A Community Union for Hastings?
Acorn is a mass membership organisation and network of low-income people organising for a fairer deal – for communities left behind by companies, councils and parliament.
It has thousands of members and can boast numerous successful actions, whether that’s stopping incompetent landlords in their tracks and forcing letting agents to cease corrupt and irresponsible practices, or lobbying for legislation like the Renters Reform bill.
While much of its activity focusses on renters, and it might be considered a similar organisation to our own Hastings Rental Health, Acorn has broader aims, all focussed on improving the lives of low-income, working-class people. As part of its Norwich branch’s End Holiday Hunger campaign it ensured 30,000 families continued to receive food vouchers in the holidays for another year.
The Acorn model was first pioneered in Arkansas in the 1980s, but its UK offshoot originated in Bristol and has adopted its own distinct character. The organisation also has large branches in Brighton and Norwich, and is working to develop connections in other deprived areas where social activism provides a more effective route forward than voting and waiting.
Have a look at their website and consider subscribing to become a member: www.acorntheunion.org.uk/acorn_platform. With enough of us they can form a branch in Hastings and we can take the fight for fairness directly to those who so desperately want us to remain their intensively-farmed cash-cows.
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