Block & Build

Convergence Magazine
  • 5.0 (18)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Block & Build is a newsmagazine podcast from Convergence Magazine that examines the balance of political forces in the US from a movement perspective. Every week, host Cayden Mak explores what's happening in politics—and what we can do about it. The show takes Convergence's Block & Build framework as a jumping-off point for responding to escalating authoritarianism in ways that focus on preventing harm while building the strength, resilience, and strategy for our movements to win in the long-term. And we're not just talk. Block & Build is made by and for doers: every week we hear from organizers, strategists, movement journalists, and others who are helping to refine our strategy and develop strategic unity in a time of great peril for people and planet. But we have no time for doomerism. This show is about how to fight, and while we are clear-eyed about what we're up against, we're also determined to win. Join us.

  1. 2D AGO

    Lawyering for Liberation w/ Ameca Reali and Marbré Stahly-Butts

    Social movements are often centered around the law: who it protects and who it does not. And as you heard in this week's headlines, we also find ourselves in an era of increasing weaponized “lawfare” by MAGA and its allies. On top of the "antifa" domestic terror case in Texas, there have been other recent attempts by the federal government to criminalize dissent, from the RICO cases against Atlanta’s Stop Cop City movement, to more recent charges against protestors in Minnesota this winter. Legal representation for these cases and others is necessary as the systems of power which marginalize these communities in the first place seek to criminalize our work toward liberation. This is the work of “movement lawyering.” Movement lawyering is when attorneys and other legal professionals align their work with the values and politics of movements for liberation. Our guests this week recently published a guide and handbook for legal professionals and organizers alike. We were recently joined by the coauthors and coeditors of Lawyering for Liberation: A Tool Box for Movement Lawyers. They are movement attorney Ameca Reali and Associate Professor of Law at CUNY School of Law, Marbré Stahly-Butts. We discuss the work lawyers need to do to bring their work and values into alignment with liberation movements, as well as how organizers can think about how to work closely with legal professionals who share their goals. Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine’s YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Convergence’s Bookshop. Ten percent of purchases made through our bookshop directly support our movement media work.

    51 min

  2. MAR 9

    Tabletop Solidarity w/ Gabor Fu and Sam LeDoux

    Tabletop games like Magic the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and many more have long been a natural community building space for those of us who have felt culturally marginalized. But as fandom has expanded, so has the ability of neoliberal capital to commodify and profit from just about any niche “nerd” interest you can think of. A massive tabletop industry has grown which requires a growing customer-facing workforce. In the past decade both Magic and D&D have come under ownership, and begun generating massive profits for, the multi-billion dollar toy and entertainment publisher Hasbro. A cottage industry of tabletop game stores to support these games, products, and their fans has also risen. But these businesses are more than just stores; they are community spaces new and dedicated gamers depend on for play space, social support, and more. This necessitates a staff skilled in customer service, deep game knowledge, and even childcare for school students attending aftercare programs. As this business grew, workers at a collection of game stores in New York City unionized as Tabletop Workers United in 2023. Throughout their long journey to a contract last spring, they were supported by a partner organization of volunteers known as the Tabletop Solidarity Committee; a group of dedicated customers who love the stores and their workers as community resources and want to see the employees who run the spaces supported by their employers. Our guests this week are two members of that Tabletop Solidarity Committee out of NYC, Gabor Fu and Sam LeDoux. They’ll tell the story of how their organizing supported the workers’ journey to a contract and why these game stores are such valuable community and organizing spaces. Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine’s YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate

