Pearl River Once upon a time, more than twenty years ago, when ACORN expanded internationally, we used to say it would not have been possible without email, cheaper plane fares, and Skype. We still have email, but plane fares are hardly cheap, even though they can still get us there when we need to be there, and Skype is being shutdown by Microsoft. Now, after the worldwide COVID pandemic, we have Zoom, WhatsApp, Facebook, and more, which no doubt is why we no longer have Skype. None of it is perfect, but every spring, it means the ACORN International board can convene and make sure the organization is on the right track and moving forward.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Several board members, whether in England or Cameroon, were either kicked off or froze at different times. In fact, time itself is one of our biggest problems, as daylight savings time in the US advances forward, but time doesn’t change in Europe until later, or in some countries doesn’t change at all. Whatever, we preserve. Affiliates from the majority of ACORN’s countries were on the call.
Looking at the agenda as we started, ACORN’s president, Marva Burnett, from Toronto, commented about how much we had going on these days. It’s a lot, as the delegates began their reports at the frontend of the meeting. The victories and struggles were clear. For example, ACORN Canada was celebrating a huge victory, after years of work, as the government finally acted on our demand and lowered NSF, not sufficient funds, banking charges that varied from $40 to $50 CN down to only $10 CN. The saving to our members and constituency will be over $5 billion CN!
Interestingly, Canada was not the only affiliate to report legislative victories, which speaks to the increasing power of the organization. Living Rent, our Scottish affiliate, is close to significant improvements in rent control and other tenant programs, as is ACORN in England and Wales, as their housing rights bill moves through Parliament. Progressive Maryland, a new ACORN United States affiliate is winning controls on incineration in order to protect the environment, even as they were stymied by legislative maneuvers that forced them to oppose their own housing bill, when landlords and developers tried to accept the reforms, if they could get rid of rent control. In India, the organization has won social security protections in the coming fiscal year for gig workers.
Another major theme was our progress in organizing lower income and informal workers. Malta had a meeting recently to unionize “creatives” working music and the arts. We heard reports on strikes we conducted for seasonal sugarcane workers in Cameroon and food service gig workers in India, as well as new recognition for city workers in Arkansas. The board recognized these developments by unanimously voting to affiliate the India-based Hawkers Joint Action Committee (HJAC) and the Gig Workers Association (GigWA), as well as STRACAS, the seasonal sugarcane workers, 100 kilometers from Yaoundé, the Cameroon capital. Exciting stuff, so we’ll see where this leads the organization.
Other “firsts”, included hearing about the first organizing committee meeting for Cleveland ACORN in the US, and the first convention for ACORN in England and Wales now scheduled for August. The board looked at more expansion in the USA in Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee, as well as the likely affiliation of the old Arkansas ACORN, now Arkansas Community Organizations in that state. As new radio stations go on the air in Eudora and Helena, Arkansas, now with more pending, it made sense to the board to see how ACORN community organizations could use the stations as anchors to expand as well.
These are hard times everywhere, but the board was not distracted and kept their focus on what it takes to hold on and move forward.