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".
Mumbai Being in Dharavi, where ACORN has worked for almost twenty years, and meeting with our members one day, and then the ACORN Women’s Waste Collective on another, the concerns about the impending redevelopment plan for this huge community of almost one-million residents and workplaces was palpable. The Adani Group somehow won this controversial …
Mumbai In Delhi and Kolkata, I sat through meetings that were ostensibly government certified food safety meetings for hawkers. Our affiliate, Janpahal, has been trained and certified to give these workshops about food safety. Many topics are covered including the temperatures to cook chicken and other items. Aprons, hair nets, and plastic gloves are …
Kolkata I first came to Kolkata with the Organizers’ Forum more than twenty years ago. Unlike the megacities of Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, Kolkata seems largely unchanged so far, something like the old India. The streets were full and pulsating as we came into town after midnight from the airport, which had seen an …