    40 min

  3. MAR 3

    Minnesotan Resilience w/ Doran Schrantz

    It is deeply unsettling how quickly mainstream media headlines and narratives moved on from Trump and DHS’s so-called "Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota. The removal of Greg Bovino and the “drawdown” was a concerted attempt to force public attention to move along, in spite of the fact that there are still a disproportionate number of agents on the ground in the state.  This operation yielded two highly visible, extrajudicial murders of peaceful American protestors by the state. No one was held accountable. Communities are still grieving the loss of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, as well as the kidnapping and disappearance of thousands of their neighbors by DHS. The operation brought the country perhaps the closest it has come to civil war since the last one ended. However, the administration has tried to leverage the nature of the attention economy to force us to dust off our feet and move on like it never happened. Internally at Convergence, we think deeply about the importance of slow media, as well as preserving historic and institutional memory, as a counterweight to the hypernormalization of dizzying MAGA brand fascism. The administration pushes to normalize the violence being visited upon communities all over the country. We continue to see stories of abuse and overreach from DHS which aren’t making it “above the fold” in the mainstream press. So we’re going back to Minnesota as the subject of this episode, because Minnesota still has lessons for us. I was joined last week by longtime Minnesota organizer and former Executive Director of Faith In Minnesota Action PAC, Doran Schrantz. We discussed what she and her neighbors experienced and continue to experience from Trump’s DHS invasion in their state, including some crucial warnings and lessons for us all. Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine’s YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate

    1 hr

  4. FEB 24

    The Attention Economy Navigator, February 2026 w/ Chris Fields Figueredo and Steven Renderos

    This week we are building February's Attention Economy Navigator, our guide to what you should be paying more attention to, and what you can probably pay less attention to. And why those stories might not be what you’d assume. Joining to help build this month's Attention Economy Navigator in real time are Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, bruja, Bad Bunny super-fan, and Executive Director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center; and Steven Renderos, DJ, culture critic, and Executive Director of MediaJustice. Find the full navigator chart here. You can also watch the panel plot these stories in real time on YouTube. Stories we referenced in this episode: Chris draws our attention to the emergence of "competitive authoritarianism": The SAVE America Act; FBI raids Fulton County, GA, election office; The arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort; Steve Bannon wants ICE at polling places. Ring walks back from "Search Party," which was featured in a super creepy Super Bowl commercial, Nancy Guthrie's offline Nest camera footage, and the community-powered surveillance we didn't sign up for. Colbert says CBS blocked interview with James Talarico, but now the video has over 8 million YouTube views. Benito Bowl is a rich text. Prairieland 19 trial kicks off and immediately gets declared a mistrial; how this case might be a bellwether for the state of protest to come. Is something big happening with AI, or is Matt Shumer just trying to get us to join his weird cult? The MAHA Boys are hitting the gym in this bizarre sensory nightmare of an ad, featuring Kid Rock (and apparently Kid Rock's home gym?). Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine's YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate

    1h 1m

  5. FEB 17

    Voters vs. Data Centers w/ Michelle Martinez, Molly Sweeney, and Christy McGillivray

    At the end of 2024, Michigan’s state-level Democratic trifecta passed a massive tax incentive for data centers to the tune of $90 million in exchange for, essentially, an IOU for future “community benefits.” Organizers saw this as representative of a two-pronged problem: desperation on the part of local and state governments to bring in revenue, and corporate control of the functions of democracy. In the time since, Michigan has fast tracked data centers, and those community benefits have been…elusive. As pushback against data center development has ramped up as a non-partisan community issue across the country in the time since this tax break was passed, organizers in the state have begun circulating petitions for two ballot measures which address each side of the problem. Invest in MI Kids is a ballot measure that would repair a regressive tax and require the rich to pay their fair share into the education system and Money Out of Politics would dismantle the system of lobbying which allows corporate control of their state assembly. Joining this episode to discuss are Co-founder and Organizing Director of 482Forward and steering committee member of the Invest in MI Kids ballot initiative, Molly Sweeney, Executive Director of Voters Not Politicians and steering committee member of the Michigan Money Out of Politics ballot initiative, Christy McGillivray, and Director of the Tishman Center for Social Justice and the Environment at the University of Michigan, Michelle Martinez. Additional Resources One Solution to Data Centers? Tax the Rich in Convergence Magazine Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine’s YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate

