WADE RATHKE is the founder of ACORN, Chief Organizer at ACORN International, and Author of "Nuts & Bolts", "Citizen Wealth", "Global Grassroots", and "The Battle for the 9th Ward".
Salvador Organizing low waged and informal workers around the world teaches an organizer a lot about the basic humanity and survival skills of workers. Humility and respect are constant companions, but so are the painful lessons about economics at the bottom of capitalism’s barrel. Call them waste pickers, trash workers, or, preferably, recyclers, I’ve …
New Orleans Recently, I was somewhat horrified to read about actions taken unanimously by the Indonesian Parliament. The Organizers’ Forum had taken a delegation there in 2005, and met with amazing groups organizing among the urban poor and lower-income workers. We were especially impressed that so many of the organizations were directed by …
New Orleans We have to celebrate election victories when we can. Given the rampaging uncertainty of the US midterms, it was comforting to find one election that came out the way the polls suggested. Admittedly, the election was in Brazil, which may not mean a whole lot to some, but given the size …