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".
New Orleans Continuing a tradition, when my father was alive, he would ask me what I learned that might interest him from my travels, so here are quick notes that would have intrigued him, and perhaps you. In Tunis, we ate a something that tasted delicately like a peach, but was flat. One of …
Catania I had heard about iWatch before arriving in Tunis from one of our leaders in Grenoble, who has roots in Tunisia, and said we had to meet with them. Their website seemed to identify them as an anti-corruption nonprofit. Once in Tunis it seemed to the Organizers’ Forum delegation that everywhere we went, we …
Tunis We are so lucky to be able to come together and visit organizers, activists, leaders, and others who are trying to build organizations and navigate the challenges of empowering people in different countries. The Organizers’ Forum is close to completing our eighteenth journey, this time in Tunisia. In the middle of it, the …
Paris It was the usual traveling ordeal of multiple plane changes, little sleep, weak coffee, and a lost bag when I hit Paris, but years of travel have taught that it’s best to solider on. Furthermore it’s worth it, as I found ordering a single espresso at a sidewalk café in the late afternoon in …
New Orleans As organizers we learn to accept the fact that even when our members don’t win exactly what they demanded, change often comes behind the lines of our demands, because of our active and aggressive pursuit of the issues: a half-a-loaf cannot be won without a fight for the whole loaf. But in the …