    53 min

  6. FEB 10

    Feed Drop: Art Against Empire Ep. 1

    Art Against Empire, hosted by textile artist Ian Danger Capstick, examines the intersection of creativity and politics through conversations with artists, craftspeople, and activists who use making as a form of resistance. The show features interviews with dozens of artists, crafters, and theorists from around the world exploring the history of makers fighting back against capital control of their craft—including Convergence’s very own Kimmie Dearest. Art Against Empire, Episode 1 – Our Hands Know How to Build the World We Want Quilters, blacksmiths, weavers, embroiderers - 25 artists across four countries using craft to fight systems of power. Welcome to Art Against Empire! This series introduction launches a 16-episode journey featuring over two dozen artists, craftspeople, and theorists across four countries. You'll hear from quilters stitching memorials to police violence victims, blacksmiths forging tools as acts of reclamation, embroiderers translating climate data into thread, and weavers who are building queer community. Ian traces why empires from Rome to Britain built their wealth on controlling cloth, and why makers have always fought back. The history runs from the 1378 Ciompi Revolt through Gandhi's spinning wheel to the AIDS Memorial Quilt that covered America's National Mall. Additional Resources G92 - Learn more about those organizing to protect immigrants in Springfield, OH Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine’s YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate

    34 min

  7. FEB 3

    Preventing Another Epstein w/ Shannon Perez-Darby and Chanelle Gallant

    On Friday, the Department of Justice released millions more documents held in cases relating to Jeffrey Epstein, AKA the "Epstein Files." The files are full of allegations and outright admissions of horrific behavior by elites of the billionaire and political class. However, at this point it seems consequences are unlikely beyond a few days of media headlines about increased "scrutiny." Amidst all the speculation, gossip, and political jockeying by both sides to score points: almost all public discourse around Epstein and his relationships with powerful elites neglects the survivors at the center of those documents. Our guests this week published a piece last month at Truthout.org, “Sex Trafficking Prosecutions Won’t Stop the Next Epstein. Here’s What Will.” It draws on their experience in abolitionist and sex worker justice movements to explore how the Left can reclaim space long ceded to the Right’s “law and order” messaging with a block-and-build strategy rooted in economic, racial, and gender justice that centers survivors while creating the social conditions to address harm and even prevent it in the first place. Chanelle Gallant is the co-author of Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice. Shannon Perez-Darby is co-editor of the anthology How to End Family Policing: From Outrage to Action. Additional Resources Mandatory Reporting is Not Neutral on Instagram "Numerous journalists targeted in attack via Signal Messenger" at Netzpolitik.org Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine’s YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to Convergence’s Bookshop. Ten percent of purchases made through our bookshop directly support our movement media work.

    58 min
  8. Artists Against ICE w/ Kyle Tran Myhre

    JAN 27

    Artists Against ICE w/ Kyle Tran Myhre

    Last week, Minneapolis-based poet and activist Kyle Tran Myhre hosted a virtual workshop called What Can Artists Do? What Are We Doing? in light of the massive ICE and CBP surge in his city. His expectation was that a few dozen people might attend. Instead, over 500 people joined to discuss and wrestle with the ways artists can engage and show up to help get ICE out of Minneapolis and beyond. His follow up article is now cross-published by us and Minneapolis outlet Racket. It explores how artists can use their time, energy, and resources to support local resistance to ICE operations. In this episode, Kyle joins us to discuss that experience as well as what he is seeing on the ground in his community as ICE continues to aggressively disrupt and terrorize Minnesota communities. Additional Resources What Can Artists Do? What Are We Doing? Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre - artist page Want more? Enrich your media diet: Movement Media Alliance Contact us: mailbag@convergencemag.com Subscribe to Convergence Magazine’s YouTube to catch the video premiere of each episode: Mondays at 7:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM PT Have we made a difference in your life? Help us keep it going. convergencemag.com/donate

    38 min
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About

Block & Build is a newsmagazine podcast from Convergence Magazine that examines the balance of political forces in the US from a movement perspective. Every week, host Cayden Mak explores what's happening in politics—and what we can do about it. The show takes Convergence's Block & Build framework as a jumping-off point for responding to escalating authoritarianism in ways that focus on preventing harm while building the strength, resilience, and strategy for our movements to win in the long-term. And we're not just talk. Block & Build is made by and for doers: every week we hear from organizers, strategists, movement journalists, and others who are helping to refine our strategy and develop strategic unity in a time of great peril for people and planet. But we have no time for doomerism. This show is about how to fight, and while we are clear-eyed about what we're up against, we're also determined to win. Join us.

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