ACORN Bristol

Last week, @acornunion.bsky.social hosted our national congress in Bristol & it was a complete blast!

A dozens of workshops & talks, amazing food, & brilliantly energising company.

Join your local ACORN branch today to get involved in organising your communities for good!

A list of Labour Councillors: Councillor Tom Renhard, Labour Group Leader, Horfield Ward Councillor Carole Johnson, Labour Deputy Group Leader, Horfield Ward Councillor Al Al-Maghrabi, Frome Vale Ward Councillor Kerry Bailes, Hartcliffe & Withywood Ward Councillor Kelvin Blake, Hillfields Ward Councillor Tom Blenkinsop, Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston Ward Councillor Fabian Breckels, St George Trooper’s Hill Ward Councillor Emily Clarke, Bedminster Ward Councillor Kye Dudd, Southmead Ward Councillor Lisa Durston, Filwood Ward Councillor Paul Goggin, Hartcliffe & Withywood Ward Councillor Katja Hornchen, Brislington East Ward Councillor Susan Kollar, Bishopsworth Ward Councillor Rob Logan, Filwood Ward Councillor Louis Martin, Frome Vale Ward Councillor Zoe Peat, Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston Ward Councillor Tim Rippington, Brislington East Ward Councillor Kirsty Tait, Hartcliffe & Withywood Ward Ending with "Labour Councillors sign our demand: Tony Dyre STOP sending bailiffs to collect council tax debt" A picture of ACORN members holding a 'Boot the Bailiffs' sign.

🚩NO MORE HIRED THUGS 😡

Almost every Labour councillor has signed our open letter.

Tony Dyre - where are you? Every day your bailiffs are harassing low income and vulnerable Bristolians!

Where is Bristol Council's commitment to end bailiff bullying?

ACORN Union’s first national convention featured workshops on recruitment, leadership, housing rights, and communications, and included an eviction resistance role-play, culminating in the launch of their Bailiffs Out of Britain campaign.

💪 Hundreds of members from across England & Wales came together in Bristol today for our members convention!

We had a HUGE national campaign launch, a massive eviction resistance training, workshops, & guest speakers from @fbunational.bsky.social & Living Rent🤝

What a day!

“Generations of firefighters have built our union and made it as important a part of being a firefighter as wearing the uniform.”

Great talk by guest speaker, Matt Senior, from the @fbunational.bsky.social at our members convention🤝

📢 So far today at ACORN’s national convention we’ve had sessions and workshops on the history of ACORN England and Wales, recruiting friends & family, ACORN in Wales, women in organising, building up your fellow members, and the Renters’ Rights Bill.

A lively start to the day💪

🔥 ACORN’s first ever national convention has just kicked off with a speech from Chair of the Board, Chelsea.

“We’re building real power from the local to the international level. Things can change and they will!”

ACORN members stand beneath a sign reading "WELCOME TO MALCOLM X CENTRE"

It's ACORN convention day at the Malcolm X Centre in Bristol!
Come on through with your tickets for a day of friendship, workshops, & the launch of our national campaign!

Inside Pickled Jill's Café, ACORN members sit with Jill sat at a table, cup of tea in hand, smiling at off to the side.

Five ACORN members raise their fist standing beside Jill outside of 100 Temple Street

Community Hub Defended by ACORN ✊

Incompetent council threatening an invaluable community hub, we took action at temple street and forced the council to agree to meet for a negotiation!

Sign below to insist that that hubs like Jill's MUST be protected. 🚩
Letter: acornuk.good.do/southwest/sa...

Two ACORN members holding an ACORN banner & a Palestinian flag in amongst other protesters. One holds a "(St)op (Ar)ming Israel" sign, another set holds a "Disarm-Br(istol)" banner.

No genocide profiteers in OUR communities! 🚩

Our members were outside Allianz's Bristol offices, standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people & supporting the demand that Allianz drop Elbit Systems, Israel's no. 1 weapon supplier 🕊️ ❤️🖤🤍💚

An ACORN member posing with a fist in the air, holding an ACORN flag with Zara Sultana outside a tent at the Forward Festival

Our outreach at Forward Festival couldn't have been more warmly received! Wonderful to have had a supportive visit from @zarahsultana.bsky.social as well ✊

You love to see a case you were part of get a happy ending. Unions fucking rock man ✊🚩

ACORN members pose outside of SNC housing, their left fists in the air with a branded flag unfurled

LIFE-CHANGING WIN for ACORN members Wesley, Jess, and their kids ❤️✊

After more than 5 years of reporting maggots coming up from the floorboards in their flat, we took action and FINALLY the council have recognised their accommodation as unsafe and moved them!

