adding pdfs to website

ideas.org

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+#+title: rough ideas
+
+* mapping ACORN's structure
+Want to create a resource that explains ACORN's structure, rules, etc.
+
+Would be useful as a foundation to then ask other questions such as:
+- what does ACORN provide us (e.g. it provides legal insurance thing, not sure what this is called)
+- how can people engage with the democratic processes in ACORN productively? (assuming that this is possible)
+
+** looking at Company House
+- there are multiple ACORN's listed
+- they are
+
+* working out ACORN's strategy
+
+* member-led member training
+The training that ACORN currently provides is pretty poor. I feel it wouldn't be that difficult for members to run their own, but then how to do this is not obvious.

index.org

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+#+title: What is up with ACORN UK?
+#+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
+#+OPTIONS: num:nil
+#+OPTIONS: toc:nil
+
+ACORN is a community union with a focus on using direct action to defend tenants from from landlords who are refusing repairs, hiking rents, eviction, etc. If you don't know what ACORN UK is, this article by Callum Cant is a good explanation https://notesfrombelow.org/article/taking-whats-ours-an-acorn-inquiry.
+
+ACORN sounds great on paper but in practice it is very broken and no one in the organisation wants to acknowledge this to mass membership.
+
+It has been described to me by members in the know that the union is bureaucratic, dominated by full-time professional staff rather than elected volunteers, is increasingly controlled top-down, critical discussion is stifled, low-risk template campaigns are pushed onto branches, and junior staff are overworked and treated poorly. However, none of these issues are ever acknowledged when we are making decisions as a union.
+
+The issues are only discussed when we end the meeting and go to the pub where it is discussed secretively in the smoking area amongst cliques. The discussions are kept vague and in hushed tones. Because of it being transmitted like this, I have an unclear picture of what is actually going on, the extent of the issues, no way to verify the truthfulness of some of the claims. I've created this website to write down everything I've been told, and then have the claims substantiated or corrected.
+
+* Issues
+** Several branches are destroyed
+*** Oxford
+[[file:resources/copy-of-acorn-oxford-demands.pdf][Oxford Demand Letter]]
+
+*** Aberystwyth
+[[file:resources/acorn-aberystwyth.pdf][Acorn Abersywythe statement]]
+
+#+attr_html: :width 500px
+[[file:images/fuzzy picture.jpg]]
+
+#+attr_html: :width 500px
+[[file:images/translated-from-welsh-article.jpg]]
+
+*** Lancaster and Morecambe
+[[file:resources/Lancaster & Morecambe Letter.pdf][Lancaster committee resignation Letter]]
+
+*** Others?
+I have heard that others have collapsed (Newcastle, Manchester) but nothing yet to evidence this.
+
+** Anti-democratic?
+The 2023 National Conference this year has been suspended. I have been told that the organisation's Bylaws were edited for the 2022 National Conference to disallow changes to the organisations structure, and edited again to no-longer make the conference annual.
+
+Accusations of ACORN's anti-democratic nature in the Oxford and Lancaster letters.
+
+** Very limited communication between branches is allowed
+An example of how broken communication is within ACORN is one of the demands put out by Oxford: /"For the branch to be permitted to organise with members in other branches nationally, including the ability to make group chats and communication channels with other branches without staff oversight"/. Acorn members across branches don't talk to each other, and even within the branch there is poor communication.
+
+This is why National have been able to destroy branches as it is unlikely that the mass membership are ever made aware of it.
+
+* Sources
+- https://libcom.org/article/acorn-no-mighty-oak
+- IWW articles:
+  - [[https://archive.iww.org/history/campaigns/acorn/speakout/32/][IWW Support the Acorn Workers Article]]
+  - [[https://archive.iww.org/history/campaigns/acorn/speakout/43/][An Analysis of Acorn's latest remarks]]

reading-list.org

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+#+title: Reading List
+
+Reading list of texts/articles/etc that may be relevant.
+
+
+* From Oxford branch reading group:
+
+* Unsorted

structure.org

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+#+title: Unsorted Notes
+
+Rough notes / reference material that look at ACORN's structure.
+
+* ACORN's Structure
+** ACORN's legal status
+
+** ACORN's technology stack
+NationBuilder
+
+* What should people who have decided to stay behind in ACORN be doing?
+
+* Is ACORN reformable / is ACORN worth reforming?
+Two related questions. One is
+
+1uui* Is the account of ACORN US depicted in the "ACORN No Mighty Oak" article accurate?
+Do American comrades know why ACORN US dissolved? Was this caused by inherent weaknesses of the organisation, and if so, are these weaknesses shared by ACORN UK? Also would be good to get perspective on Wade Rathke given he is acting as a guru to our organisation.