was door knocking and of course role plays for everyone to test their skills.  We detailed the outline for an ACORN organizing drive and then jumped into issue campaigns in small groups that were tackling how to win retrofits for substandard housing, which is a global issue.  Good times with good people!

Wham, bang, within hours, back at the ranch, the rest of the organizers from around the ACORN world from France and the UK were also showing up at NIVON, where we were meeting in a giant house that serves as a dormitory of sorts for meetings, small and large.  NIVON is a large volunteer operation and so was dinner, except in our case, it was assigned to first to Scotland with the USA on cleanup, breakfast by Canada, and so on.  New Orleans will be featuring jambalaya as a treat.

When the meeting convened, we were more than 50 packed cheek-to-jowl in the meeting room, as every country gave a report on their progress.  There were the usual stars who recorded another great year.  It had been the 20^th anniversary of ACORN Canada and the 10^th anniversary of ACORN in England, for example.  Jet lag and all other obstacles took a back seat as organizers listened with great interest to the reports from new affiliates in Malta and emerging ones in Belgium and the US.  We were having our first detailed briefing, so it was fascinating.

It’s always hard to win a doubleheader, but we had managed.  To top it off, the debut of the translation equipment got high marks and the meeting venue itself even seem to be passing with a good grade.  We’ll be at this for days, so let’s hope, we’re on a roll in Heerlen!

Solidarjeta Malta continued their campaign to support fair housing this month, targeting the practice of renting or selling available housing to wealthy “golden visa” holders who often let the homes sit empty the majority of the time, keeping working people out of the homes they need and driving up cost and competition for the housing that remains.

ACORN Honduras continued their tireless advocacy for children’s rights, health, and education this month, hosting an internationally attended conference on children’s rights.

Living Rent Glasgow hosted a “Wheel of Misfortune” action, attended by over 100 people, to expose to Glasgow City Council some of serious impacts of complete lack of social housing and the crisis of affordability. Living Rent is rallying for 25% of all new builds in the city to be social homes. When we fight together, we win!

In October, A Community Voice stood strong with health care workers on the picket line and rally for a strike at University Medical Center in New Orleans. ACORN stands firm with strikes for worker’s rights all over the world!

When gender-based violence (GBV) took a devastating uptick in Korogocho this fall, ACORN Kenya immediately began hosting meetings for the women who were most affected and their allies, building support from the ground up through trainings and solidarity. This month, the group took public action! More than 100 participants marched on local police offices, demanding clear and strict repercussions for those perpetrating gender-based violence.

In October, members of the Riverains Ensemble union mobilized in La Rochelle to demand transparency on the names of pesticides sprayed around their homes. Meanwhile, the Locataires Ensemble union took action in Marseille to denounce real estate capitalism, which allows multi-property owners to profit at the expense of the most vulnerable.

In October, ACORN Peru faced increasing social and political unease, as violence continues to escalate, and the government does little so protect it’s people. Even in the face of these challenges, ACORN hosted events to celebrate the vitality and brilliance of their young people, ensuring there are moments of celebration and solidarity  even in dark times.