The man-made famine in Gaza is now officially recognised months after Israel’s deliberate starvation campaign was obvious. The most preventable famine in history, unfolding in plain sight and we won’t forget our government armed, funded and gave it cover.

Our message is clear: GENOCIDE PROFITEERS ARE NOT WELCOME IN OUR COMMUNITIES ✊

Stay tuned to hear the outcomes of these negotiations and the decision-making meeting in a week's time...

We agreed to pause further action, and our negotiators are prepared for the meeting this evening.

We'll be bringing up both direct funding from arms companies in the past, and the science centre continuing to work with and host arms companies in the last few months.

White text on red: "Win - Negotiation Secured!" Under, image of ACORN members outside We The Curious holding banners

After initially refusing to meet with us until AFTER their decision-making meeting this month, we planned a follow-up outreach session outside We The Curious...

The CEO found out and emailed offering us a negotiation meeting immediately! Direct action WORKS 💪

Let's turn this NATIONAL 🇬🇧

The UK Gov has launched a consultation on council tax & we have a chance to tell THEM what WE think about bailiffs 😡@acornunion.bsky.social has produced a guidance document: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Or use the QR to email our response! Make them hear your voice! ✊

Black text on white under the ACORN logo. In 2016, We The Curious accepted a £16,056 donation from arms manufacturer Leonardo. Whilst WTC have since removed the plaque after it was raised by an ACORN member on social media, & have said they are not in receipt of any direct funding from any arms companies, this is not our sole concern... Earlier this year WTC hosted AXA insurance, a company on the Boycott Divestment & Sanction list for its profiteering ties both to the arms industry writ large, but also more specifically to the ongoing system of apartheid under which millions of Palestinians have been made to suffer. WTC also hires out their space to STEM Women, an organisation that facilitates many arms companies to recruit newly graduated women into the arms industry. Their last event at WTC was this June & the next is planned for October. When pressed on these events WTC deflected responsibility: “that event was run by an external company who hired our space... it is not practical to investigate the investment histories or affiliations of every attendee”.

We're asking @wethecurious.bsky.social to do the right thing this board meeting: To not launder the reputation of arms companies by hosting them in your space!

A group of ACORN members, pose with their left fist in the air holding ACORN banners on front of a mural

Another month another fantastic meeting!

Join your local branch of ACORN today to find community in building community power ✊ 🚩

ACORN members line out outside Richard Harding, an estate agent founded by the landlord, holding flags & placards with various pro-resident slogans.

ACORN members line out outside Abode, holding those same placards with various pro-resident slogans. "Compensate Residents!" takes front and centre

An ACORN member fled home after their landlord's behaviour left them feeling threatened & unsafe. Further harassment led us to march on the estate agencies he uses; which secured a face-to-face meeting to hear & make good on our member's demands.

Direct action gets the goods ✊

Children's education should be free from war🕊️
Our open letter, signed by hundreds of people on Saturday, calls on @wethecurious.bsky.social to cut ties with the arms trade: just last month they hosted arms manufactures for a graduate careers event😡
Add your name now: acornuk.good.do/southwest/WT...

1/3 of people in Gaza haven’t eaten for several days in a row. Huge swathes of the population are facing famine conditions.

But this isn’t a famine. It’s forced starvation at the hands of the Israeli death machine. It’s genocide.

And our government is complicit.

Our stance is clear: We love expanding access to education for kids, but it is simply not right if it's being funded by companies involved in the destruction of other children's educational potential.

This was a day of joy for 100's of people who may not have otherwise been able to afford a ticket.

Instead of smearing our members, maybe museum directors should be spending their energy looking at their ethics policies and finding ways to cut ties with the arms industry 🤔

@wethecurious.bsky.social

Hundreds of adults and children - staff were overheard saying 482 - were allowed free entry and had a GREAT DAY.

Over 400 adults signed our open letter to management calling out their connections to the arms industry.

It's worth saying we were not asked to leave or disperse at any point, even when the police asked management directly if this was what they wanted!

We worked WITH front of house staff in a constructive way to keep everyone safe, and managed an effective 1-in-1 out system when the centre started to fill up

We The Curious bosses start smear campaign against ACORN!

After our action, CEO Donna Speed emailed accusing us of being "intimidating" & treating visitors with "aggression".

Then, anonymous accounts started making the same accusations online.

This shows what REALLY HAPPENED:

We The Curious have had to shut early for the day. We're curious as to why 🤔 but as we said in our speeches: If you truly wish to be led by the community, then heed the demands of Bristol's biggest community union ✊