New Orleans        Over recent years, annually, we have convened as many of our organizers and board members around the world that can afford to attend to take a look at the year and make plans for the future.  We’ve met in Bristol, when there were just a handful of us.  We’ve met outside Paris and at the Farmers’ Union building in Paris.  We’ve met in Shipley in northern England several times.  Last year, we were in Heerlen, Netherlands, and this year 45 of us found ourselves in Brussels to support one of our new affiliates and their housing campaign.

Last year our treats were the attendance of our new affiliates and organizing projects from Belgium, Italy, Maryland, and Malta.  This year, they were with us as veterans, but two of the leaders of our affiliate in the West Bank of Palestine with the Popular Solidarity Coordinating Committee (PSCC) were able to attend, and in a last-minute addition our head organizer from Cameroon was able to attend as well.  All of that added to the excitement of the meeting, as well as some of the crew being able to partner with local members to hit the doors and talk to people about the housing campaign in Brussels.

Logistics are always challenging for these meetings, but the hotel, hostel or whatever you might want to call it worked out fine, and the meeting place, a collective space called DK, was great.  We need to schedule better for people coming from North America.  Too many were dragging wagon from overnight flights and had to leave before the Sunday sessions were over.

Those sessions were highlights in my view.  We had started on Friday night with progress reports.  There’s been a lot of growth across the ACORN world.  We probably represent more than 500,000 members and informal workers now with 12,000 dues-paying members in the United Kingdom and national reach in Canada and India.  On Sunday though, we had one session that looked at the origins of our various affiliates.  It was moving to remember the early beginnings of our work in Bristol that has now blossomed throughout England and Wales, as well as hearing from Sicily and Malta who are closer to the beginning of their journey.  That session was followed by one about the nuts and bolts of large actions. We heard about the meticulous preparation for the first national action to Ban the Bailiffs recently in Leeds, England, where we took over a bailiff’s convention.  We got under the hood where we could look at how various convention actions were put together in Canada.  It was great.  Everybody there had to have learned something and been moved to do bigger and better.

It’s great to get so see organizers and leaders come together.  It’s not easy or cheap, but it’s invaluable in building ACORN, our culture, and our work.

I can hardly wait until next year in Scotland!