About Us

Editorial Director Andre Vltchek is a novelist, journalist, playwright and filmmaker, and cofounder of Mainstay Press publishing house for political fiction. His recent books include the novel, "Point of No Return," and a book of political essays, "Western Terror: From Potosi to Baghdad." His latest political drama is called "Ghosts of Valparaiso." Mr. Vltchek also produced a 90-minute documentary film about Suharto's dictatorship and its impact on present-day Indonesia, "Terlena - Breaking of a Nation." He had co-authored non fiction book "Exile" with Rossie Indira and the most influencial Southeast Asian novelists Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

A senior fellow at the Oakland Institute, he has covered various conflicts and wars, including Bosnia, Peru, Chiapas, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Gujarat, East Timor and Aceh. Fluent in six languages, Mr. Vltchek has worked for both mainstream and independent publications and media outlets. Presently he lives and works in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.

Asiana News is a non-profit partnership between ACORN International and its Chief Organizer Wade Rathke and Andre Vltchek.

ACORN International is a membership organization of over 20,000 families outside of the United States built over the last five years in Peru, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and India with partnerships in Indonesia, Korea, and the Philippines as well as new organizations beginning soon in Kenya and Ecuador. ACORN International also supports the India FDI Watch Campaign and unions of waste pickers in Delhi, hawkers in Mumbai, and cartoneros in Buenos Aires.

The Manager of Asiana News is Wade Rathke. Wade is best known as one of the premier community and labor organizers of his generation. He was the Founder and Chief Organizer of ACORN which he directed where he was the chief executive officer from 1970-2008 as it grew in the United States to more than 100 offices and more than 500,000 family members. He is also the founder and Chief Organizer of Local 100, Service Employees International Union working Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas. Over the last four years he and others have been vitally engaged in bringing accountability to Wal-Mart in central Florida, California, and elsewhere through the Wal-Mart Workers Association and WARN, a broad based alliance of groups countering corporate expansion in communities. WARN, which also specializes in broader corporate and campaign research. WARN in conjunction with the CLOC (the Community Labor Organizing Council) provides additional capacity and staff for labor and community organizing and campaigns.

Perhaps less well known is the fact that Wade is also Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Social Policy Magazine and author of a daily blog at www.chieforganizer.org as well as radio reports on non-commercial stations available through AM/FM or KNON-FM (Dallas) and KABF-FM (Little Rock). Wade is the chair of the board of the Organizers’ Forum which hosts two annual dialogues for community and labor organizers, one in the United States and one internationally, where delegations have visited Indonesia, India, Australia (coming soon!), Turkey, Russia, South Africa, and Brazil.

Rathke has books forthcoming on

The Battle for the Lower Ninth: ACORN and the Rebuilding of New Orleans

(Verso Press) at the end of 2008 and

Citizen Wealth: How Community Groups are Working Themselves and the Working Poor Out of Poverty

(Berrett-Koehler Publishers) in the spring 2009. Other essays on labor and community organizing in recent books and journals can be found at www.waderathke.net.